id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
1qzd1x | Tuesday Trivia | Crazy Cartography: Historical Maps! | [
{
"answer": "I think I'll take this opportunity to highlight what is generally considered one of the greatest infographics of all time, Charles Minard's [Flow Map of Napoleon's Campaign into Russia.](_URL_0_) Although it is in French, it should be easily decipherable to the viewer in its portrayal of the size o... | null |
4lid4o | how can people just tell which direction they're going? | [
{
"answer": "Well, there are a few ways. But most importantly, road signs should tell you which direction highways go. Also, it's all about learning how to orient yourself. Use the sun as a guide. It rises in the East and sets in the West. Looking into the sun in the morning? You're headed East. Sun to your lef... | null |
8dxzrp | How crucial was the Army's role is the pacific campaign? | [
{
"answer": "The bulk of the troops in the Pacific were actually Army, not USMC. By my count 22 Army divisions saw combat in the Pacific: Americal, Philippine, 6th, 7th, 24th, 25th, 27th, 31st, 32nd, 33rd, 37th, 38th, 40th, 41st, 43rd, 77th, 81st, 93rd, 96th, 98th, 11th Airborne, and 1st Cavalry. Several other ... | null |
2lfaw9 | Why is there things like depression that make people constantly sad but no disorders that cause constant euphoria? | [
{
"answer": "Most forms of depression we know of are associated with the basal expression levels of signal receptors in your brain. Thus, it is a rather consistent over- or under-expression of your capacity to feel \"joy.\" Euphoria, on the other hand, relies on stimulus threshold to unleash a flow of chemical ... | null |
d4kakr | During the Battle of Moscow (1941), the Soviet Union moved a big amount of units from Siberia and the Far East to fight in Moscow. Couldn't it has been a good moment to start a second front in the east by the Japanese Empire? | [
{
"answer": "Absolutely not Japan was in no condition to start another war with Russia as it was already moving to strike at the US and European Pacific colonies. By the start of Battle of Moscow, Japan was planning its attack on the US and to wipe out the Pacific Fleet. Japan was by this time starved of resour... | null |
1guce5 | Why do cast iron frying pans turn black? | [
{
"answer": "It's mostly from iron oxide (FeO) forming due to reaction with oxygen in air. The oxide is normally a dark grey colour but even a tiny amount of absorbed oil will turn it dark black.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "261135",
... | null |
6i37f1 | why is it so universally accepted that dinosaurs roared? is there any way paleontologist know what kind of sounds that actually would have made? | [
{
"answer": "In many cases paleontologists can make an educated guess based on the structure of the bones in the larynx. But most likely, many dinosaurs didn't roar. Many of the bird-like ones probably made noises more reminiscent of chirps or whoops. One way that scientists make these educated guesses is by co... | null |
8r72of | Did industrialization and urbanization see an increase in mental illness? | [
{
"answer": "Hi OP, while this question might get answered here, it sounds more like the domain of /r/AskSocialScience or /r/AskPsychology . You might consider x-posting to one of them. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "238212",
"... | null |
178vat | As a segment of the population, did European nobility in the Medieval, Early Modern and Modern eras die disproportionately in war? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, at least in many instances. I know that David Cannadine has demonstrated that WWI took a disproportionate human toll on the British aristocracy. I know his purpose in relating that is to make the point that even as late as 1914 the aristocracy were still committed to a warrior class ideal an... | null |
3u8os1 | Was Marxism So Rampant In Academia Back During Much Of The Cold War? | [
{
"answer": " Note- continental European academia has different intellectual traditions and specific contexts, so will be kept out of the discussion.\n\nAssuming the OP is giving an accurate picture of the poly sci prof's position the characterization that Marxism was \"rampant\" in the Anglo-American academy i... | null |
kalmp | If living bodies are constantly emitting heat, are they losing minute amounts of mass? | [
{
"answer": "Even if you assume that all of the energy is coming from converting matter into energy (a la E = m * c^2 ), it'd be a really, really small amount. Assuming a basal metabolic rate of 100 W, that yields\n\n100 / (2.998 * 10^8 )^2 = 1.11265006 * 10^-15 kilograms every second. At that rate, you'd los... | null |
po4v6 | Why did we evolve two kidneys? | [
{
"answer": "This question is misleading because the question of \"Why did we evolve X\" is quite different from \"What is the advantage of X\"? The question of why we evolved something is answered in all cases by \"because of mutation.\" We gain adaptive and maladaptive genotypes (which manifest as phenotypes ... | null |
2fya37 | What causes electrons to move (and also eventually slow) in a current? | [
{
