id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
4w1mxx | Contemporary criticism of the Maginot line? | [
{
"answer": "Follow up, how impenetrable was it, really? What sort of attack was it designed to repel?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20351",
"title": "Maginot Line",
"section": "Section::::Post-war assessment.\n",
... | null |
2zv971 | why do sharks expose their top fins above the surface? | [
{
"answer": "Sharks -- most species, anyway -- are true predators. Many of those predators hunt air-breathing species... seals, sea-lions, turtles, etc.\n\nThe shark would prefer to be far below the surface, as it is a true fish. However, the air-breathers that they prey upon, quite naturally spend a lot of t... | null |
5oe8lw | what are the benefits and drawbacks of having an overvalued or undervalued currency? | [
{
"answer": "Overvalued- It's easier to buy imported stuff cos they're cheaper than your domestic stuff. Even though your currency is worth more, theirs is worth the same, so their prices will decrease from your perspective. On the downside, your domestic market suffers, and so do your country's exports, becaus... | null |
d2kovo | Was it correct to call the decline of Aboriginals in Australia, a 'genocide'? | [
{
"answer": "Keith Windschuttle is an amateur historian (at best), who took issue with the term genocide in the Australian context. He did raise some valid points about other historians being sloppy with their footnotes, which Henry Reynolds, a respected historian of Aboriginal history, did acknowledge after t... | null |
r5382 | What does the Holy Roman Empire have to do with Ancient Rome, if anything? | [
{
"answer": "\"The Holy Roman Empire,\" quipped Voltaire, was \"neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire\"!\n\nThe name was more an invention to legitimate the emperors as emperors, like the old caesars were in the Roman Empire. \n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "While Voltaire's oft-quoted lin... | null |
22frer | How can we know the energy of the universe* is constant? (also Quantum Physics) | [
{
"answer": "1. Energy is not conserved on a cosmic scale. Energy conservation is only a valid assumption for a time-invariant universe. Since our universe is expanding, energy is not conserved.\n\n2. I must say I don't really understand your question. What do you mean by \"quantum physics allows for assuming e... | null |
3ilvzp | why do european countries have to accept refugees from the middle east and elsewhere? | [
{
"answer": "Because they have signed (at the very least) the [UN treaty related to status of refugees] (_URL_0_) ([full text] (_URL_1_)). That is, the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol. All members of the European Union have signed] both. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They, like most co... | null |
3sn46b | why do mushrooms taste like meat? | [
{
"answer": "They don't. \n\nMushrooms have a very earthy flavor, which is something that some meats also share, but they in no way actually taste like meat on their own. If you do not often eat meat on pizza that similarity may be what you are picking up on and you assume it is meaty flavor. ",
"provenance... | null |
lfrme | blood types. what are all the different types, what's the rarest, who can donate to who, and why can only some donate to others and others can't. | [
{
"answer": "OK - I'll give it a go - it's been a few years since I looked at this - you all lemme know how I did....\n\nThe types are: A, B, O and AB. There's also an Rh Positive and Rh negative. We'll skip the Rh stuff till later.\n\nYou can think of the A and B types as being kinds of \"spikes\" or \"sticks\... | null |
ccz2kj | Why wouldn't the armies of the 1700s and 1800s use something like armor to stop gunshots? | [
{
"answer": "There's always more to be said; while we wait for that, u/WARitter has dealt with this subject previously. [This thread asks](_URL_2_) basically the same question from another direction, and [in this answer](_URL_1_) he expounds further on the difficulties armour had to face to be effective in a wo... | null |
2rn1ua | why does the periodic table allow us to predict the properties of other atoms | [
{
"answer": "It first started off the other way. That is, scientists noticed that the then-known elements could be arranged in a grid that grouped common behaviors together.\n\nThe table had gaps then, which were predicted to be undiscovered elements. This later turned out to be true as new elements were discov... | null |
8jq5iy | why are foreign language classes and language immersion programs not taught from the most basic perspective (like elementary school)? | [
{
"answer": "Because the students know how to read and write in their own language.\n\nIn many languages the letter are identical. If you know one alphabet system learning to read another is easier then learning to read the first one.\n\nWhen you learn to write your own language you are learning to write a lang... | null |
34p91a | Is there a magnetic field created by the quarks in a neutral particle, like the neutron? And if not, why? | [
{
"answer": "The neutron does have a magnetic dipole moment, as explained [here](_URL_0_) in some detail. The magnetic properties of the neutron are often exploited in neutron scattering to study the structure & dynamics of various materials, perhaps most clearly in the [neutron spin echo method](_URL_1_).",... | null |
