id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
31ojp8 | what is causing that effect in the centre of the sky? picture in comments | [
{
"answer": "That's an [upper tangent arc](_URL_0_), one of a variety of effects produced by a bunch of ice crystals high in the air. They line up and form, essentially, one gigantic lens that bends the sun's light in interesting ways.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
4mv68y | why does the back of a rollercoaster train feel like it's going faster than the front? | [
{
"answer": "The back of the roller coaster *does* go faster over bumps and down drops.\n\nTake the initial drop for example. When the coaster first starts going over the drop, it's moving very slowly. But as more and more of the coaster clears the drop, the more weight there is pulling the rest of the coaster ... | null |
42f30t | Why did the first humans originate in Africa? Is there any particular reason that they appeared there first, instead of Asia or Europe? | [
{
"answer": "This is really a question for r/anthropology, I think, as its prehistory.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Not really a question for /r/history - you'd have better luck asking in /r/evolution or maybe /r/anthropology. But here's a summary.\n\nEvolution is a matter of happenstance, m... | null |
15vtuh | Were there ever any instances of executions through an archer "firing squad." | [
{
"answer": " > \"And the archers shot at him till he was as full of arrows as an urchin, leaving him there for dead.\"\n\nThere is some mention of this happening, [Saint Sebastian](_URL_0_) is one. Although it might never had happened that way.\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Perhaps a ... | null |
2m3y6z | Why isn't there cobalt in the Earth's core? | [
{
"answer": "In the Silicon - burning process in stars, previously - made elements are burned with helium to yield the heaviest elements made by a star in its main sequence. Chromium accepts a helium nucleus (+2 protons, +2 neutrons), to become iron, and the iron does similar to \"skip\" cobalt straight to nick... | null |
2fu69o | I know nothing about pre-Colombian civilizations. Can you point me towards some good bibliography on them? | [
{
"answer": "hi! you can get started on this sub's *Book List* - [here](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5222",
"title": "Colombia",
"section": "Section::::Culture.:Literature.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 11... | null |
1tgx8l | how is flying in a "v" shape better for birds? | [
{
"answer": "The aerodynamics of the wind currents from the front bird help the birds in the back have to do less work. They rotate in and out of that front position, too.\n\nHave you ever been kayaking or rowing? When you're in sync, it becomes easier to paddle because everyone is helping the person behind the... | null |
64lf6w | How does the food, medicine, drink that we take go to specific parts of our system? | [
{
"answer": "For the most part, they don't get *properly* distributed, they just get distributed. How or whether a cell in that tissue uses any particular molecule in the interstitial fluid is up to that cell. \n\nThat said, things aren't evenly distributed, since certain organs and tissues get more blood flow ... | null |
7wu4j9 | Would a modern day human be able to reproduce with a 200,000 year old Homo Sapien? Other hominids? If so would there be any complications? | [
{
"answer": "Almost certainly. [Genetic evidence indicates that the modern human and Neanderthal lineages diverged well upwards of 500,000 years ago.](_URL_0_) We also know that the two lineages were able to interbreed much more recently (all modern populations outside of Africa have ~2-4% Neanderthal DNA), s... | null |
18gely | Coworker asked me about the legitimacy this DNA study on Homo sapiens cognatus "bigfoot". Article says 3 "bigfoot" genmoes sequences in a 5-year study | [
{
"answer": "I don't have a background with bioinformatics, but as an anthropologist I think Bigfoot can be comfortably dismissed as non-existent. As such, I'd suggest these findings (that the hair is not human or animal) are much more probably incorrect or have misidentified some other sort of fibrous material... | null |
31la1t | do bones scar after a break? | [
{
"answer": "Not in the same way as skin does, but sometimes you can see a little kink or bump in an xray if it's a serious enough fracture.\n\n\nsource: have broken things, used google :) \n\nedit: phrasing (lana.........) ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I was always told that, in the locatio... | null |
1rhhgp | Were there really Samurai in Mexico? | [
{
"answer": "I'm going to refer you to another post of this exact same question:\n\n_URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "35613498",
"title": "Aztec Land & Cattle Company",
"section": "Section::::History.:Sheep Wars and... | null |
3dbxvc | what is clickbait, jailbait | [
{
"answer": "Jailbait is the term for an attractive but underage (under 18) girl, so anything you did with her would be legally obscure at best, but the laws vary from place to place. \n\nYou got clickbait correct.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Watch the movie \"Up in Smoke\" I think this is ... | null |