"answer": "At a finite temperature, free electrons are always moving due to pure thermal motion. This doesn't give rise to any current because the electrons are moving in random directions, and their net motion cancels to zero.\n\nWhen an electric field exists across the material, it creates regions of high a... | null |
969t38 | how can something like beer, a liquid, make you more thirsty? | [
{
"answer": "Just because it's a liquid doesn't mean it'll provide you with water.\n\nDrink a bottle of mercury or antifreeze...... actually don't.\n\nBeer is a solution of alcohol and water. While it initially provides you with water, the alcohol triggers your system to use it's water store to flush out the p... | null |
55maew | Did East Berliners dig tunnels to bypass the Berlin Wall during the Cold War? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, they did. Before I dive deeper let me just clarify that it was not the Soviets who were responsible for securing the border of East Germany, but the Ministry of National Defense of the GDR. In fact the so called \"Grenztruppen\" (border troops) were an independent branch within the military of... | null |
53tejz | why does a hard boiled egg leave me feeling full much sooner than eating a srambled or fried egg? | [
{
"answer": "It has a lot to do with the fact that more of the egg protein gets denatured when frying as opposed to boiling. Remember, your body has a lower tolerance for protein than fat, so will more quickly fill up on it. This is why people on high-protein diets can eat less and still feel full. The higher t... | null |
g57sh | Books on Time | [
{
"answer": "A lot of questions here. Maybe you should check out \"Relativity simply explained\" by Martin Gardner.\n\nEinstein's original paper was just a theory of electricity for when the electrical sources are moving. It was Minkowski who made the connection with a four dimensional geometry of space+time.\n... | null |
95xwpw | If you were a human floating towards the sun, at what distance from the sun would you feel an Earth-like temperature? | [
{
"answer": "The unsatisfying answer is \"it depends.\" Here on Earth, the temperature you experience is largely determined by the ambient temperature of the matter (air) around you. But in space, you would be in near vacuum. The random particles around you might have some temperature, but there simply won't be... | null |
2zzjlc | Why can't we achieve the equivalent of a quantum computer simply by creating transistors with more than two states? | [
{
"answer": "There is a big difference between an object that can exist in multiple states and an object that can exist in a superposition of states. A classical bit (0 or 1) or trit (0, 1 or 2) can still only exist in 2 (or 3) states. Its in the state 0, 1 or 2. A qbit exists in a superposition a|0 > + b|1 > ... | null |
696bf7 | why is it preferable to have illegally obtained evidence thrown out of court as opposed to keeping it and prosecuting the one who obtained it? | [
{
"answer": "The Supreme Court discusses this rationale in every exclusionary case. \n\nThe first thing to keep in mind is that the Constitution does not require an exclusionary rule. But for the 4th Amendment to have any value it must have some remedy or mechanism of enforcement. \n\nSuing the officials for an... | null |
yepm7 | Is there any scientific basis behind the concept of "detoxing"? | [
{
"answer": "No.\n\nThe human body is quite capable of removing most toxins itself and none of these products have been shown to have any real effect in removing \"toxins.\"",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In addition to what klawy wrote, the things that _do_ stick around (bioaccumulate) do so ... | null |
7y9ikc | When did Mexico become a majority Spanish-speaking country (as opposed to the various indigenous languages). I thought I'd read somewhere that in the 1820s, when independence was achieved, ~50% of the country still primarily spoke an Indian language | [
{
"answer": "The following is sourced from Nicholas Ostler's *Empires of the Word: A Language History of the World.*\n\nWhen the Spanish conquered the territory we today (and many of its pre-conquest inhabitants) call Mexico, its people spoke a wide range of languages. Most common was Nahuatl, the Aztec languag... | null |
1jn7y9 | if someone goes to jail for something that later becomes legal, are they then released? | [
{
"answer": "Nothing, they still broke the law. If the law goes into affect retroactively, which is incredibly rare, they may be freed. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If it was a crime when you did the act you will serve the remainder of your sentence regardless of future developments. ",
... | null |
xap71 | the community aspect of reddit | [
{
"answer": "* Cake day = Reddit birthday. Every 12 months since you signed up, you get a cake next to your name for 24hr.\n* Karma = number of upvotes you've received minus number of downvotes. Link karma + comment karma are separate. Self-posts (text, not links) don't receive karma.\n* Up to you. I just upvot... | null |
5yt8tx | How much dietary iron could a person eat before setting off a metal detector? | [
{
"answer": "No amount of dietary iron will set off a metal detector. Metal detectors operate through induction, and respond to electrically conductive materials. Dietary iron is ionic, and has completely different properties. You could wheel a few cases of iron pills through a metal detector and it wouldn't... | null |