f1eb7a | Could you actually fall into a black hole ? | [
{
"answer": "If you jump into a black hole, you will pass the event horizon and reach the singularity within a finite amount of time. For most stellar sized black holes, this takes a small fraction of a second from your point of view though as you're shredded by tidal forces so you won't be alive for it. For su... | null |
1gmqeg | how do all planets become to be near perfect spheres? | [
{
"answer": "As Carl Sagan once explained in Cosmos: (paraphrasing)\n\nTake a ball of clay (not spherical, just a rough shape) of clay, then put your hand on top and push down, then turn it over and do it to that side, then keep turning it over in different angles and pushing down on top. Eventually, you will e... | null |
n3w6o | why don't gas giants solidify? | [
{
"answer": "At the temperature they're at, they're gasses.\n\nThere's not a lot of ways to loose heat, besides radiating in space. If you're orbiting a sun there's an influx of heat. These usually balance each other. So temperature should remain constant.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "At the... | null |
51hryl | Are invasive species (such as lion fish in the Gulf of Mexico) just natural selection, accelerated by humans introducing species into new environments? | [
{
"answer": "That's doubtful. Lion Fish are a small and very slow moving fish that survive in warm waters down to 300 ft.\n\nIt's very unlikely that one could survive a trip across the Atlantic Ocean from the Indian Ocean through the Suez canal (their closest natural habitat to the east coast of the US) There's... | null |
2cbwmc | why are we investing billions in fighter jets? shouldn't they be replaced by drones? | [
{
"answer": " > near future do exactly what fighter jets do now?\n\nmagical word: near future. they can't do that now. and probably for quite some time they will not be as good as humans.\n\nand second thing, drones can be jammed, with planes it's much, much harder.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer... | null |
52trfy | before modern day lawn mowers existed, how were golf courses like st. andrews able to cut & maintain that much land dating back to the late 1700's? | [
{
"answer": "Modern mowers were invented in the 1830s.\n\nBefore that, they'd either have peasants go out there and scythe the grass down, or they'd have flocks of sheep graze it down.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mainly it was just labor intensive work of using a scythe. Having a large man... | null |
5t68vm | why does rigor mortis make bodies stiff? | [
{
"answer": "It has to do with the way your muscles work. The muscles have fibers that extend and contract using the energy of ATP molecules. Those fibers are mainly made up of actin and myosin. They slide along each other to make the movement. But the way it actually works is that ATP breaks the connections be... | null |
gbce6 | Scholars of Reddit, I'm a junior in college taking BS
Biology. I want to get into stem cell research but I
need to know how to get into the right track. | [
{
"answer": "Going to graduate school is pretty much a prerequisite to having a career in biology/medical research. But there are a lot of other things you can do now or before then:\n\nAre you at a research university? If so, there probably will be a lab researching stem cells of some kind. You should definite... | null |
4kdwis | why would an asteroid collision wipe out life on earth? | [
{
"answer": " > but would it stay there for so long that we would all freeze to death?\n\nYour bigger worry is starving because all the plants have died out due to lack of sunlight. But yes it would stay up there for months AT LEAST.\n\nAssuming you weren't caught in the blast or any of the earthquakes or megat... | null |
az0izr | how come when one really needs to go pee, they're completely okay when in any other room, but as soon as they reach the bathroom to relieve themselves, they almost pee their pants? | [
{
"answer": "Classical Conditioning. If you ring a bell and then give a dog treat, and continously repeat this process until its engrained in the dog’s brain, then the next time you ring the bell, the dog will automatically salivate. Same with us and bathrooms. We see a bathroom, and then our brains automatical... | null |
z6mvm | What happened to the alleged cold fusion that Italian Andrea Rossi was working on? | [
{
"answer": "Rossi was, I believe, convicted of fraud. [Take this claim with an entire mine of salt.](_URL_0_)\n\n[edit] the conviction was later reversed. It's still almost certainly a scam.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "What happened is that Rossi is still doing whatever he thinks he's do... | null |
8yuykk | What would a day in the life of Marie Antoinette look like? | [
{
"answer": "Marie Antoinette's days began with her own semi-public rising ceremony that paralleled the king's *lever*.\n\nUpon waking up around eight, she would be handed a dressing gown, and then take breakfast (little but coffee or hot chocolate) either in bed or at a small table nearby. Some mornings, a tub... | null |
40busm | what causes abnormally high jackpots? is is just chance and replication? or are there other mechanisms involved? | [
