id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
9sjzh0 | what's the difference between delirium and psychosis? | [
{
"answer": "In the most basic sense, delirium is caused an underlying medical/physical illness or problem. \nWhen the underlying problem is treated, delirium is resolved. \n\nPsychosis is a symptom of a mental illness like during a manic episode or more commonly in schizophrenia. Antipsychotic meds help to co... | null |
101tdh | how do 47% of people in the us not pay federal income tax? | [
{
"answer": "The majority of households in the US make under $45k a year. The government offers pretty significant tax deductions to families, and it just doesn't take that many deductions to cover the entire income tax burden when you're making that amount of money.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answe... | null |
1z4ye5 | What was the role of Druids in Pagan Irish religion? | [
{
"answer": "Our information about the druids are pretty scarce because the druids themselves didn't keep any records. What knowledge we have are from the Romans, who usually portray them as some sort of priests (divine powers, contact with the Gods, etc.). This quote is from Tacitus (book XIV, chapter 30) in t... | null |
3dsxjb | the miller-urey experiment | [
{
"answer": "Scientists were trying to determine if the chemicals needed for life (amino acids) could be produced from the chemicals that they believed existed when the Earth was young.\n\nSo, they took those chemicals and put them in a closed loop along with water. They heated that water to simulate evaporatio... | null |
3ei4ct | can you think of ancient (more than 500 years ago) monarchs who may have had Autism? If "yes" who were they and what were they like as a ruler? | [
{
"answer": "Karl XII of Sweden, though not ancient, could be considered autistic. He was celibate and disliked alcohol, and many of his peers noted his lack of emotion and his extreme tolerance to pain. \n\nAs a ruler, Karl XII was focused entirely on war, specifically the Great Northern War against Russia. Hi... | null |
6kfyya | do breathalyzers measure bac accurately for people with lung issues such as asthma, copd, or just being generally out of shape? | [
{
"answer": "Breathalyzers are \"good estimates\", not highly accurate. They don't measure total breath flow, either. They just determine the percentage of alcohol in the C02 of your breath, and conditions like asthma, COPD, or others don't really have any affect on that.\n\nIf you're on the verge of blowing ju... | null |
13hd3v | Nazism: Left, Center, Right? Or something different entirely? | [
{
"answer": "The [Left/Right](_URL_0_) model is a broken paradigm that isn't particularly useful for classifying political parties. I know everyone (including myself) uses it, but it's a bad habit.\n\nThe weaknesses of the model are especially highlighted when you try and classify extreme groups like the Nazis.... | null |
2sb2ca | Is water cycle present in Antarctica? | [
{
"answer": "Sure there is a water cycle, it's just a bit different than the other continents. Snowfall is driven by winds carrying moisture in from the oceans. Water molecules can return from the ice to the atmosphere via sublimation, which is like evaporation but is a phase change directly from the solid (i... | null |
1ajnkn | I do not understand why different zygotes from the same parents are different and not clones. | [
{
"answer": "Each parent contributed only one of each of their chromosome pair to the zygote. For each chromosome, one of the two is picked at random. In humans that means that you have 2^23 (or about 8 million) possible sets of chromosomes from each parent for the zygote to inherit. This alone makes it unli... | null |
2i3i86 | so, given that people use quantum physics normally and also talk about how it involves observation or whatever, how has this fact been proven? | [
{
"answer": "Look up 'the double slit experiment'. It explains how light behaves as a wave and a particle .\n\nBasically if fire photons one at a time through slits onto a background, where the photons land should eventually form two slits on the background (two slits, two lines right?). Well, it doesn't. It cr... | null |
9uz958 | (Biology) why do people get red in the face when lifting/moving heavy objects? | [
{
"answer": "Basically, if you're lifting something heavy your muscles will need to be supplied with more oxygen and waste products like lactic acid (from anaerobic respiration) will need to be taken away from the site through your blood.\n\nThis increased blood flow causes your blood vessels to dialate, bringi... | null |
53u00u | what makes ram volatile and hdd's and other memory devices like that non volatile? | [
{
"answer": "Fundamentally, it's about the way the memory is constructed. Volatile memory requires a constant source of power to maintain its storage, whereas non-volatile memory doesn't.\n\nDRAM (which is the RAM you're thinking of) is made of capacitors that are charged up if they're storing a 1 bit. It's v... | null |
1o5b0m | why someone with half a brain can live? will he lose something from the surgery? | [
{