7mx8s2 | Why is the speed of light expressed as 'c'? | [
{
"answer": "It was once a common letter to use for the speed or velocity of various things, from Latin *celeritas*, \"speed\". Enough of the founding papers on relativity used it for the invariant speed that it's become rare to see it used in any other sense.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "[\... | null |
7i22ef | how are the stars always in the same spot in the sky? | [
{
"answer": "If you stand in one place and turn around 360 degrees, the position of the world changes from your perspective, but all buildings, cities, countries, continents, etc. remain in exactly the same position.\n\nSame concept applies to the stars. They're always in the same spot relative to everything el... | null |
12jlje | i would love to learn about the most common (say 5-10) logical argument fallacies, but most explanations are too difficult | [
{
"answer": "Nice, simple and descriptive explanations for fallacies [here](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Here is a list of fallacies: _URL_0_\n\nI will try to describe the common ones in easier terms.\n\nStraw Man: When you take your opponents argument and use only the parts of it... | null |
e1qyxu | Why is lithium the best element to use for batteries? | [
{
"answer": "How good metals are for batteries depends on how easily they give away electrons, and lithium is the one that gives away electrons the easiest. Note however that you also need something to recieve these electrons, for this purpose metals like gold, silver, and copper are the best. TL, DR: lithium g... | null |
22nm77 | Was Champagne or Beer historically carbonated ? If you went back in time, what would these taste like ? | [
{
"answer": "Carbon dioxide production is a byproduct of the yeast that ferments sugar to alcohol. Soft drinks are carbonated by adding CO2 under pressure, but for an alcoholic drink it's enough that it's fermented in a closed container. The in-bottle fermentation that gives champagne its carbonation is what se... | null |
316ofx | why do advertisers & marketing people believe it's a good strategy to make ads that are deliberately annoying, and to run them several times in a row during a commercial break? | [
{
"answer": "We are all familiar with those ads on television that just scream at us to switch them off. They are just so excruciating that you can’t bear to watch them. Afterwards you ask, why did a company make such a downright irritating ad? What possible benefit can accrue to them from actively irritating t... | null |
bwicyf | Did America have any POW Camps in the continental US during the Second World War (besides Japanese Internment Camps)? If so, what were conditions like? What did prisoners think of them? Are there any surviving diary entries or interviews from former inmates? | [
{
"answer": "Yes. The United States housed several hundred thousand POWs in the US during the war, which I've written about [here](_URL_0_). Happy to help with any follow-ups you might have, and I'd also highly recommend *We Were Each Other's Prisoners* by Lewis H. Carlson, which I mentioned in one of the follo... | null |
3f24fi | Is there a book that retells U.S. History in an unbiased, completely truthful way? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think that you will be able to get what you're looking for in less than 300 pages. That book would fall into pitfalls similar to the pitfalls of textbooks; they can't cover everything or give in depth coverage to the most important parts without cutting some peoples, places, and events. ",
... | null |
1ren5a | Why were taxes in America so high in the 40s/50s/60s? | [
{
"answer": "First, taxes do not equal communism. One can support all sorts of left-wing ideas and not be a communist; in fact, you can be virulently *anti*-communist. There is no transitive property in public policy, as useful a propaganda tool as that idea may be. There are many examples of groups within the ... | null |
4m6wsx | the difference between a dual-core 1400 mhz and a quad-core 1400 mhz mobile phone processor. | [
{
"answer": "I think what your asking what's the purpose of multicore processors. The 1400 MHz is clock speed which is the max frequency at which transitors can switch. The higher the frequency, the faster the processing for a single core. \nThe purpose of cores is to split up tasks. With most applications on a... | null |
6o2u74 | Need help finding a word | [
{
"answer": "I think you mean \"Anschluss\", which was the annexation of Austria on 12 of march 1938 by Nazi Germany",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "2852778",
"title": "Crosswords DS",
"section": "Section::::Gameplay.:Wor... | null |
3e9wt8 | Why was Jesus of Nazareth crucified? | [
{
"answer": "Echoing the answer provided by /u/brojangles, most scholars agree that the most likely charge was that he was being hailed as \"King of the Jews.\" Interestingly, in his most recent book, [How Jesus Became God: The Exaltation of a Jewish Preacher from Galilee](_URL_0_), New Testament Scholar Bart ... | null |
1eiajx | When you lose fat in your body, are you breathing out the carbons or are do you urinate the carbons? | [