{
"answer": "As the jackpot rises and it becomes more publicized, more people play, which adds more money to the jackpot. If this continues through several cycles with no winner, they can grow rather dramatically, as we've seen recently with the $400 Million bump. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer"... | null |
2k3i17 | why is breakfast the only meal where it's socially acceptable to only eat a dessert? (doughnuts, pancakes, cinnamon rolls, muffins, etc.) | [
{
"answer": "*You*, OP, need to start counting dessert as a meal.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I honestly don't know the answer, but it's a great question. Whenever we have sweets in the morning, a friend of mine comments that we're basically eating 'candy for breakfast', given that doughnu... | null |
3lvx02 | why is the "k" silent? as seen in: knack or knock | [
{
"answer": "In the 1600s, the K was pronounced. Pilgrims in America said \"kuh-nife\" and \"kuh-nee\" for knife and knee. It died out around then, but spelling had become set,\nSo we kept that. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4486459",... | null |
6xpun7 | Is it hard to be a history professor or a historians? | [
{
"answer": "This is a question that gets asked with a fair amount of frequency, both here and at /r/askacademia. \n\n[this is a recent thread](_URL_2_) where /u/restricteddata and /u/dire88 explore some of the aspects of the academic job market for history.\n\n[this thread](_URL_1_) also discusses grad school,... | null |
f6ssby | How does this work? | [
{
"answer": "By definition, melted rock beneath the surface is called magma. Once it erupts, it is called lava. The distinction is largely semantic and done for convenience (i.e. by describing it correctly as either magma or lava, you are conveying extra information in terms of its location), though there are s... | null |
m92yt | This might be startlingly ignorant, but: why are sunny days in the winter still cold? | [
{
"answer": "I'm no expert, im not even good at science, but if no one else posts ill give you something to think about:\nI think it might be to do with... ok let me explain.\n\nif you had a flat surface and shined a torch on it and the beam was one square metre, when you tilt the surface, the light has to hit ... | null |
15jq25 | A question about US colonization | [
{
"answer": "You might want to check out David Hackett Fischer's *Albions Seed* which addresses how the different British Isles groups who settled in British North America determined how the different American regions developed. It is an easily readable book even for those with only a casual interest in histor... | null |
191s2j | When did tourism become a large part of countries incomes? | [
{
"answer": "That depends a lot on the country. And where there. \n\nFor example - Austria (where i live) had areas with a vibrant touristic economy starting in the 19th century. Especially areas like semmering (the closest mountains to Vienna) became available for day trips with the construction of the train l... | null |
24k55f | Would it be possible to make a radio which uses a different type of electromagnetic radiation? | [
{
"answer": "You can certainly transmit data using visible light - that's what an optical fibre does, after all. However, radio has the advantage that it generally passes through most objects (e.g. walls), and so you don't need line-of-sight to the transmitter. With visible light, you would need to be able to s... | null |
8vxgcu | In regards to "nitrogen narcosis", how does the gas we inhale while diving suddenly become narcotic to us at great depths? | [
{
"answer": "Most gasses are lipid-soluble, meaning that they can diffuse into fats, which includes cell membranes. At standard pressure, the amount that dissolves into tissue is negligible, but at higher partial pressures that amount increases and eventually it's enough to interfere with the chemical signalin... | null |
1qlzhd | if the speed limit isn't actually a hard upper bound, why don't we just post a target speed instead? | [
{
"answer": "I've been pulled over for 26 in a 25. It's up to the cops discretion, and some cops are dicks. The speed limit is a hard upper boundary, but it is up to the individual officer whether to enforce that strictly or not. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They should just call it a speed... | null |
3l6j48 | What were the role and effectiveness of archers and crossbowmen during the hundred year war? | [
{
"answer": "That blog post was written by someone who views themselves as very educated on a topic they don't seem to have read much about. He starts off relatively alright- myth of longbow archers as super soldiers, pointing out the relatively similar composition of French and English armies- then becomes so ... | null |
2hlg62 | what would happen if a queen was carrying a king's son, but the king died. | [
{
"answer": "It would depend on the time and country. Different countries all had different rules of royal succession, and those rules changed over the course of history. \n\nThere is no actual single answer to this question. It would be like asking, \"What color is everything?\"",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
1kdjs4 | why do contestants on "jeopardy" pick the lowest amount of money questions first? | [