2om174 | when asked for the gdp of a country, what gdp is generally wanted? | [
{
"answer": "The first two are just about how to convert the NZD value to USD for international comparison. The per capita just divides the first one by population.\n\nFor the healthcare one it makes no difference, or rather, it uses the original NZD value.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
... | null |
2gxlwr | If all life in Earth originated from the same source, what is the common ancestor between animals and plants? | [
{
"answer": "There are 3 major groups/[domains](_URL_1_) of life on earth (ignoring viruses), bacteria, archea and [eukaryotes](_URL_2_).\n\nEukaryotes were the last group to arise from a combination of the other two. This more complex type of life gave rise to animals, plants, fungi and a number of other group... | null |
f2l0c6 | what are the black rope-like things sometimes put on roads across lanes? are they counters? how do they work? | [
{
"answer": "Yep. Those types are usually hollow rubber hoses sealed off at one end and attached to a pressure sensor at the other end. When a car drives over the hose it increases the pressure in the hose slightly triggering the counter to go up 1. If two cars go over at the same time it will probably count it... | null |
8q2riu | what is the purpose of this wall outlet? | [
{
"answer": "Is it a connector for cable television service?\n\nCable television wall plates are typically a single \"F\" type RF connector on a plate by themself, or sometimes on the same plate with a phone jack.\n\n\n(/Short comment)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Does it look like this?\n\n... | null |
381ca0 | I need help on identifying some of the items in an old photo | [
{
"answer": "hi! while you might get help here, it would be worth x-posting this to /r/WhatIsThisThing: identifying items is their specialty ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "41428412",
"title": "Esquiline Treasure",
"sect... | null |
55c096 | What are some good sources on ancient/middle age Eurasian nomad cultures? | [
{
"answer": "I've just finished reading Peter Frankopan's \"The Silk Roads\" and it is a fantastic source on Central Asia! Excellent bibliography for pursuing topics in more depth as well.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "\"The Silk Road: A New History\" by Hansen is a good document-based summa... | null |
14vn77 | Is it possible for only one twin to have Downs Syndrome or would they both have it? | [
{
"answer": "Contrary to what has been said, it is not impossible for only one identical twin to suffer from Down's syndrome. It would be very unlikely, however.\n\nAround 95% of Down's syndrome comes from either the egg or the sperm carrying an extra copy of chromosome 21 due to meiotic nondisjunction (messed ... | null |
5guem3 | How was adultery viewed in late-15th/early-16th century Italy? | [
{
"answer": "Something even more interesting for you, OP! After Lucrezia \"broke up\" with Pietro Bembo, she had a pretty steamy affair with Francesco Gonzaga -- the husband of Isabella d'Este. Who is Alfonso d'Este's *sister.* And thus Lucrezia's sister-in-law. So all those rumors about incest? *Technically* t... | null |
1b9xq8 | why stimulant and depressant drugs wont cancel each other out | [
{
"answer": "They can. But, there are lots of different kinds of stimulants and depressants, so sometimes the matchup isn't perfect, and you get some stimulant effects that aren't offset by depressants, and vice-versa.\n\nImagine you had two cars parked bumper-to-bumper. If they are identical, and perfectly lin... | null |
51ndwj | why are there so many competing small plug types | [
{
"answer": "So 2 factor. \n\n1 improvement and obsoletion. USB - C is objectively better than USB - 3, 2 B and A. The problem is that everyone is on USB 2 architecture so everyplace uses the same USB 2 stuff and it's hard to move forward. You don't want to make a cable no one will buy. But eventually everythin... | null |
7xesku | why is it wasting water when we let it run while we brush our teeth? | [
{
"answer": "Water that goes down the drain has already been purified once, and will now have to be purified again before it can be discharged.\n\nThe water itself can be reclaimed, but the energy used to purify it is wasted.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because once it goes down the sink, i... | null |
ee16in | What happened in a lunatic asylum during the 19Th century when a patient became pregnant? | [
{
"answer": "This is a really fascinating question that is best served by first understanding the way women were treated during that time period, and why they would be sent to an asylum in the first place. I'm also writing this from the American perspective and I have *no* idea how to answer it from the non-Ame... | null |
6i9fy9 | what is it exactly that sunlight "quality" (brightness, intensity, clearness, etc) cannot be completely/very closely replicated by man-made lightbulbs? | [
{
"answer": "It's mainly a problem with brightness. At the brightest, sunlight provides 1050 Watts per square meter of area. That's about the power of a regular microwave for just for a square meter! If you plug two microwaves into the same circuit and turn them on, you'll most likely blow the breaker. It would... | null |