"answer": "We just did this in my psych class actually so here goes.\n\nHalf the brain is only actually removed in young children, because their brain is still developing, it adapts to only having half of it there so the person learns to function almost normally.\n\n[Here is a video about a girl who had half ... | null |
qetq5 | Is a bacteriophage just a virus that infects bacteria? | [
{
"answer": "Phage is short for bacteriophage, which is a virus that infects bacteria (there are many types of bacteriophages). There are also viruses that infect other types of organisms like animals; these are not bacteriophages.\n\nAs to a question like \"Are bacteriophages related to animal viruses?\" or s... | null |
4uwe63 | why are their age restrictions in american public offices? | [
{
"answer": "It mostly has to do with what the constitution says. For president you have to be at least 35 years old as it was thought you would have enough life experience and wisdom to lead the country. :) ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id... | null |
51vvo1 | Augustus' political affiliation? (Populares/Optimates) | [
{
"answer": "That's simply not how Roman politics worked. *Populares* and *optimates* were not political parties, factions, or affiliations. The *optimates* in particular don't really exist--*optimas*, and the more common *bonus* is a rhetorical term that is applied to pretty much whomever you want to apply it ... | null |
641sb3 | why are residential solar panels common, but not wind turbines? or water wheels for people who live by rivers? | [
{
"answer": "Because solar panels are small and compact, compared to giant turbines and water wheels that have a tendency to be as big as the house itself. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Wind turbines are all about size, bigger is more economic, not more (edit: not more of them. If a manufac... | null |
1egsbe | How many different colors were categorized/can be distinguished by an average human? | [
{
"answer": "This article answers your question and provides an interesting extension in the form of tetrachromats _URL_0_",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20598932",
"title": "Hilbert space",
"section": "Section::::Applic... | null |
61cd6g | "nuking" the filibuster | [
{
"answer": "It can be done at any time. The Senate Majority Leader would declare Senate Rule 22(filibuster rule) a Constitutional question, and the Senate would immediately begin debating Rule 22 with a simple majority needed to change the rule.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It can be done a... | null |
abm8tk | when you shake flour, why do all the larger bits make their way to top and not the bottom? | [
{
"answer": "You can do the same experiment with a jar of rocks. Shaking the jar allows all of the little rocks to find their way down in the spaces between the larger rocks. Keep shaking and pretty soon all of the big rocks will appear to \"climb\" to the top.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "B... | null |
ofiac | Why should I wash my hands after using the restroom? Bear with me here... | [
{
"answer": "Your skin is always covered with various types of bacteria. The pelvic (specifically genitoanal) region, is typically populated by a class of bacteria known as [coliforms](_URL_0_), which are generally harmless when on the skin or in the normal environment in the intestines, but can cause illness i... | null |
3dmxww | why do we die instantly when our heart stops? why don't we asphyxiate from lack of oxygen from blood no longer circulating? | [
{
"answer": "You don't die instantly; people with a totally stopped heart often die, but it is possible if the heart resumes in a timely manner you'll survive.\n\nThere's a distinction between alive and conscious, though. A total stop in blood flow will make you pass out really quickly; in fact a sudden decreas... | null |
75o202 | What is the historical significance of Dravidian history, their rule and culture? It looks like lot of their history is missing out? | [
{
"answer": "I might only be moderately qualified to answer this question, but for me (or anybody else) to do so would require a lot more information about what you're looking for in an answer. Could you narrow it down a bit?\n\nAs it is, you're asking a question about a culture group that sweeps literally all ... | null |
1dddzs | How does the amount of energy required to sustain a temperature vary with the temperature itself? | [
{
"answer": "Ignoring radiative heat transfer, the other main two routes for heat transfer are conduction and convection, both of which are proportional to the temperature gradient, and assuming a constant value for the latter say through a wall, proportional to the temperature difference, as you guessed. Now, ... | null |
8901ud | Was the Nazi's obsession with "wonder weapons" an extension of their ideology? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not sure what would the ideological link be.\n\nBut about the reasoning of the Wunderwaffe.\n\nThe popular dichotomy between the triumph-of-will and triump-of-technology in warfare has been present in the Wehrmacht since the 1940, however not as it is commonly portrayed in popular culture.\n\nI... | null |