{
"answer": "because \"Potent Potables\" is not an immediately obvious topic. If you take a few easy questions first, then you can gauge the rest of the questions in that category. So by the time you take 500, you have a better understanding of what's about to be asked of you and are more likely to answer first... | null |
zibqo | How many vehicles are there on Earth right now that are capable of spaceflight? | [
{
"answer": "If you don't care about them being human rated, the answer is probably a lot. Russia (and people that contract them for launches) frequently use old ICBMs (e.g. _URL_0_) to launch satellites.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "When you say \"every spaceflight-capable vehicle on Earth\... | null |
im6yl | Can UV light kill fleas? | [
{
"answer": "UV light can kill pretty much anything, if you leave it under the UV long enough. It's used pretty commonly as a disinfectant in labs and hospitals already, though sterilisation cycles are generally minutes to hours long depending on what you're trying to kill (bacteria, fungus virus, bacterial spo... | null |
2oq3ul | A finding of life based on what at first appeared to be metabolic activity? | [
{
"answer": "Here's a good article from Wikipedia:\n\n_URL_0_\n\nThe experiment that caused all the controversy was the \"Labeled Release\" one. This incubated Martian soil with a dilute solution of nutrients, each of which had carbon-14 incorporated into it. The headspace gases were analyzed to see if any of t... | null |
6nwehr | Are there any sources for the trial and execution of Socrates that were not written by his students? | [
{
"answer": "No, but there is one other primary source on Socrates which focuses on his early life: the playwright Aristophanes.\n\nIt is generally accepted that the three mostly intact sources for the life of Socrates are found by the following authors: Xenophon, Plato, and Aristophanes, the latter of whom was... | null |
8us02r | How effective was the boomerang as a weapon? | [
{
"answer": "400-500g is a not unusual weight for a boomerang (straight-flying hunting boomerang, rather than a returning boomerang). An experienced thrower can throw such a boomerang at speeds in excess of 20m/s, for kinetic energy of over 100J (translational kinetic energy, not counting the rotational kinetic... | null |
a7it01 | i know why animals/humans store fat, but how and why do plants that grow fatty fruits collect and store fat (avocado, coconut, olives, etc)? | [
{
"answer": "I believe sometimes a fruits/seeds will contain nutrients for making new plants/trees. The growing plant will find it easier to find sustenance\n\nI also believe that sometimes it is to trick animals into eating the seeds and pooping them out far from the original tree.\nBut I am not a scientist",
... | null |
4ux4zr | if we were able to remove the brains ability to release dopamine and serotonin, would we be able to feel happiness? | [
{
"answer": "Nope, because we'd be dead. While those neurotransmitters do affect mood, they also have other very important functions. For instance, Parkinson's Disease is caused by a loss of dopamine. And serotonin deficiencies often cause babies to just suddenly die.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answ... | null |
62g508 | why are some features of humans, like hands and skulls, so innately hard to draw? | [
{
"answer": "Due to the depth and variety of each finger, and the complex curves and angles, hands are relatively difficult to master. It's tricky ensuring everything is totally proportionate. Similarly, heads/faces require attention to detail and proportion, as I'm sure no one wants their drawings' faces to lo... | null |
1o5i4m | why are logos and layouts getting simpler? | [
{
"answer": "It's just the current popular style. Flat simple forms are the current \"in \" look, so that's what companies are adopting to seem more relevant. In 5-10 years, odds are good some other basic design trait will be the new fad.\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Graphic designer her... | null |
4e7gnz | How does a flamethrower prevent the back flow of combustion as it shoots a stream of ignited fuel? | [
{
"answer": "This device has no barrel - it's a torch with a two handed grip, plain and simple. Fuel and air mix outside of the fuel hose, which allows combustion. Inside the fuel hose, there is nothing but fuel, so combustion cannot occur.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Things need the fire t... | null |
2dpiu9 | Are there any bugs (like moths) who have evolved an 'immunity' to being confused by or drawn to light sources like porch lights? How about predators that started living near lights because of the abundance of food? | [
{
"answer": "[Mediterranean Geckos](_URL_0_) , which now live almost exclusively on buildings, have been incredibly successful in spreading around the world. Man made structures offer vertical surfaces and hiding places. But they also often have lights and windows that attract insects. Although I have never see... | null |