6iqbze | Why don't wireless phone chargers mess up the rest of the phone's circuitry? | [
{
"answer": "There is a standard that regulates the amount of power that inductive chargers can transfer for purposes of charging a mobile device: [_URL_0_](_URL_0_)\n\nIn terms of circuitry there are also techniques such as reducing the area of the loop that involves the semiconductors to diminish the potentia... | null |
4kk2lo | How common were wild lions in ancient Greece? | [
{
"answer": "I don't know much about the history of lions on the European continent. I know lions went extinct in Ancient Greece roughly around 100 BC. They had been becoming increasingly rare in the centuries prior to that. But it's not an area I have any expertise in. \n\nHowever, I can say a little bit about... | null |
1h50gb | [META] Do any users here have historical blogs or podcasts that they update regularly? | [
{
"answer": "If you check the [user profiles](_URL_0_) page, some people link to their blogs.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "/u/skedaddle has a very nice blog, [link is in his profile](_URL_0_). ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The regularity with which my own blog is updated ... | null |
6n8wnr | What was the extent of the Soviets efforts to relocate its industry away from the onslaught on the eastern front and how much of a factor did this play in the outcome? | [
{
"answer": "Not super knowledgeable in this but from a soviet history class we read a book by John Scott, Behind the Urals, whom went to the Soviet Union for work during the Great Depression. They were building a new industrial city called Magnitogorsk. So in short, industry had already started moving before t... | null |
7rnp9j | I just read that, when they tested the atomic bomb, there was a belief it might light the atmosphere on fire. If they believed this, why did they still test it? | [
{
"answer": "There wasn't much of a belief that this could happen, because it had been considered and refuted by the scientists involved in the development of the first nuclear weapons. [In a 1991 interview with renowned physicist Hans Bethe](_URL_1_) about this very question, he credits Edward Teller as the ph... | null |
5r6g1w | I heard someone make the claim that in WW2 the allies were complicit in the Holocaust because "They could've bombed the death camps but chose not to." How much of this is grounded in reality and how much is plain revisionism? | [
{
"answer": "Until a historian can Write an answer more specific to your question you may be interested to read the excellent answers to a previous post [Why didn't the allies bomb the railway tracks leading to the Concentration/Extermination Camps in WWII?](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
21883s | Why didn't they use Guillotines for amputations during the Civil War? | [
{
"answer": "First, anesthesia using ether and chloroform was introduced in the 1840s, and U.S. Army doctors began using anesthesia for field amputations during the Mexican-American War. There are no hard records on what percentage of amputations during the Civil War involved anesthetics (mostly chloroform). U.... | null |
28d8c2 | How much did Albert Speer really have to do with the increase of munition production in wartime Germany? | [
{
"answer": "Quite a bit. Before and during the early years of the war, the German armaments industry was very fragmented and uncoordinated. The military had a great deal of control over it, but they were not suited for it. As was so typical of Nazi Germany, there were also a number of other factions playing po... | null |
1ruy6s | Was belief in extra-terrestrial life common in any society before the discovery of extra-solar planets? | [
{
"answer": "The earliest (of those later confirmed) exoplanet discoveries [was in 1988.](_URL_0_) Before that, it was all theorization (in the \"hypothetical\" sense)--but that didn't stop science-fiction writing and film from being broadly popular in various societies around the world, going back at least to ... | null |
i9yjm | Do those "sunrise" alarm clocks, which wake you up by imitating the light of the rising sun, really work? | [
{
"answer": "Anecdotal evidence: my girlfriend has sleeping problems and one of these types of light. She likes it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Anecdotal evidence: I suffer from depression in the winter, and those 10,000 Lux SAD lamps really help. So I imagine light during waking is simila... | null |
22guqg | What were the proportions of different ethnicities, languages, and colors among the population of the Roman Empire? | [
{
"answer": "Historical demographics are extremely tricky when you're looking outside the modern era, since detailed records on language, religion, population, and the like weren't kept as thoroughly as they are in modern nation-states.\n\nI will point out that there was a massive part of the empire (the majori... | null |
1ksosw | If I stood in front of an infinitely wide mirror that started accelerating sideways, what would happen to my reflection as the mirror approached the speed of light? | [
{