38hecu | the more i rub my eyes the more colors i see | [
{
"answer": "When you rub your eye you are mechanically stimulating your retina, causing you to see light that is not actually there. The images projected by said light are called Phosphenes, specifically pressure phosphenes. It's you fooling your brain into believing photons are entering your eye when they rea... | null |
6l55qg | difference of lcd, oled, and amoled that can be easily understood | [
{
"answer": "LCD: Liquid Crystal Display.\nA flat panel display which uses light emitting properties of liquid crystals. These crystals are illuminated by a fluorescent backlight. \n\nSmartphone LCD panels are classified into two types - IPS (In-plane Switching) and TFT (Thin Film Transistor). IPS LCDs are usua... | null |
65yhtm | why do you feel full faster if you eat slower? | [
{
"answer": "It takes some time for the chemicals responsible for fullness to be released and move from the stomach to the brain. When you eat slowly, these chemicals are released gradually and so your brain's levels of them rise gently. When you eat quickly, you suddenly shift from no fullness to tons of fulln... | null |
oumn5 | How would 200 volts kill me (at 10 milliamps), but 200 amps (at 10 millivolts) not? | [
{
"answer": "First off, it's amps not volts that kills you; you have this backwards.\n\nAlso, your latter example gives you a resistance of 5 x 10^-5 Ohms, which is basically a conductor.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "As someone mentioned you have some Ohm's laws problems up there. This lead... | null |
2qo0s7 | the millennium prize problems | [
{
"answer": "Okay, i'm a CS guy so here you have **P vs NP**\n\nThis problem asks whether every problem whose solution can be quickly verified by a computer can also be quickly solved by a computer. (thanks [wikipedia](_URL_0_)).\n\nNow, like you were 5:\n\nJust imagine you have a box and a few keys and you are... | null |
wyzhd | Humans are willing to sacrifice their needs/survival for people/things they love. In what other species is this tendency also seen? | [
{
"answer": "I'm not sure how analogous this would be to the concept of \"love\", but bees sacrifice their lives to protect the queen/hive.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "This can be seen in a few species, though it may not be for \"love,\" depending on your definition of that word.\n\nWhen a ... | null |
1k3sfn | Are electric solar cells on top of cars an effective method of transit? | [
{
"answer": "Time for a \"back of the napkin\" thought experiment!\n\nSay that you have [a Chevy Volt](_URL_2_) with the following characteristics:\n\n* 110 kW engine\n* you drive your car for 3 hours per day\n* while you're driving your car's average power output is 50% of installed power\n* your car is outsid... | null |
3unth6 | Does my phone use more battery if i use its in-built speaker or with headphones? | [
{
"answer": "Headphones and the integrated speaker are both powered by the phone's battery.\n\nA small experiment: \n\n-Place the headphones and the phone at equal distances, in turn, turn the volume to max then play a song.\n\n-You will barely hear the headphones while the speakers will be very loud.\n\nThe so... | null |
11cm7y | how come when were not thinking of something, we don't sense it? | [
{
"answer": "And now you've made everybody self-conscious of their breathing! :-)\n\nI don't know the exact mechanisms for things like breathing and blinking, but I *imagine* it's a similar concept to (for example) when you place your hand on a table and you feel the surface, but after a while you forget about ... | null |
1ujhtj | Books on Political economy for beginners? | [
{
"answer": "I'm currently reading Robert L. Heilbroner's \"The Worldly Philosophers\" which gives an outline of the basic ideas behind the thinking of Smith, Marx, Mill, Keynes etc… Though I have found it fascinating it is slightly muddied by Heilbroner's biases, as the works of Hayek, Friedman, Rothbard and o... | null |
4gpncc | how do animals survive being struck by lightning if the temperature of an average bolt is 5 times of that of the surface of the sun? (roughly 30,000 kelvin) | [
{
"answer": "Temperature is not the same as heat. Tiny samples of atoms in the LHC can reach trillions of degrees, but because there are so few, there isn't much heat and it dissipates quickly. Same thing with lightning. The temperature increase is relatively short-lived.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
b3hppe | how do animals like geckos and other lizards climb on smooth walls like concrete? | [
{
"answer": "Their fingers are covered by very tiny textured bristles, called setae, which hook into and around the tiny irregularities on the surfaces they're climbing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "20903754",
"title": "Roboti... | null |
92agda | in footage of nuclear explosions, what are the white vertical stripes? | [
{
"answer": "The vertical stripes I think are for measurement of the shockwave / pressure wave. So they can calculate its velocity. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Those are smoke trails from smoke rockets. Before nuclear tests, they would sometimes fire smoke rockets up into the air near the... | null |