1513sj | If you were somewhere in space where the nearest star was thousands (or millions) of light years away would it be practically pitch black? Could you see your hand in front of your face? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, there are places where it's that dark. In fact, most of the universe is that dark. If you were to suddenly appear somewhere else at a random place in the universe the odds are you would be in a place so dark you could not see any stars or galaxies. You could see galaxies if you had a telescope... | null |
8zptj7 | Why is there no mention of Alexander the Great in the bible? | [
{
"answer": "As far as I know we simply will not have any particular reason to give to that.\n\nNow, [hillsonghoods](_URL_0_) mentions two good points in his post when an answer was removed: (a) there's not one canon (b) the process by which we end up with certain texts needs to be discussed. And he helpfully p... | null |
1gi5ki | Why did the Visigothic and Ostrogothic cultures disappear? Why are there no more ethnic Goths in Europe? | [
{
"answer": "Some of the Visigoths ended up ruling northern spain and parts pf southern france in the Visigothic Kingdom from the fifth through the eighth centuries (AD). They were able to secure this land partly via conquest and partly at the behest of the Romans. Their dominance was ended by the invasion o... | null |
amghw3 | why do devices such as phones take such little time to get to around 80%, and then take ages for the last 20%? | [
{
"answer": "The charge stored in a battery when supplied by a constant voltage is exponential, depending on the type. \n\nELI5: you’re at a public pool on a 105° degree day that only lets people in 1 at a time. They are gonna fill that pool up until they’re shoulder to shoulder, but each person goes to a rand... | null |
cwwawq | How popular was classical music versus other songs in their mutual contemporary period? Was it based on class? | [
{
"answer": "TL;DR:\n\nClassical music is music from the past, but it should not be assumed to be THE music of the past. It was mostly the music of the rich and powerful, and it was composed in specific styles and for specific contexts. Most people never wore fancy expensive formal clothes with elaborate jewelr... | null |
51f6b5 | why does adrenaline in certain circumstances give people super human strength? (being able to lift extremely heavy things off of people, etc.) | [
{
"answer": "Adrenaline tends to come with the dulling of pain for obvious reasons; you don't want to worry about wounds when fighting for your life.\n\nThe application of your strength is also limited by pain so you don't hurt yourself in your exertions. Someone who is fit is able to tear their muscles apart o... | null |
1ezdc2 | high gravity beer | [
{
"answer": "Did you look at the wikipedia article? \n\n_URL_0_\n\nIt sums it up pretty consicely. \n\nAnyway, gravity refers to the specific gravity (density relative to water). Beers are considered high gravity when the density of the wort (beer before fermentation) is high. The density is of the wort is ... | null |
21zhuq | Does the creation of the electricity used to fuel Tesla cars create just as much pollution as if they were gas powered? | [
{
"answer": "Like many things, the answer is [it depends](_URL_0_).\n\nThe conclusion of that report is that an electric car has the carbon emissions of a 30 mpg car, *if all the electricity is produced by coal*.\n\nThis is still better than most cars but significantly inferior to most hybrids (50-60 mpg depend... | null |
e8f6th | why did all the mice die in the mouse utopia experiment, as opposed to reaching a stable population | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nIgnore my previous comment if anyone read it, I was very incorrect.\n\nBasically the tl;Dr for OP's question is that overpopulation conditions in animals (such as rats and mice) with social order of some kind results in disorientation in individuals there in, and causes pathological beha... | null |
4thnjf | what happens when home owner dies and there is a mortgage left? | [
{
"answer": "There are two options.\n\nOne option is to get the mortgage life insured, which means that you pay a certain fee every month, that, in the event of your death, pays off your mortgage for you.\n\nThe alternative is that the mortgage stays with your estate. At that point, it's up to whoever inherits ... | null |
k8sfa | eli17: what's so great about "the great gatsby"? | [
{
"answer": "The reason its great is because of Jay Gatsby. All the people around him are shallow and materialistic. Jay is the last American dreamer. Fitzgerald sees the 20's as a time when morals were decaying. The people who attend Jay's parties are social climbers. They have an insatiable desire for wealth ... | null |
1s37mg | What were stationary/notebooks/writing materials like in colonial America? | [
{
"answer": "You might find looking at the [digitized Jefferson papers](_URL_0_) useful. [The Farm Book](_URL_1_) should give you a good idea of what a casual \"journal\" type volume would have looked like. Not much like the Moleskine brand!\n\nWriting implement would have been a quill pen, which you can still ... | null |
1v62xy | how does pintrest make money? | [
{
"answer": "Investors is a channel where they get to keep the company running. With platforms like these, the norm is to create a solid user(fan) base and improve their services to a point where subscribers have invested enough content and won't mind seeing relevant ads. \n\n\n\n ",
"provenance": null
}... | null |