{
"answer": "You breathe out the carbons. \n\nFat breaks down into ketone bodies like actylacetate and beta-hydroxybutarate, which is transported to our cells and made into acetyl-CoA, which then enters the TCA cycle, producing CO2, which is then transported to your lungs.\n\nNitrogen waste products (urea) from... | null |
3gvvel | I read that the reason alcohol became popular in Europe was because they didn't have clean water. But alcohol dehydrates you. How would this have helped? | [
{
"answer": "it's badhistory. \n\n_URL_1_\n\nwe will see if this causes /u/eternkerri to hulk smash \n\nand here is the wiki section which debunks this\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Just to address your second comment, alcohol on it's own may be dehydrating, but diluted in beer or ... | null |
1czmtp | the physical characteristics of the planets in our solar system | [
{
"answer": "In order from the sun:\n\n* **Mercury** - The smallest planet, no atmosphere, made of rock, very hot days, very cold nights. \n\n* [**Venus**](_URL_1_) - Slightly smaller than Earth, made of rock, has an acidic and thick atmosphere, hot because the greenhouse gases trap the heat.\n\n* [**Earth**](_... | null |
7h3pn6 | How much of impact did the Knights actually had? | [
{
"answer": "I'm really not sure what you're asking about. Could you explain a bit? What knights, where, and when?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8055956",
"title": "Knights Hospitaller",
"section": "Section::::History.:... | null |
2hq40u | Did Cold War politics ever play a role in the Northern Irish conflict? | [
{
"answer": "The Cold War was really just a side point to the Troubles(As the Irish call it). The only time there was any real direct involvement was when the Soviet Union supplied arms to the Official IRA through the KGB starting in 1972 - a KGB operation known as Operation SPLASH. The Communist Party of Irela... | null |
2duq2o | how come child prodigies usually have adhd? | [
{
"answer": "ADHD isn't the same in everyone, it's also misdiagnosed. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I'm willing to bet that most of these child prodigies don't actually have legit adhd, its just that they get bored with simplistic shit more quickly than most kids. But God help everyone nearb... | null |
2j4poi | Being Columbus day, this article detailing how awful Christopher Columbus was has been making the rounds on social media. How accurate is it? | [
{
"answer": "[There is a very popular thread](_URL_0_) from a year back on this very topic which I am sure you will find interesting.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "18079465",
"title": "Columbus's letter on the first voyage",
... | null |
3bcqhs | if the sentinelese people have been isolated for the past 60k years is it possible that they have become their own sub species or have their own unique evolutionary adaptations? | [
{
"answer": "They could very well be slightly adapted, but 60,000 years is not enough for major physical changes. definitely very distinct culture and religion, but probably very similar in a physical sense.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id"... | null |
82n2cb | how much does fitness potential decrease with age? | [
{
"answer": "Medically I read somewhere it declines by 10% each decade. Most people are never actually fit, or if they ever were they stop putting in the same work the older they get. Also, they don't eat a proper diet to sustain. Proper diet is a huge part of the body being healthy.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
16nag5 | It is possible to charge iPhones with either 1 amp or 2 amp chargers. They come with 1 amp chargers. Will using a 2 amp charger damage battery life? | [
{
"answer": "It's fine, but also causes issues.\n\nUSB has a standard of 5 Watts, 5 Volts at 1 Amps.\n\nA 2 Amp Charger is non-standard and in a lot of cases will void your warranty if you admitted to using one that is.\n\nWith iPhone and iPad it may be different with their policy on the matter.\n\nTo find out ... | null |
33of15 | What does brain activity look like for people with ADHD? | [
{
"answer": "Around a year ago, there was a research done about this. Using resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging(rfMRI),researchers have uncovered disrupted connections between different brain areas in children and adolescents with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.\n\nThe team found that ... | null |
j08mz | What else do electrons interact with besides protons? | [
{
"answer": "Well technically, the electrons don't interact with the protons directly. Electrons interact with *photons* (electromagnetism) that then interact with protons. Electrons also interact with W^+/- and Z^0 bosons in particle decays. While it seems like a bit of pedantry, it's really the key to your qu... | null |
3hym88 | Did the Chinese Communists introduce simplified Chinese characters as a way to eradicate traditional Chinese culture and make it impossible to read older literature? | [
{
"answer": "For most of China's history in the 20th century, its literacy rate was ridiculously low, [and hovered around 20% in 1950.](_URL_6_) In addition, many Chinese intellectuals at the time blamed the complexity of traditional Chinese for holding the country's progress back. As a result, numerous proposa... | null |