4unw00 | Do any encryption algorithms exist that are safe from attack by quantum computer? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, it is referred to as quantum cryptography, and may also require a quantum computer. We just hypothetically assumed they existed, right? The basic idea is that data is encoded in a quantum state such that reading that state alters it, and thus the data. That means that the participants of th... | null |
22g4cb | Has string theory been conclusively disproven? | [
{
"answer": "No, it hasn't been proven or disproven because A. it's not developed to the point where this is possible and B. we don't have the technology to experiment with quantum gravity. Certain choices of parameters that can be used to make predictions at the energy scale of the Large Hadron Collider can be... | null |
3rr2p7 | why are GPS satellites put in LEO and not geostationary? | [
{
"answer": "Geostationary orbits are all over the equator. This would lead to sight line issues if you want to use GPS away from the equator. I live on a north facing hill in Canada so I can't get satellite TV signals. The only potential advantage to geostationary GPS satellites would be a few fewer lines of c... | null |
eyvcrw | How effective are surgical masks at reducing the chance of infection for the user? How effective are they against spreading germs that can cause infections if the user is infected? | [
{
"answer": "To add on to what other folks said, not very.\n\nWhat they ARE somewhat effective at doing is actually preventing you from infecting other people if you're sick--it keeps the droplets from your mouth/nose from spreading very far, and also keeps you from touching your face as much.",
"provenance... | null |
3pcfaz | AMA: The Atlantic Slave Trade, especially human trafficking between the colonies throughout the Americas. | [
{
"answer": "Hi, Professor O'Malley, thank you for presenting this AMA! \n\nI've heard various arguments as to the motives behind the British move to disrupt the Atlantic slave trade through the Royal Navy - chief of which was that the slave trade was highly profitable for the French, with whom the British were... | null |
g19m8p | why isn't gravity scaled to smaller things? | [
{
"answer": "I read somewhere once that if you put 2 pens floating in space near each other, after a very long time they would eventually gravitate towards each other. It does happen, it would just take a very very very long time",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They are attracted. All things wi... | null |
6sx545 | Where is all the nuclear contamination from the atmospheric nuclear tests decades ago? | [
{
"answer": "It's still there. The atmosphere is just so big that it's not a major health concern. Natural sources of radiation lead to a dose of about 2.4 milisieverts but can range from about 1 to over 10 milisieverts. Radiation from atmospheric nuclear testing peaked in the 90s at about 0.1 milisieverts and ... | null |
6aytt5 | why does black absorb sun rays so much? | [
{
"answer": "Colors we see are perceived by light rays (certain wavelengths) that are reflected. Meaning the object doesnt absorb that color. For example, apples reflect the color red. White reflecting all colors essentially and black reflecting no colors. Since black is absorbing these colors and light rays co... | null |
34xlmc | why is nickelback the butt of so many jokes? | [
{
"answer": "Because they are pretty famous and, while their main songs aren't bad, they do sound similar to each other, so people call them formulaic.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because they're not very good, generic pop with some metal painted over it. \n\n[At least two of their songs ar... | null |
ohl3s | polish reverse notation | [
{
"answer": "I'm assuming you are referring to Reverse Polish Notation\n\nOn paper, RPN is just postfix (operator after the numbers) arithmetic read left to right. \n\n2 + 3 becomes 2,3 +.\n\n3 * 5 + 70 becomes 3,5 * 70 +\n\nDo not get caught up with how it looks in this format, it is actually much simpler to t... | null |
ho8ct | What causes religion? | [
{
"answer": "My psychology professor alluded to [superstition](_URL_0_) as one of the many causes.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You should read Darwin's Cathedral, I think it's a good read if you're interested in it. This in addition to some books on cultural evolution would probably give y... | null |
27u2bz | could someone explain google seo, and what to look for when choosing a google seo package? | [
{
"answer": "SEO means \"get your result to appear higher in the results for a search\". The closer to the top of the results list the more likely a link is to be clicked. Being at the top of the results list generates the most clicks.\n\nGoogle (and Bing) optimize the results that are returned for every sear... | null |
3em58c | why are actors not allowed to drink alcohol in commercials right after drinking it/ doing drugs in shows? | [
{