2sxgxl | if i was to travel away from the earth at sub-light speed then travel faster than light for a time, stop and look back at the earth, could i see myself leaving? | [
{
"answer": "If you had a ship the size of a big city you probably could yes. If it was something the size of our current spacecrafts then no. \nFor the same reason not even all the telescopes in the world put together could ever see something like the lunar rover we left on the moon.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
7fymd0 | how do online rewards sites know you’ve downloaded the app they are offering. | [
{
"answer": "I am not sure about that exact use case (user level tracking), but in general there are a few ways that advertisers use to check which marketing campaign generates more app installs.\n\nOne of the approaches is that the apps have a Tracking SDKs (like google analytics tags, but for apps) that can p... | null |
e8euo4 | can phones read your mind? on more than one occasion an ad or something on my phone has aligned with a previous thoughts i’ve had. explain? | [
{
"answer": "It's called [Confirmation Bias](_URL_0_). You don't even think about the thousands and thousands of times that you've seen stuff on your phone that had nothing to do with anything you've been thinking about. But when there's a random match-up, you're amazed. \n \nPlus there are targeted ads. ... | null |
10zvge | How did Israel justify it's six-day war? | [
{
"answer": "Following things build up before the attack:\n\n* Jordan and Egypt started a defense treaty, in late May \n* Egypt blocked the Straits of Tiran for Israel ships (Israel politicians stated before several times that this was a Casus Belli)\n* Egypt also forced the UNEF to retreat and\n* draw roughly ... | null |
7349lt | Was Neil Armstrong not the first man on the moon? | [
{
"answer": "Any successful mission to the Moon by the Soviets--even without an EVA--would have been enormous news that Moscow would have trumpeted around the globe. The idea that such a mission could have been kept secret is preposterous: missile launch detection satellites had been in orbit since the mid-1960... | null |
4dltbm | how do binary explosives work, and how do they not explode if they are dropped? | [
{
"answer": "They are explosives that come in two parts. Only combined do they become explosive.\n\nOn their own they are inert.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You are probably thinking about tannerite specifically. It just happens to be a very shock resistant explosive and also a binary expl... | null |
a08lbz | What is the Arminian Genocide? | [
{
"answer": "Hi there! Part of your question is, essentially, ‘why didn’t I learn about this’. We’re happy to let the question stand, but there are a variety of reasons why you may find it hard to get a good answer to this question on /r/AskHistorians.\n\nFirstly, school curricula and how they are taught vary s... | null |
423y1c | Why can 2D objects rotate in just 1 axis but 3D objects can rotate in 3? | [
{
"answer": "The number of rotation generators in D dimensions is D*(D-1)/2. So D=2 gives 1, D=3 gives 3, D=4 gives 6 and so on.\n\nThe rationale is as such: rotations in general shouldn't be though as happening *around* an axis, but *in* a 2D plane. That with axes is a picture which is only meaningful in 3D, w... | null |
82bl24 | From the 1970s on, many cults are associated with religiously-motivated mass suicide. Why did this develop during the 70s--or was it in fact continuing an older tradition? | [
{
"answer": " > From the 1970s on, many cults are associated with religiously-motivated mass suicide. Why did this develop during the 70s--or was it in fact continuing an older tradition?\n\nYour question is really two different, but related, questions. The first one is \"how did cults become associated with m... | null |
29b794 | How common was it in Medieval times for people to name their swords? | [
{
"answer": "I recently read \"La Chanson de Roland\" and \"Le Couronnement de Louis/Charroi de Nîmes\" in my medieval french lit. class. In both of those chansons de geste, both dating from the ~10th and ~11th century there are many named swords that are featured in the works. \n\nFor instance, there are a num... | null |
49jqp9 | How much power, if any, did the Senate still possess in the Byzantine Empire? | [
{
"answer": "It's hard to say \"during the Empire,\" because of how long the Empire was around. Generally, it just constantly lost power, sort of eventually forming more of a body of dignitaries and advisors than an actual legislative body.\n\nAt least during the post-Justinian Byzantine times, it's rule was on... | null |
4q287v | how does it come that helicopters are so widely used in military even though they seem so vulnerable? | [
{
"answer": "Their ability to maneuver and to drop into and out of areas. This provides quick drop off of troops to strategic areas, the delivery of needed supplies, and the ability to pull out trapped or wounded soldiers.\n\nYea they are loud, but you cannot always hear them coming until they are almost on top... | null |
6e3nbh | if dying of old age is not an actual cause of death then could one live indefinitely(not immortal) provided they have enough money and a constant supply of vital body parts to replace with? | [
{