x749e | A Reading List for the History of Iraq(excluding the last 30 years if possible) | [
{
"answer": "\"Kingmakers: The Invention of the Modern Middle East\" by Karl Meyer looks at how the French and British reorganized the Middle East after the demise of the Ottoman Empire. \"Desert Queen: The Extraordinary Life of Gertrude Bell\" by Janet Wallach looks mo... | null |
3byucc | Does history as a discipline have goals? Does it "make progress" (e.g., as in physics, medicine)? | [
{
"answer": "This is a pretty subjective question, so keep that in mind. \n\nI would say a great many historians see a certain progress in history as a discipline. Historical methodology has made great strides in the last 200 years. We have a greater appreciation for how to properly critique sources; history i... | null |
lfyi3 | How are HIV positive individuals "reinfected" by other positive individuals? | [
{
"answer": "One of the hallmarks of HIV is an extremely high mutation rate; even if you have one strain, it's very easy to get a second strain which may be more drug-resistant, more fast-acting, or otherwise worse than the strain you currently have.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "One of the h... | null |
33ww1q | why are scams so common as ads on webpages? | [
{
"answer": "Well my common sense says money, i.e Ads provide money if you can advertise anything then why not and small websites will have more scams. These scammer's make enough money to pay the little amounts of fee to advertise and the people who rent servers out to smaller websites don't care where money i... | null |
f7yd71 | why do successful transplants fail | [
{
"answer": "I'm going to go a bit beyond 5 years old here, but I think you may appreciate it. \n\nOur organs are made of cells, but it's important for our cells to communicate with each other but also self identify as being part of a larger whole, because otherwise our bodies immune system will destroy any \"f... | null |
4khzsg | Were King David or other Biblical characters real, historical, verifiable people, or were they mostly legendary figures? | [
{
"answer": "Somewhere in-between. In most ancient civilizations (Egypt, China, etc), as time goes forward we have more and more confidence that people were real. The earliest characters are allegorical/legendary, and later people were recorded in their own time. Ancient Israelite civilization is the same wa... | null |
12gsum | Question about nuclear missiles and asteroids | [
{
"answer": "Well, it would be possible, but we would have to hit it when its still quite far, otherwise, we would just have a large number of smaller radioactive asteroids hitting the earth, now, give a minute, there was an interesting video about this, ill link it.\nOk here it is _URL_0_ it pretty much sums ... | null |
441wi9 | Was Richard III a disliked king during his reign or is his repuptation mostly fabricated by Tudor writers? | [
{
"answer": "The Tudors definitely smeared him. But at the same time in the 20th century there has been a little too much in the other way. I thoroughly approve of the reevaluation of him. But sometimes people are a little too quick to credit him. Things like deposing his own nephew are excused as realpolitik t... | null |
baw4qg | if we pointed a radio telescope at earth from space, what would we see? | [
{
"answer": "It depends on what frequency you choose. Unless you stay in the [Water Hole](_URL_0_ ) you only see an opaque ball. There is also a narrow optical band where you can sometimes see some of the surface, but that's not a radio telescope.\n\nIn the Water Hole (between 1.42 and 1.67 GHz), you don't se... | null |
1bdzlh | Japan historians: What would Japanese soldiers have on their person in WWII? | [
{
"answer": "THey would have wore in flight the following \n\n: a flight helmet either a Type 2 soft or type 3 with hard earphones \n\nflight googles clear made of glass later anti fog and heated were experimented with.\n\nA muffler and flight suite \n\nA float vest \n\nGloves some were even heated \n\nyes they... | null |
30fbsa | doesn't my "right to refuse service for any reason" make bills like indiana's "religious protection act" redundant or unnecessary? | [
{
"answer": "Much like a plaque that says \"we have the right to shoot you in the face for any reason\" those don't really carry any legal weight. Also, race, gender, and in some states sexuality, are considered protected classes which means \"for any reason\" doesn't apply so even though as a business owner y... | null |
20gder | What was the siege of Vicksburg like for the civilian population of the city? | [
{
"answer": "As might be expected, life for civilians was not particularly pleasant. Some lived in caves along the bluffs to escape the constant, terrifying, shells. However, the bombardment did little damage to property and few civilians were killed or wounded. The bombardment certainly took its toll on moral... | null |
5y6c2f | why does sound changes pitch when moving away? | [
{