"answer": "There are different laws for advertisements. In TV shows, drinking alcohol is generally an aspect or a character, or important to a scene, or something that isnt directly related to wanting to make you buy that alcohol. \n\nAdvertisement on the other hand, would want to make you buy alcohol in any ... | null |
17bpbq | why does water go down a plughole differently depending on which side of the equator you're on? | [
{
"answer": "It doesn't\n\nWater goes down the plug hole depending on the design of the sink. The forces due to the side of the equator are tiny so have essentially zero effect on water in a kitchen sink or toilet.\n\nWhich side of the equator you are on can have an effect on water through the [Coriolis effect]... | null |
dr59c7 | Did Viking armies have a military rank structure? If so, what was it, and who was in charge or above who? | [
{
"answer": "The following is just a bit re-edited summary from my previous comment to the relevant question, [During the \"Viking Age\", how common was it for Danes, Swedes and Norwegians to become vikingr? Was this something many people did, or just a small group? What was the social class of the people who w... | null |
3f2vl4 | What is "modern sand" and when was it deposited on the sea floor? | [
{
"answer": "Not sure why he says 1 B years ago, but he must be talking about the Cambrian substrate revolution. Essentially, before this event, seafloor life was centered around microbial mats, tight, firm films of bacteria, along with the fauna which depended on them and existed on top (and rarely under) of t... | null |
5s3stx | what happens to you if you sell something that says "not labeled for individual sale"? | [
{
"answer": "You lose your contract with your distributor, and maybe get sued for breaching that contract.\n\nRetailers contract with lots of different distributors, who in turn contract with producers and manufacturers. If the manufacturer only wants its products sold in six-packs they'll be labeled \"Not for ... | null |
3hr5qn | Why does TV/Film from the late 80s/90s often have such oversaturated colours? | [
{
"answer": "So, you may have better luck on /r/editors or /r/videoediting, but I'll take a stab at it anyway.\n\nActual oversaturation would mean you're compressing the color information at the top end. So, take [this](_URL_0_), and imagine everything getting squished toward the top. This will often also res... | null |
8ez2zc | How did the approximately four minute song become (somewhat) standard? Was it influenced by the needs of radio, or was it the other way around? | [
{
"answer": "You may like these previous answers. But these are not to discourage discussion here -- further questions, data, and debate are welcome.\n\n\"When did music shift from long, drawn out symphonies to the short songs of today?\" at _URL_2_ has answers from /u/joglaser , /u/erus , and /u/thesweetestpu... | null |
flbf8q | When you have an illness (flu, throat infection etc) does your immune system weaken since it is busy fighting or actually improves since it is active? Or none of the above? Thank you | [
{
"answer": "Immune system is stronger when the new illness is similar to the one you're currently fighting. \n\nIf the new illness is very different, then your immune system appears weaker in fighting the new one, and the new illness can take advantage of this. Interestingly, the immune system becomes more eff... | null |
j4hks | trust funds | [
{
"answer": "A trust fund is basically a bank account with a sum of money in it. The interest on the account goes out as a check to the receiver, every month, for the rest of their life because the trust fund will keep generating interest forever. So trust fund babies are people whose grandparents thought the... | null |
5qga7s | why terminally ill liver cancer patients feel so drowsy? | [
{
"answer": "Likely it was the cocktail of drugs he was given towards the end. Was he on palliative/end of life care? Ativan, (Which is a benzodiazepine) Fentanyl, and Morphine (which are opiates/opioids) are frequently given which all cause drowsiness, and potentiate each other. \n\nEdit: also, our liver is wh... | null |
1qezji | how can frozen dinners (like banquet brand) cost as low as 89¢ per box? is it even food? | [
{
"answer": "I never heard of this brand, so I Googled it. The cheapest I was able to find was $1.65. Either way, it's cheap because it's small amounts of low-cost food -- corn, potatoes and low-quality meat. \n\nRounding: The whole thing weighs 9 ounces, so let's say each bit is 3 ounces. You can get a can of ... | null |
8vu6ga | Is the nucleus of an atom a sea of quarks without clear boundaries between protons and neutrons? | [
{
"answer": "No, it’s more of a sea of nucleons/quasiparticles (nucleon pairs, alpha clusters, etc.). It’s not simply a homogeneous sea of quarks.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Color confinement of quarks suggests that there is very distinct clumping of them into hadrons. The idea of a nucle... | null |
2aqxgn | How much matter (i mean like asteroids, random stars, etc) do we think exists in the space between galaxies? | [
{