"answer": "No, you couldn't, and the reason is your DNA. Your DNA has bits of blank information on the end of it that are called telomeres. They act as a buffer to prevent damage to your DNA, because every time your cells reproduce, there is a risk of losing a very small amount of data from the resulting DNA.... | null |
2v4du2 | crime explosion 1958 to present. | [
{
"answer": "I have a degree in Criminal Justice, and criminology is a very vast field with many reasons within that could explain this answer. What type of crime rose specifically? Did some crime rise and some crime fall? Typically, around the holiday seasons, robbery will increase because citizens are look... | null |
1nzkdi | Hello, Historians! My history class is doing a writing assignment about pre-Depression era (1928) America and we need a little help. | [
{
"answer": "The Library of Congress has a collection entitled [\"Prosperity and Thrift: The Coolidge Era and the Consumer Economy, 1921-1929\"](_URL_0_), which contains (among other things) several advertisements of products for sale in the '20s. That will certainly help you for the \"Consumerism\" part, but ... | null |
5r2vv7 | how is malpractice handled in countries with universal healthcare? | [
{
"answer": "It's actually pretty similar to how it's handle in the US. I'm from Canada so I'll talk about our system.\n\nMedical professional have a professional order which regulate their practice. They are the one that choose which professional can or can't do, they also are the one investigating any case of... | null |
3qyb0i | what kind of things does mi6 and the secret service actually do? | [
{
"answer": "The Secret Service investigates and prosecutes counterfeiters, and protects the president and vice president.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "MI6 is nothing like the Secret Service. You're asking like they're the same and it's like asking what garbage men and pool cleaners actuall... | null |
3j7fma | when dogs have so much better ears than us, why isnt their barking hurt them? isnt it extremly loudly for them? | [
{
"answer": "Dogs have better ears means they can pick up sounds too quiet for us to hear or frequencies, it doesn't mean that all sounds they hear are amplified. A dog will hear sounds just as loud as us, but they will also pick up sounds we can't hear, that's what them having better hearing means.",
"prov... | null |
1472cv | Transition from prehistory to history: emergence of large-scale well organised societies before the invention of writing? | [
{
"answer": "Someone specializing in pre-history will give you a more general answer. I can tell you from what I know of Chinese pre-history that we often can tell that some of the big things you mention come about well before the first written records that we have. Tombs from Yangzi valley neolithic cultures, ... | null |
1ckza1 | Was the Reconquista considered more secular or religious at the time? | [
{
"answer": "I am surprised no one has tackled this yet. This is not my exact area of expertise but I will give it a crack.\n\nFirst we have to ask when was it considered more secular or religious?\n\n > \"There is a corresponding change in the notion of reconquest. At the start the ideal is to restore a unite... | null |
3fnor8 | why do the southern states have the highest rates of obesity in america? | [
{
"answer": "Lots of research has found a negative correlation between obesity rates and wealth in the US (as wealth goes up, obesity rates come down). \n\nLooking [here](_URL_0_) you can see that household income (which I know isn't wealth but this is the data I could easily find) tends to be lowest in the Sou... | null |
6j3isn | what classifies something as a plastic and how can the same type of plastic (e.g polyester) be used from slick, waterproof shirts to fluffy blankets? | [
{
"answer": "Plastics are synthetic or partly synthetic polymeric materials. (Basically materials made from enormously big molecules, compared to other materials.) \n\nAs to why is there a wide range of plastics. Simply because we spent the last century with trying to make new kinds of plastics that could be ap... | null |
3j9bug | Has an invasive or agriculturally-destructive species ever been intentionally introduced to a rival country, with the intention of causing harm? | [
{
"answer": "This does not quite fit the bill of \"rival country\" but in 1989, a self described \"ecoterrorist group\" known only as \"The Breeders\" took credit for the recent infestation of California by medflies, which began destroying crops. Opinion is divided today as to whether it was a real attack, an o... | null |
12x8bp | is the "fiscal cliff" actually bad for our economic recovery? | [
{
"answer": "Probably really bad for the economy. \n\nIt does a lot of things all at once. 1- End Bush Era Cuts, 2- Cuts in Defense Spending, 3- End of the payroll tax holiday, 4- Cut in Unemployment Benefits, 5- Cut in Medicare payments to doctors. \n\nA lot of people will lose their jobs because of point 2. (... | null |
2i299t | what makes a coach watch or something designer worth so much money? | [
{
"answer": "They do tend to be very high quality. That is how they make a name for themselves and then on top of that they have become status symbols and the fact that they are expensive makes them more valuable to some people \n\n\n\"I want people to know/think I'm rich so I buy things people know are expens... | null |