"answer": "Nothing. From the POV of the mirror, light always travels at the speed of light, even though the mirror is moving sideways relative to you. It is still a mirror and will behave the same way.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Nothing. The path of light traveling from you to the mirror... | null |
2331p4 | Why didn't Romans take a ship to the far east? | [
{
"answer": "They did at least reach southeast India as early as in the 1st century, as is proven by coins and pottery and some buildings (amphi-theatre). _URL_0_ Pepper was imported form south India since this time and is found in excavations in roman castles in Europe. Some nice coin pictures are at the wiki ... | null |
ah10th | how come rainforests are so lush if tropical soils are generally low in nutrients? | [
{
"answer": "The nutrients are constantly recycled and absorbed into the top forest and generally all the roots hold the poor soil together from what I know.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Pretty much any nutrients that that become available are immediately used up. The trees also have partner... | null |
4gtor5 | how long can a phone charger be before it affects the amount of time it would normally take to fully charge your phone? | [
{
"answer": "As long as the specification allows. In the case of USB 3, this is 3.0 meters or 9.8 feet. You can extend past that, but charging speed will decay as the line loses some power over distance.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4... | null |
ch0i16 | is it possible that dinosaurs could exist on another planet like earth | [
{
"answer": "Technically possible but extremely unlikely that another planet would have nearly the same conditions and evolutionary path that would lead to dinosaurs existing. Actually, it's so unlikely that it is almost impossible.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
... | null |
7b9mjf | how do the servers know a game is pirated, like if you had a pirated copy of c.o.d what happen s to stop you playing online? | [
{
"answer": "Old games used to just want to connect so servers would let them play. \n\n\nNow a days with faster connection, the first message your game sends to the server is the exact version of the game and the serial number of the copy and a signature of all the parts of the computer(processor, Ram, graphic... | null |
1f82mt | blood type inheritance | [
{
"answer": "###The long answer\nThere are four different blood types: A, B, AB, and O. These are called \"phenotypes\". It's the traits that are displayed, genetically. However, they are represented as \"genotypes\", the actual genetic makeup. For example, the blood genotype AA means type A blood. But the geno... | null |
21an8n | why do the chinese who lost family in mh370 have strong distrust of the malaysian government? | [
{
"answer": "It's also possible (though I have no direct evidence to support this statement) that the Chinese government is feeding it's people anti-Malaysia propaganda.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because the gov of Malaysia is [racist](_URL_0_) against the Chinese and Indian minorities. I... | null |
1vbcir | When and why did 'Once upon a time...' become the go-to opening phrase for a story? | [
{
"answer": "The use this sort of phrase is widespread in Europe - and elsewhere - for the way to begin a folktale, the traditional \"novel\" of the folk. [This wiki page](_URL_0_) is useful in the way it provides numerous common introductions for various cultures, most of which can be boiled down, in English, ... | null |
5swbsb | why can't someone take a glass of coca cola in a lab and learn the secret recipe? | [
{
"answer": "The ingredients and quantities are far less important to cooking times and ingredient order. The cooking process results in chemical reactions fundamentally altering the structure of the mixture (compound I forget my chemical terminology).\n\nTLDR: its impossible to know how long X and Y were heate... | null |
29zp64 | why do mlm/pyramid schemes inspire such cult like behavior | [
{
"answer": "Once people have invested in the idea they don't want to admit the loss, so they deny it.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8614306",
"title": "Telemarketing fraud",
"section": "Section::::Types of fraud.\n",
... | null |
368rbj | why will there be a 5-10 year appeal process before the boston bomber is executed? don't we already have complete evidence of his guilt? | [
{
"answer": "In his appeals he (or his attorney) will likely challenge his sentence rather than his conviction. Presumably his goal will be to have his sentenced reduced to life in prison, not to have his conviction overturned.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I believe that all death penalty se... | null |
39pjfj | if things like nuts and seeds are not properly digested by our bodies, then how do we benefit from their nutrition? | [
{
"answer": "Nuts and seeds are made of more than one material. While you might not be able to digest the fiber, you can digest the protein, fat, etc.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "That's kind of a tautology. By definition, \"not properly digested\" means you are not benefiting from the nutr... | null |
12orjx | What was, historically, the highest tax ever placed on the American people, how and why was it put in place, and what effects did it have on the economy? | [