"answer": "The intergalactic medium, the stuff between galaxies, mainly consists of very hot ionised particles. This is basically atoms like hydrogen that are so hot, they are stripped of their electrons. This a plasma of charged particles that lie between galaxies. This gas can be pulled in by galaxies, whic... | null |
72psmy | how does meditation improve mental stamina? | [
{
"answer": "I feel like the other two are too quick to jump on the placebo explanation.\n\nA better way to think about meditation that sounds less mystical is that you're training your brain to stop wandering and having too many thoughts at the same time. It's a real and documented effect, and it does wonders ... | null |
9g1syj | Was there ever a time in the U.S. when an escaped slave could have taken refuge with a Native American tribe ? | [
{
"answer": "Slaves often took refuge in the swamps of the American southeast during the early decades of the nineteenth century (I would presume further back into the eighteenth century as well, though I know less about that history). It was not easy for slaveowners/catchers to track runaway slaves into Florid... | null |
1102gz | why do we see rays of light going in different directions when there is a single light source in a dark area? | [
{
"answer": "Reflections. Everything you can see is literally reflecting (or emitting) light.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "1612888",
"title": "Light beam",
"section": "Section::::Visible light beams.\n",
"start... | null |
43w52c | what led to the us policy of containment? | [
{
"answer": "People in the US government were divided between striking a conciliatory tone with the USSR and a strategy of confrontation that eventually became containment.\n\nThe single event that most directly led to the adoption of containment was George Kennan, a diplomat in embassy at the USSR, writing wha... | null |
obred | How do retroviruses become endogenous? | [
{
"answer": "Wow the author is jumping around on this subject. In general, one method of resistance is if the individual develops mutations in the receptor that the virus docks on to the point that the virus cannot dock on the host's cells. The virus needs to dock in order to be incorporated into the hosts cell... | null |
myx58 | What is the most current description of a vacuum? | [
{
"answer": "The best current description (and this describes everything we've observed in terms of high energy physics) is that spacetime is filled with quantum fields. It turns out that quantum states of these fields correspond to a number of particles with particular properties. e.g. we may excite the electr... | null |
ofpjx | why do some states get to vote first? who decides? | [
{
"answer": "First, all states vote on the same day for national general elections.\n\nSecond, primaries are not a part of government...they are for two private clubs to decide who they want to support in the eventual election, and they get to make up whatever rules they want.\n\nSo fair doesn't enter into it. ... | null |
76y95d | how does an inverter increase voltage from 12v to 240v instantly? | [
{
"answer": "Hi! \n\nAn inverter, first and foremost, converts from a direct current input to an alternate current output, rather than converting from any lower voltage to a higher voltage. The latter is simply an advantageous side effect or features in most inverters. \n\nThis DC-to-AC conversion is achieved u... | null |
t3b91 | Do muscles use the fat nearest them for fuel? | [
{
"answer": "No.\n\nMuscles cannot use fats directly. They are broken down into glycerol and fatty acids by the liver, which in turn are transported via the blood stream to the muscles.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's called spot reduction and it's pretty much a myth.\n\n_URL_0_\n\n_URL_1... | null |
1aubbp | Why are there different ways of measuring greenhouse gas emissions? | [
{
"answer": "It probably has to do with the context. When speaking in contexts of individual impacts (gas-powered cars, electricity usage, etc.), it makes sense to use per-capita measurements. When doing other work, it may be more convenient to use total numbers. Without addressing each paper individually, that... | null |
3ptxaw | Is there a theoretical minimum size for a living cell? | [
{
"answer": "I'm by no means an expert in the field, but I'll give it a shot: \n\nI would think the limiting factor for organism size is likely based upon genomic size - the cell has to be large enough to fit the genome within it, in addition to all the proteins, enzymes and structural components of the cell. I... | null |
aj3cn9 | Right now it's dark most of the day and freezing cold here in Scandinavia. What would my Viking ancestors be doing on a typical day this time of year? | [
{
"answer": "I have an *ancient* answer on a slightly broader question that gets into activities: [How did people in medieval Scandinavia survive winter?](_URL_0_)\n\n~~\n\nMedieval Scandinavian saints, by and large, perform similar miracles to their continental counterparts: helping the blind to see, the lame ... | null |
2ykw3s | Why does the time of solar noon shift from month to month? | [
{