ori40 | Scientists plan on taking the first picture of a black hole. But how? | [
{
"answer": "You're correct that black holes emit nothing visible to our cameras. All they mean is that they will take a picture of where the black hole is, not that they will image photons emitted from it.\n\n > So how does one take a picture of something that by definition is impossible to see?\n\nAt this po... | null |
89odjf | how a ufc fighter can drop 26lbs in 6 days to make weight, then manage to fight the next day? | [
{
"answer": "Your body is mostly water... so if you dehydrate yourself you could lose a lot of weight very rapidly. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Dropping that much weight in such a short time takes an enormous physical toll. An average person would be physically spent, however, these fight... | null |
3c3w37 | how does a musical score in a film help elicit such specific emotional response in viewers? | [
{
"answer": "It's partially something you learn, partially innate, but it's also the result of a long experience in eliciting emotions through music.\n\nWrt. learning, let's look at Western movies. We were not born with the association of a certain rhythm with riding a horse. But composers have been using it fo... | null |
4g15z5 | How do we know ice core samples get older as we go deeper? | [
{
"answer": "The most obvious answer is the older stuff had to freeze to allow the newer stuff to freeze on top of it. \n\nWe can further show this by: Oxygen for example normally exists with 8 protons and neutrons giving O16. It can however exist in an isotope with 8 protons and 10 neutrons giving O18. In the ... | null |
18rxc3 | Physics: How are special relativity, general relativity, and e=mc^2 related to one another? | [
{
"answer": "E=mc^(2) is a result found from special relativity that tells us that mass is a form of energy.\n\nSpecial relativity: The consequence of light having the same speed relative to any observer. Explains how to translate what one non-accelerating observer measures to what another non-accelerating obse... | null |
3mrae3 | Synapses are the gaps between the axon terminal of one neuron and the dendrites of another neuron, correct? So, effectively, synapses are gaps between neurons? In that case, what conducts the travel of neurotransmitters through the synapses, and how is the nervous system held together? | [
{
"answer": "There are broadly two types of synapses. \n\nThe type you are thinking about are strictly called \"chemical synapses\". Yes, at the simplest level they are very small gaps between two very specialized parts of two neurons. Not just any gap will do, there are specialized structures on both cells ... | null |
1rwllc | how hiv is transmitted from a woman to a man | [
{
"answer": "Blood. Micro cuts in her vagina and micro cuts on your penis.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Mucous membranes are permiable. For example, some medications can be absorbed via the muscous membrane under your toungue, some medications (or toxins) can be absorbed through your skin. T... | null |
3uh99l | From where did Roman legionnaires get their equipment? | [
{
"answer": "The Romans, at least in the late Republic and Empire, had very sophisticated logistics. They had to, they were supporting a large army spread out throughout Europe and North Africa and into Asia. Jonathan Roth's *The Logistics of the Roman Army at War* covers this in detail. Roman military campa... | null |
3937n9 | How much more powerful were the battleships Yamato and Musashi in comparison to other WW2 era battleships? | [
{
"answer": "Going off of numbers alone, *Yamato* and her sister *Musashi* are very impressive ships. Their nine [46 cm (18 inch) guns](_URL_3_) were the largest guns to ever be fitted to any class of battleship. In comparison, the Iowa-class battleships, commissioned after *Yamato* and *Musashi*, stuck with [1... | null |
43bi62 | what's the advantage of a really long lease (1000s of years) as opposed to actually buying a property? | [
{
"answer": "It's not the buyer's choice. If the property you want is only available leasehold, then you'll have to have it leasehold. It's the seller that decides.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "A lot of land owned by the government isn't legally allowed to be sold since it is for the use of ... | null |
25r11r | France has detonated over 210 nuclear devices to Britain's 45. Why did France pursue a much more aggressive nuclear testing regime than Britain? | [
{
"answer": "A number of reasons really. They didn't sign on to the [Partial Test Ban Treaty](_URL_0_) in 1963, so they weren't under any international treaty regulation. France has 75% nuclear energy, so they had fissile material in abundance. Being so heavily invested in nuclear energy is (or was) a huge sour... | null |
51bt0b | How does gene therapy/crispr affect every single cell in the body? | [
{
"answer": "They don't. Getting CRISPR to the right tissue is a completely separate problem, and it's not solved right now. Until it is, CRISPR has research value but not therapeutic value. \n\nDelivering CRISPR to a single cell changes that cell and cells created from that cell by cell division. This means th... | null |
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