{
"answer": "During the Truman and Eisenhower Administration the top income tax rate was absurdly high. This was to pay off the huge debt run up by World War II. Yet, the income tax was far more progressive in those days, meaning there were a lot more tax brackets. ... | null |
6rdi53 | what specifics are there when war is declared? is there a start date? is there a specific region that is designate as warzone, and are there boundaries? i know modern warfare is a little more complex than this. | [
{
"answer": "It has always been quite nebulous and needs to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.\n\nAs a modern example, the Iran-Iraq War started with a downgrade of diplomatic relations and persecution/deportation of civilians of the opposing country. This was followed by small skirmishes in disputed territo... | null |
cae33f | Do we know of the first example of someone writing purposefully for future historians? | [
{
"answer": "Sorry, we don't allow [\"example seeking\" questions](_URL_0_). It's not that your question was bad; it's that these kinds of questions tend to produce threads that are collections of disjointed, partial, inadequate responses. If you have a question about a specific historical event, period, or per... | null |
25db17 | What were the defenses of the English Channel like during WWII? | [
{
"answer": "My favorite Channel defense was the tiny [Romney Hythe & Dymchurch light railway coastal armored defense train](_URL_0_). The efficacy of a 15 inch gauge armored train is *highly* questionable. To me, though, it epitomizes the idea of 'British pluck.' If it could be used to resist the Germans,... | null |
28z6sp | Would a person on the moon see the Earth in different phases, i.e. "full earth", "new earth", waxing and waning gibbous/crescent, etc.? | [
{
"answer": "Yes -- if the person could see the Earth.\n\nBecause one side of the Moon always faces the Earth and the other points away, only those on the Earth-facing side of the Moon could even see the Earth, with the Earth sitting at basically one spot in the sky. (Note: Actually, the part of the Moon that ... | null |
301yjx | With an adjustment to inflation and modern equivalence, what is the comparison of British Pounds Sterling to today's US dollar in worth? | [
{
"answer": "Hello! Hope you don't think I'm stalking you (I have you as a friend on Reddit).\n\nAnyway, it all varies on the source you use for the rate of inflation, how it's calculated (there are different ways) etc.\n\nAlthough no longer updated, the National Archives offers a tool to convert the value of t... | null |
qy505 | Latvia and the Soviet Union/Russian Revolution | [
{
"answer": "in Orlando Figes' *A People's Tragedy* (a very good history of the revolution), the Latvian Rifle Brigades are referred to as 'the staunchest defenders' of the Bolsheviks in the Civil War, alongside the Kronstadt sailors and the Red Guards.\n\nSome other quotes from Figes that might be interesting ... | null |
3s03wo | how did england politically justify keeping a chunk of ireland (northern ireland) after the war of independence, and why don't they come under more pressure from the international community to hand it back? | [
{
"answer": "If it was up to England, Northern Ireland would probably have been handed back in the 70s or something. Generally speaking, most people in Great Britain (so including Wales and Scotland as well as England) would have preferred giving Northern Ireland to the Republic of Ireland. At least that was th... | null |
29otw6 | Nineteenth Century Folks: What am I looking at? _URL_0_ | [
{
"answer": "[Working link to OP's image](_URL_0_)",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "116298",
"title": "Frostburg, Maryland",
"section": "Section::::Local art and culture.:Thrasher Carriage Museum.\n",
"start_paragr... | null |
5juixx | Since beta particles are electrons, can they be directly converted to electrical energy? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, this is done through a [betavoltaic cell](_URL_0_). These used to be use to power pacemakers. Nuclear decay is also used to power space probes, except it's through excess heat rather than direct betaelectricity.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
... | null |
ud6l2 | Why do we find relatively pure elements such as gold in concentrations in the earth? Shouldn't the atoms be more or less randomly distributed as the earth formed? | [
{
"answer": "The earth has a very large number of concentration processes active on it. In order to concentrate a mineral or element you need some kind of sorting process - whether through density, chemical reactivity, or other physical parameter.\n\nYou can imagine earth starting off as a big molten homogenou... | null |
1west6 | why do fruits and vegetables always feel cold, even when they should be room temperature? | [
{
"answer": "How cold things feel to the touch is a reflection of their ability to conduct heat. Items which are better heat conductors will feel colder, whereas items that don't conduct heat well, will feel less cold.\n\nPut a glass cup, a plastic cup, and a metal cup on your counter and let them all come to ... | null |
1pjg1z | Could you recommend a text which describes military uniforms during the British Raj? | [