"answer": "Mostly because the Earth's orbit around the Sun is not a circle. As the Earth spins on its axis during a day, it travels through space around the Sun, so it has to spin more than 360° from solar noon to solar noon. When the Earth is near the Sun (January), it is moving through space faster than i... | null |
9p4tgt | How accurate is the new Assassins Creed game to classical Greece? | [
{
"answer": "Not discouraging further answers, but [this thread](_URL_0_) may be of interest to you. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "57560480",
"title": "Assassin's Creed Odyssey",
"section": "Section::::Reception.\n",
... | null |
2vqcnl | what exactly happens when a light bulb burns out? why is it that when i shake a burnt out light bulb, the filament is always disconnected such that it rattles? | [
{
"answer": "_URL_0_\n\nThe filament burns out, breaks in the middle form heating and contracting or gets too think in a spot and melts through. \n\nThe support wires don't get hot or deteriorate, so they still hold the ends of the now split filament wire, so it rattles when you move it. ",
"provenance": nu... | null |
1yzrsq | Why are copper salts like CuSO4 blue while copper is red? | [
{
"answer": "Because the absorption bands correspond to electronic transitions between orbitals.\n\nChanging what an atom is bound to will change the energy level differences. More specific to metal coordination complexes, one can analyze metal complexes via [crystal field theory](_URL_0_). Again, interaction w... | null |
5yzrfg | How did European explorers react upon discovering that people in Indonesia, a very far removed area of the world, adhered to the same religion as their immediate neighbours in the mashriq and maghreb? | [
{
"answer": "Can you clarify what you mean by explorers? Explorers in the 16th century \"Age of Exploration\" on the ocean are a different beast than 13th century land explorers like Marco Polo. Either way, I would argue that 13th or 16h century they didn't react with as much much surprise as you're anticipatin... | null |
1zmiey | If a child were never explicitly taught to walk, would he/she naturally develop the skill? | [
{
"answer": "Genie learned how to walk and nobody ever taught her. She's more of a linguist disaster but she didn't know much of anything when child services took her. You should check out her story. It's heartbreaking at first but it gets better.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "We moved from w... | null |
7dlwx5 | why does the electricity in some cars get cut off when starting the engine? | [
{
"answer": "There are two sources of electricity in a car. The battery, and the alternator. \n\nWhen your engine is off, the battery provides power to the accessories. This does drain the battery, which is why leaving your lights on overnight might kill your battery.\n\nWhen you turn your engine on, the altern... | null |
t6u75 | what is euler's constant? | [
{
"answer": "Take (1 + 1/n)^n\n\nAs n gets larger and larger, the total gets closer and closer to e.\n\nIt's not as intuitive as pi, but that might help.\n\nExamples: \n\n* (1+1/2)^2 = 1.5^2 = 2.25\n\n* (1 + 1/100)^100 = 1.01^100 = 2.7048138294215260932671947108075\n\n* (1 + 1/1000000)^1000000 = 1.000001^10000... | null |
z7yu9 | How long would a laser pointer travel in space before dissipating that you could no longer see it? | [
{
"answer": "First, some assumptions:\n\nYou're using a green (532 nm) laser pointer which can output 5 mW of power. The aperture is 3 mm in diameter, giving a minimum beam width of 532 nm / 3 mm * 180/pi = 0.010 degrees before diffraction becomes a problem. A real laser pointer probably isn't this good, but it... | null |
4jmqlz | why is it so hard to stay awake when we're sleepy? | [
{
"answer": "Because your brain and your body want and need to go to sleep. So they're trying to go to sleep regardless of whether or not you're in a situation where you should be sleeping or not. You need sleep to survive and your body is more concerned about survival. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"a... | null |
1ojnbh | Are animals eyes affected by onions like humans? | [
{
"answer": "Not the most prestigious source, but definitely simple and accurate: onions burn your eyes because [a gas gets released from them that turns into sulfuric acid after contact with water.](_URL_0_)\n\nSince the eyes are just as sensitive in nonhuman birds and mammals, and definitely watery enough for... | null |
2ftx0j | what's the purpose of the mysterious slash at the end of urls? | [
{
"answer": "The slash is to identify the last child as a directory.\n\n_URL_1_ does not have a slash, because it is a page not a directory, but _URL_0_ has a slash because it is a directory. In most cases, any file with a \".\" after the last slash(the only place a dot should be) in the URL will not end with a... | null |
dms38w | i just read about gravity traveling at the same speed as light and i'm still confused. | [
{
"answer": "Imagine a stick that’s one light year long. If you stood on one end and pulled on the stick, it would take time before someone on the other side of the stick felt that pull. So if you pull, and then drop the stick and leave, by the time that person feels the pull, you could be gone and somewhere el... | null |