"answer": "The Doppler effect (red or blue-shifting with light) is when when a moving object is emmiting a wave, the waves do not change their speed depending on what side they were emmitted from, and so are squished together on one side, and spread appart on the other. Here's an animation. _URL_0_:",
"pr... | null |
mzif7 | Why was there only one abiogensis on Earth and why isn't it happening today? | [
{
"answer": "Who says it isn't?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because of how quickly life sprung up after it was possible for it to on Earth, it's safe (though unscientific) to assume that this has happened multiple times since.\n\nHowever, any new life that develops would find itself thrown ... | null |
36qhnw | what's the point of having nerve endings in our teeth, when all it can do is hurt for the rest of your life, as they won't heal themselves or grow back if they get a cavity | [
{
"answer": "To let you know if a living thing is living inside of your tooth eating away at your flesh under the tooth.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Same reason everything in your body has pain receptors. When there's a cavity, the sterile component inside your teeth is desterilised with mo... | null |
9jyde2 | How many people can one tree sufficiently make oxygen for? | [
{
"answer": "The exact number will depend of course on the location, size, species, and maturity of the trees, etc. However, I found one study^(1) where researchers estimated the number of trees needed to offset the average oxygen consumption of a single person in various North American cities. [Here is the ful... | null |
831xjp | how do carats for diamonds work? | [
{
"answer": "Carats are a unit of mass equal to 200mg. Carat comes from carob, a seed used to determine diamond mass.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's just a specialized unit of mass Each carat is .2g. So a 5 carat diamond would be 1 gram. \n\nThere's also a subunit called a point which ... | null |
2w1h5q | how are laws passed in the us? | [
{
"answer": "In the simplest of explanations the congress forms a bill and votes on it if it passes with a majority it goes to the president if he signs it it becomes law. If the president vetoes it, it goes back to congress where they vote again and if it gets a supermajority then it is law. If they can't get ... | null |
f3pmpb | Why do we call the United States "The Union" when referring to the Civil War? | [
{
"answer": " > Why do we call the United States \"The Union\" when referring to the Civil War?\n\nThe \"Union\" was a reference to the \"more perfect union\" referred to in the Preamble of the U.S. Constitution. This phrase was itself a reference back to the less-than-perfect union under the Articles of Confe... | null |
3ojaym | how do suppositories work? | [
{
"answer": "Posting here because no one has yet...\n\nI'm pretty sure they get absorbed into your large intestine (just like the way nutrients and water do), by there are mucous (wet) membranes that have absorbing surfaces (villi). ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Depends on what exactly you'r... | null |
cd1mat | when you turn down or up the volume on devices with either a wheel or button, what actually happens that allows it to sound quieter or louder? | [
{
"answer": "A volume knob or wheel is an example of a device called a *potentiometer*, which is a device that adjusts the voltage going down a wire by increasing or decreasing the electrical resistance.\n\nIf the resistance increases (if you turn the volume knob down), then less voltage makes it to the speaker... | null |
98j0wx | I've heard that the current value of diamonds is due to a marketing campaign in the 40s, but when looking at jewelry from the 1800s, diamonds seems incredibly popular. Does this mean that diamond jewelry was considered cheaper and less impressive than pieces with other stones in those days? | [
{
"answer": "In antiquity, diamonds were extremely rare and extremely valuable. In Pliny the Elder's *Natural History*, book 37, he refers to them in this way:\n\n > The substance that possesses the greatest value, not only among the precious stones, but of all human possessions, is adamas; a mineral which, for... | null |
30fygj | 1917-18, the Germans had 'won' in the East and transferred millions of men west, and they hadn't lost any (or only a little) actual German territory. Considering this, why did they agree to such harsh peace terms? How desperate was the situation for Germany prior to Versailles? | [
{
"answer": "***This is my first time commenting on this subreddit, sorry if it doesn't meet all the requirements***\n\nVery desperate indeed. The men from the Eastern front had been used in the Michael Offensive in early 1918. This offensive had been very successful tactically, but failed to capture any strate... | null |
6gdxwn | why can you use any amount of water to cook pasta but you need a certain amount for grains? | [
{
"answer": "The reason being is pasta is processed and just needs to soften with little absorption. Grains on the other hand need to absorb liquid to become soft, but the can only take in so much liquid. This is why it must be precise with grains and not pasta.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "... | null |
3xdhzp | Why didn't the Republic of Srpska merge with Serbia during the Bosnian Wars? | [
{