{
"answer": "I would hit up the imperial war memorial website and maybe even send an email. They've been pretty helpful with my inquiries. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Definitely:\n\n*For the Indian Armies-*\n\nW.Y. Carman's *Indian Army Uniforms* vols. 1 and 2 is, in my experience, the mos... | null |
96vkpt | I am researching a photo taken of my great grandfather from World War 1. From what my family has told me the picture includes my great grandfather Jakub Postl and Adolf Hitler. Is this a family myth? | [
{
"answer": "Could you clear some things up for me? Czechoslovakia didn't exist as a country until 1918, and your great grandfather was born in what was then the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Furthermore, it is unlikely that your great grandfather is in that picture with Hitler, considering Hitler served in the 16th... | null |
xirbp | How does the collision of quarks create elementary other particles? | [
{
"answer": "The process at root is this: energy is conserved, but the form that energy can take can vary. Energy comes in three generic forms: kinetic energy (energy of motion), potential energy (energy of position), and rest energy (energy of existence, also known as rest mass).\n\nIn an accelerator, particl... | null |
5wnx0q | when a bug gets stuck in your car and travels a few miles with you before it gets back outside, does it ever find its previous home/nest/colony again? does it care? | [
{
"answer": "That depends on the bug. Some bees have been shown to be able to re-locate their hive after being separated by a reasonable distance. Over time they learn the area while foraging and can find their way back if they're not moved too far.\n\nAnts trace their location carefully with scent and would ... | null |
b9b6ey | why is caucasian the only racial category for white people? is it for the sake of simplicity, or because the caucasian hominids are the ancestors of europeans? why not have italic/slavic/germanic etc. instead? | [
{
"answer": "Increasingly fine distinctions don't add anything and would probably lead to more confusion as to which group people fitted into.\n\nIf you had all those sub-categories, you would also have to differentiate between Asians from different parts of that continent, Hispanics from parts of the Spanish c... | null |
52k1l0 | I'm a totally new to World History, what should I watch? | [
{
"answer": "Try Crash Course: World History's playlist on YouTube. Very interesting and entertaining. Its not very in depth but it covers up most of the timeline.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "18367213",
"title": "Our World (1... | null |
3c9sr8 | Do writing, typing, speaking, and sign language use the same parts of the brain? | [
{
"answer": "Absolutely. Comprehension of language is controlled by [Wernicke's area](_URL_0_), including reading, spoken language and I presume sign.\n\nLanguage expression by [broca's area](_URL_1_). In the same way.\n\nThis is exploited medically to find out where a brain problem is located. If someone can u... | null |
3aw3iy | When I shine a light into stained/colored glass, the glass' shadow is the same as the glass' color. Why is that? | [
{
"answer": "Shadows mostly aren't an absence of light, they are just less light than their surroundings. Coloured glass absorbs other coloured wavelengths. So green glass, for example, absorbs the other colours and only reflects green light back to you, so it looks green. It is also transparent, so it lets som... | null |
exnr4n | How did the deer, moose, elk, caribou and reindeer of the family Cervidae, develop cranial appendages(antler) throughout history? | [
{
"answer": "This is actually a pretty big mystery, and we don't know all the details. Deer ancestors seem to have had more standard horns that weren't shed (a bit more like the bony horns of a pronghorn), but transitioned to shedding and regrowing them in the Miocene. It's not really appreciated because of h... | null |
4jcj5e | why wont older printers connect with newer operating systems? | [
{
"answer": "It's all about the drivers. If no one writes a driver for the new OS you are out of luck. You can try generic drivers but you will lose some functionality. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "What is missing is a \"driver\", which is the piece of code that communicates with that ... | null |
65ordp | Why was the Christian Church so dogmatically pro Aristotlean philosophy when Aristotle was a pagan? | [
{
"answer": "This is a great question! Consider crossposting to /r/askphilosophy",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "If you are interested in this topic, you might want to read Hannam's „God’s Philosophers“ as it answers this question more thorougly than I ever could.\n\nTo paraphrase: The Church a... | null |
frh41d | how are ip addresses identifiable by location? | [
{
"answer": "Blocks of IP addresses are assigned to organizations on request by a handful of non-profit organizations responsible for maintaining the IP space. These are the Regional Internet Registries.\n\nIn North America this organization is ARIN, in Europe its RIPE, in Asia it's APNIC, etc\n\nThese organiza... | null |
6hqfhv | does pickle juice have the same effect as grapefruit juice for intensifying medications? | [