34mmqt | if animals have far greater hearing capabilities then us, do they go insane when we play loud music in a confined area? | [
{
"answer": "Its not like they can hear things louder, its that they can here things in a wider range of frequencies. Like when you take that hearing test at your doctors, they can hear more of the low stuff and the high stuff, past where you start and stop hearing them. However, with the way their ears are usu... | null |
1emo9q | on windows 64-bit, why do i see program files and program files (x86), and what is the difference? | [
{
"answer": "The x86 programs are 32-bit. It's a backwards compatibility thing. Given the opportunity, always get 64-bit programs for a 64-bit operating system, if possible. They are less prone to errors. Most programs will work with a 64-bit OS, with the exception of drivers - you need to have the correct ... | null |
5d30e1 | why there are not much political movement to unify different countries that has very, very similar languages? | [
{
"answer": "Just because two different countries have a very similar language, doesn't mean they also have very similar cultural and political beliefs, nor a shared history. When people still see themselves as a distinct group different from those in another country, there is going to be little push to unite i... | null |
9e6t7b | Did Napoleonic armies bring marching bands with them into battle like the film Waterloo portrays? | [
{
"answer": "The fife and drums commonly played either together, where they would form a fife and drum corps - and Waterloo portrays that pretty accurately - bringing some musical umph, as well as pacing and rhythmn, to large line infantry formations on the field. \n\nThey could obviously also play separately i... | null |
96h8ye | why do our butts hurt after sitting for a long period of time? | [
{
"answer": "Well, the pressure causes your muscles to press against your bones, which hurts for example, pinch you arm. Your flesh is getting crushed, so it hurts....",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "8591744",
"title": "Murga pun... | null |
2rydd7 | Does Monty Hall Problem solution apply to Italian gameshow? | [
{
"answer": "The key ingredient that makes switching best in Monty Hall is that the host removes a losing option. The host adds his own knowledge of which door is bad into the mix. Since this does not happen in this case, all the remaining boxes have the same odds of being the best box. So there will not be any... | null |
6moo8w | how nuclear weapons could have been dropped and tested in nevada, without the nuclear fallout or radiation harming civilian populations in the surrounding communities. | [
{
"answer": "they tested them in super remote areas, and before long, they stopped testing them above ground or under water (or space), they would detonate them underground, so the radiation would be contained.\n\nthere is a low level of radiation across the globe that didnt exist before nuclear testing. gener... | null |
2a2e98 | What is the volume of an "average" event horizon? | [
{
"answer": "There's an equation for that. Actually there are a few equations for that. For a non-charged, non-rotating singularity (a Schwarzschild black hole) it is: r = 2GM/c^2 where r is the radius of the event horizon, G is the gravitational constant, M is the mass of the singularity and c is the speed o... | null |
boqinp | what happens when there isn't enough electricity on the grid? | [
{
"answer": "In short: a brownout is what occurs then. There will still be power to the majority, but not everyone.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "There can be \"brown-outs\" where the voltage is lower than normal. Lights will dim and some appliances won't work or could even be damaged.\n\n &... | null |
5wogb1 | how does a toilet flush without any power? | [
{
"answer": "It works on the concept of a \"siphon\". Water wants to travel downwards due to gravity, but there is an obstacle such as an upward slope or \"wall\" it needs to overcome. Once some of the water overtops that obstacle, it will travel downwards due to the force of gravity.\n\nNow, the interesting pa... | null |
51cd72 | "Doing" indigenous history | [
{
"answer": "In my area I often hear people speak of indigenous pasts; or representations of the past, as 'history' as a study - or as a science- is a profoundly and specifically western approach to the study of the past, albeit one that has greatly influenced the approach of people across the globe to the stud... | null |
98b7jf | The freezing point of carbon dioxide is -78.5C, while the coldest recorded air temperature on Earth has been as low as -92C, does this mean that it can/would snow carbon dioxide at these temperatures? | [
{
"answer": "[No, there’s too little of it in the atmosphere for it to condense out.](_URL_0_) ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It's cold enough, but there is very little CO2 in the atmosphere. You can't look at the sublimination point at 1 atm because the partial pressure of CO2 is much lower.... | null |
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