"answer": "Because such an act, at least if done unilaterally, would have been flagrantly illegal and would likely have brought about international intervention and huge retribution on Serbia.\n\nFor a start, Republika Srpska never really had any clearly defined territory until the Dayton Agreement, just terr... | null |
1lz433 | How does a blastocyst determine which end will become the "front" or "back" of the organism? | [
{
"answer": "grad student working with flies here, I may be wrong with the other animals...\n\nFor most animals (because insects ARE most animals), the front and back axis (anterior posterior axis) is already laid out before the egg is fertilized. In Drosophila, the mother would make RNA molecules and puts the... | null |
3frqp5 | How far back would we have to go before educated people know more than we do about the history of Rome? | [
{
"answer": "Archeology isn't that great when it comes to information about singular events, its strength really lies in uncovering the everyday life. Yes, occasionally archeologists discover inscriptions or battle sites that cast a new light on our perception of events but often very significant events (whose ... | null |
23x8l3 | How did Baroque, Classical and early Romantic composers become famous without the use of recording? | [
{
"answer": "Bach wasn't very famous in his lifetime, actually, his reputation grew over time, partly because his music was used to teach theory (as it still is today), and partly because he was rediscovered and people appreciated him more the second time around. That's part of a different discussion though. As... | null |
1cb92c | What is the term for when the sea inundates a drainage basin? | [
{
"answer": "The word you're looking for is transgression. The opposite is regression.\n\nDeposits left behind by these would be termed transgressive/regressive sequences.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "26003459",
"title": "List... | null |
4aobj9 | is sweden a capitalist or socialist country? | [
{
"answer": "Sweden is a fundamentally capitalist country. There are, generally, private property rights and the economy is oriented around private individuals making investments with the goal of turning a profit.\n\nOnly about a quarter of Swedish economic activity is comprised of the public (state) sector.",
... | null |
7kslv9 | Hitler killed himself on April 30th. The Red Army didn't get to his bunker until May 2nd. Was it possible for him to successfully flee if he tried? | [
{
"answer": "Mabye there would have been enough time to attempt to flee Berlin but there certainly wasn't a good chance to be sucessfull. Since we will never know for sure what Hitler thought there is not much sense in speculating about it. [u/commiespaceinvader](_URL_0_) wrote an excellent op-ed about questio... | null |
1c4pmq | how sweating equals losing weight? | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't. Your body sweats as a temperature regulation mechanism. Basically, when you exercise your muscles work hard, which makes them heat up. To maintain a good level of body temperature, your body starts to secrete sweat to cool yourself down.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "... | null |
6z5cpy | What are the origins of US county boundaries? | [
{
"answer": "There are currently ~3100 counties and parishes in the US, any sort of comprehensive answer on how they got their boundaries would not just be book length but series length.\n\nFor your chances of getting better answers is there perhaps a particular state or group of counties that caused you to ask... | null |
ylh76 | Is there estimated upper limit for mass of a star before becoming a black hole? Is mass the only determining factor for if a star becomes a black hole or not, or what are the other factors? | [
{
"answer": "When discussing whether or not a star will become a black hole the only thing considered in most discussions is the mass of the black hole. In fact, the initial mass of a star pretty much determines that star's entire lifetime of evolution. However, there is one major assumption that we use in thes... | null |
4cbj8s | How do objects (or atoms) transfer their temperature to each other? | [
{
"answer": "You could probably answer this question in a few ways, so here is my go.\n\nI like to think of temperature in the frame of statistical mechanics. When you tell me a temperature that means something to me. To me, a temperature is a measure of the average amount of random motion that a collection of ... | null |
37ze9i | When did we learn that sperm was the cause of our lives? | [
{
"answer": "People understood the importance of ejaculate for thousands of years. Of course, people wondered how this amazing stuff worked, and ejaculate was among the first things intensely studied by [Anton Van Leeuwenhoek](_URL_1_), who is credited with inventing the first microscope.\n\nThis led to the dis... | null |
177o62 | Diluted red wine changes color at a certain concentration. What's happening here? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know what your chemistry background is, but if the pigments in the wine form a solution that behaves according to the Beer-Lambert law you should see a simple lightening of the color, so it could be a chemical deviation (_URL_0_, or google Beer's Law deviations) of one or more pigments pres... | null |