{
"answer": "No. The acidity is not the issue with grapefruits. The problem is that there enzymes in Grapefruit that mess with the medications in various ways. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "4387617",
"title": "Grapefruit–drug ... | null |
4xau0b | why does fruit taste sweeter when it decomposes? | [
{
"answer": "The complex sugars are broken down by bacteria, turning them in to simple sugars which are much sweeter",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "18677826",
"title": "Detarium senegalense",
"section": "Section::::Pract... | null |
836z3x | how would aliens figure out how to decipher the voyager 1 golden disk? | [
{
"answer": "The instructions are written using chemical and physical knowledge any advance civilization should have. It's also written in the most basic numeric system that exists, which is binary. So any alien race which is capable of logic, knows the time period associated with a fundamental transition of th... | null |
a8ggx3 | why do brightly lit objects stay in our vision for a few minutes after we look at them, especially when blinking? | [
{
"answer": "Your vision works by damaging easily repaired parts of your eye. Brighter objects damage it more. You see outlines until they’re repaired.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "45617617",
"title": "Mark Changizi",
... | null |
30qb9i | Historians, Who exactly were the Ustase and Chetniks and what did they do? (I'll expand on this in text.) | [
{
"answer": "Sorry to be so brief with these answers (and to ignore some outright), there's A LOT of questions to tackle and I'd end up dumping a huge essay in here otherwise. I'm sticking to the Ustasha if that's okay, as I've written a lot about them in the past.\n\n > 1: Why did the Ustase form? What were th... | null |
mn7md | how a bunch of lines of code can become a complex image like a video game | [
{
"answer": "If you are talking about something like CoD, or Halo, then you have to separate work into what programmers do and what artist do. \n\n\nArtist needs to design how game world will look like, how characters will look and how will they move. If wheel on a car is rotating, or character is limping, or g... | null |
26gxge | light into matter? | [
{
"answer": "I have no clue what that is referring to, but we have known about light making matter for quite some time. The process is known as pair production, in which two photons (light) with sufficient energy can form a electron-positron pair (or some other matter-antimatter pair). This is allowed because a... | null |
70089b | What liquid is the wettest? | [
{
"answer": "\"Wettest\" or \"wetting\" are perfectly fine words to use. Predicting the wettest liquid for a given material requires consideration of the liquid's and material's surface energies as well as the interfacial tension between the two phases. Essentially, the wettest liquid is one that gives the lowe... | null |
50mxqm | if our bodies are naturally 36c, why does 36c weather feel very uncomfortable? | [
{
"answer": "Because our body is basically a walking heater. Our cells constantly produce heat, and our body is tuned to produce so much heat that we can maintain an internal temperature of 36°C. The amount of heat we produce can change to react to the environment, but when the environment is too hot we can't t... | null |
6zw54v | What determined borders in Roman times? | [
{
"answer": "The Romans didn't have an actual concept of a \"limit\" to their empire - in their own view the empire was endless, there simply were areas that weren't Romanized.\n\nThe Romans denoted their borders or \"limes\" usually by a ditch, or a system of defensive fortifications. Such defenses ran through... | null |
1m4suv | If you were to mount a flashlight on a sled moving at close to the speed of light, why wouldn't the light from the flashlight move at a greater speed? | [
{
"answer": "I think the thing that MCMXCII is missing in his explanation is that *there is an effect on light if you are already travelling fast*. But to understand it easily, we have to switch the set up a bit.\n\nSo let's talk about momentum/energy for a moment. Let's say that a person is some distance away ... | null |
5tqxff | why do some flames (like a candle) put off a lot of light, while others (like a butane torch) put off almost none? | [
{
"answer": "The temperature of the flame determines it's color. A candle has a lot of flame in the yellow and orange range. A butane torch produces blue flame. \n\nBlue light doesn't brighten a space as well as yellow light does. At least to the human eye.\n\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer"... | null |
2vlzu4 | What was the extend of metallurgy in pre-Colombian Society in the Americas? | [
{
"answer": "We have a whole [section](_URL_0_) of Pre-Columbian metallurgy questions in our FAQ section.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "3217106",
"title": "Metallurgy in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica",
"section": "",
... | null |
2zj47o | In heterosexuals, physical attractiveness is (frequently) related with mating and offspring. In homosexuals, does physical attractiveness relate with some "rule"? | [
{