54tixf | What is the current consensus on the Nixon administration's involvement in the Pinochet coup? | [
{
"answer": "I researched this extensively during my time at university using the declassified documents and came to the conclusion that while the United States desired the removal of Allende and actively worked against his administration, the United States was not directly responsible for the coup that saw Pin... | null |
1ms9xb | What's the difference between a legless lizard and a snake? | [
{
"answer": "There are a bunch of differences between the two (skeletal differences, etc.). But one of the most obvious one is the legless lizard can blink (they have \"eye lids\"), while snakes can't (they have a modified scale that covers their eye all the time and have no \"eye lids\"). \n\nEDIT: This is j... | null |
aezfvx | what is the process used to make powdered eggs? | [
{
"answer": "Spray drying is the name of the [process](_URL_0_)\n\nBasically, you splay the liquid (mixed egg in this case) into a fine mist. the mist enters a very hot chamber, causing the moisture to evaporate very quickly, but it doesn't stay long enough to actually cook the material you want to dry. this po... | null |
26k5nv | why do i feel extremely sick when looking at a cell phone or screen while in the car driving on the road? | [
{
"answer": "Your eyes are telling your brain that you are staying still because you are looking at a stationary object. \n\nThe part of your body that keeps track of balance and motion is telling your brain that you are moving because you are in a car.\n\nThese mixed signals cause some people to feel dizzy and... | null |
66lbnr | things 'randomly' falling over | [
{
"answer": "There are different forms of stability. Something like a pencil lying on it's side is stable, there is no lower energy state it can fall to. Metastability would be like a pencil standing on end. It's stable in a local sense in that minute disturbances just make it wobble a bit and settle back. T... | null |
79a46u | why does the water in a glass seem to rise above the edge? | [
{
"answer": "The 'surface' above water (or any other liquid) is called a meniscus. Water sticks to things, and to itself. When you see water in a cup \"climb\" the edge slightly, that is due to the water 'sticking' to the edge, and bringing more water with it. In many liquids, their sticking together force (coh... | null |
1sv4op | what are the most important coding languages, why were they created, how do they work | [
{
"answer": "A few of the most important programming languages today:\n\n* assembly/machine language - the language the computer speaks internally, all other languages get translated into this at some level...difficult to program in directly\n* C/C++ - a low level, efficient language that most large application... | null |
14ibb1 | Was anyone else working to describe a theory of gravity at the same time as Newton? | [
{
"answer": "Goethe disagreed with Newton",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You can read about some of them here: _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "29544",
"title": "Scientific Revolution",
"section":... | null |
5vjtyu | most phones these days become slow, laggy and battery inefficient in a short while as compared to older phones. why aren't long-term issues worked upon? | [
{
"answer": "Even today, you can still buy brand new \"feature phones\" that only do basic cell phone stuff, and they'll have a pretty amazing battery life. However, it would seem that a lot of consumers don't value this over the additional features that a smartphone can offer.\n\nPhones getting slow and laggy ... | null |
vwqbr | why can't I see the edge of my eye sight? | [
{
"answer": "Your brain basically creates an image for you in your extreme peripheral vision",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The only area in your field of vision that you actually can't see anything is where the optic nerve exits the eye as there are no photo receptors at this point [here's th... | null |
c25mou | carnivorous plants | [
{
"answer": "Plants need to extract nutrients from the soil, but some soils are pretty pathetic and just don't provide enough to grow reliably.\n\nAt the other end of the Kingdom of life, bugs are vastly numerous and pretty damn dumb. A good number of them get stuck in flowers or harpooned on thorns or trapped... | null |
dsa1dy | why does appetite for food seem to lessen with old age? | [
{
"answer": "Your taste buds reduce and shrink with age. Therefore as you age, food will lose its flavor. If you have to eat, you would want to eat less volume of bland things if you have the option.\n\nAlso, seniors would have a lifetime of accumulated dental issues. If they have missing teeth or ill-fitting d... | null |
4gcpkd | why have most consumer products come down in price against inflation? | [
{
"answer": "Assuming you live in the US, the recent strength of the dollar has made importing products cheaper. Retailers then reduce the price in stores to drive up sales.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "255835",
"title": "Pric... | null |
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