"answer": "I'm no expert in this area but there seem to be a few studies that look at this kind of thing.\n\n[This one](_URL_0_) looks at facial preference and found that both homosexual men and women prefer more masculine faces in men and women, respectively.\n\nAnd [this one](_URL_1_) looks at waist-to-ches... | null |
20k3ku | What are the best books on eastern Asian anthropolgy or history in general. | [
{
"answer": "If you are mostly interested in ancient Japan, I would recommend picking up translated editions of *Nihon Shoki* and *Kojiki*. These are primary sources; chronicles of ancient Japan and how the Japanese people and polity came into being. BH Chamberlain did a good translation of the *Kojiki* a few y... | null |
3e5ira | When did we start to enjoy food based on taste and not on necessity? | [
{
"answer": "Taste is based on necessity. We evolved to enjoy and even crave meat, fatty and sugary foods because they are a good source of energy - the sort of meal that would greatly benefit a hunter-gatherer.\n\nOf course, now we've pretty much mastered our food chain, but our brains are still wired to crave... | null |
2kuj12 | Why are Xenon and Krypton electronegative despite being noble gases? | [
{
"answer": "Even though Krypton and Xenon are noble gases, they can form bonds with non-xenon and non-krypton atoms. The main reason they can do this (where the smaller noble gases like he, ne, and ar don't) this is because of the atoms relatively large size, they can access the d orbitals fairly readily. Th... | null |
2u6q6h | How different were American and Soviet military doctrines? | [
{
"answer": "Soviet tank doctrine was completely different to the Blitzkrieg; which the Soviets believed was a failed system that channeled vulnerable armor too narrowly. Their experience and opinions in this regard were undoubtedly formed by their experiences in WWII and the recognization that a defense in dep... | null |
1m6isu | Are there any cellular processes not affected by changes in pH? | [
{
"answer": "No not really. At a super high or super low pH the cell will just die, so pH is always important at some level. Some processes may be less sensitive to pH changes, and can occur at a wider range of pH than others, but at a basic level everything in the cell (with maybe the exception of a basic cell... | null |
3mmn3c | how do we unconsciously put parts of speech in the right order to form sentences? | [
{
"answer": "Practice. Followed by more practice. That is followed by even more practice. Did I mention practice? The whole thing is based on practice. You took years to learn how to speak. Notice how little kids screw it all up all the time? Eventually you practice it so much that you don't even have to ... | null |
80hybe | What did the richest medieval lords eat each night? | [
{
"answer": "I believe /r/askfoodhistorians exists but I’d also like to know exactly how the food was seasoned and how we might expect it to different in taste to today’s food ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Hi everyone! There is a great deal that can be said about the feasts of the medieval u... | null |
ooqyz | what's the whole deal with the satanic verses and what in it caused a fatwa on salman rushdie's life? | [
{
"answer": "I'd like very much to hear someone explain this, I'm currently reading it, and, being about half-way, found nothing particularly offensive about it. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Bear in mind that there's not necessarily some big objective blasphemy that would clearly necessitat... | null |
8vdpuk | what would be some of the long term effects if a giant canal was built from the mediterranean to bringing water in the the heart of the sahara desert? | [
{
"answer": "**Please read this entire message**\n\n---\n\nYour submission has been removed for the following reason(s):\n\nELI5 is not for:\n\nHypotheticals \n\n\n\n---\nIf you would like this removal reviewed, please read the [detailed rules](_URL_1_) first. If you still feel the removal should be reviewed, p... | null |
14q8j8 | Could the British have won the American Revolution? Or was the war only the American's to lose? | [
{
"answer": "David McCullough wrote an essay for [What If](_URL_1_) addressing this. He stated that all the British had to do was capture Washington in order to defeat the rebels. He thinks they they came closest during the [Battle of Long Island](_URL_0_).\n",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The... | null |
hm3k2 | What is the evolutionary reason for grey hair? | [
{
"answer": "The loss of melanin causes grey hair. The darker your hair (skin as well) is the more melanin you have. I'm assuming that since most primates have dark skin they don't have trouble producing melanin with age. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Correct me if I'm wrong, layman here, bu... | null |
1zt80m | baseball contracts. what is this gray area of "might stay or be traded"? | [
{
"answer": "[David Price agreed to a 1-year, $14 million contract in January.](_URL_0_)\n\nThis means he will not be a free agent until this contract expires. When/if that happens, he has the ability to sign with any team he chooses. In the meantime, while under contract, his rights are controlled by the Ray... | null |
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