id stringlengths 5 6 | input stringlengths 3 301 | output list | meta null |
|---|---|---|---|
4ijpr8 | why people say a college degree now is worth a high school degree from x years in the past? | [
{
"answer": "No, it has to do with how many people *have* college degrees.\n\nI don't agree with the sentiment as a whole, but I can at least understand the logic of it.\n\nA few decades ago, fewer people went to college. You could get a good job out of high school, so college wasn't as important. Since then,... | null |
eu8hj1 | Why Australia, NZ, Canada, etc. decided to keep Queen as head of state? | [
{
"answer": "Great response from u/VoilaVoilaWashington about Canada. I'll try to speak more about Australia.\n\nAs I understand it, India's experience with the British was caustic. The separation was relatively unfriendly, and things like the partition reflected the lack of understanding the British had. It th... | null |
c2bi0j | when your phone is ringing, why are the electronics around it buzzing? | [
{
"answer": "I don't think that's what OP is asking. You can have a phone on silent, sitting next to other electronic devices, and you'll often hear very distinct electronic buzzing type noises from the other devices specifically when the cell phone is ringing.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": nu... | null |
eehplg | why does the sunrise continue to get later after the shortest day? | [
{
"answer": "From my understanding the solar day, the time it takes for the sun to move around the earth is not 24 hours but slightly less or more. We use a full 24 hour clock so they go out of sync.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "In short: the length of the day isn't exactly 24 hours. It vari... | null |
zyumc | marcus aurelius & niccolo machiavelli | [
{
"answer": "Niccolo Machiavelli was an author; he wrote a book called \"The Prince\", which was written in the form of an instruction manual to a leader of the time. He was explaining about how politicians should manipulate, pay false praise to their superiors, exploit their inferiors, etc. etc. This is what \... | null |
3evc9a | how can you physically see things in a dream, colors and everything, even though your eyes are closed? | [
{
"answer": "This is a commonly asked question here. Please see several previous postings among [these previous posts.](_URL_0_) If they don't entirely answer your question, you might create a new post with\na more specific question.\n\nTry our handy Search function sometime. :-)\nFor best results in most cases... | null |
dut1ue | What is the most isolated animal taxonomically? | [
{
"answer": "The microscopic (about 0.1 millimeters long) animal species *Limnognathia maerski*, which was discovered living in warm springs on an island off the coast of Greenland in 1994, is the only known member of Micrognathozoa, a clade which has been described variously as a class, subphylum, or phylum. T... | null |
2zyl80 | why are the bottom of our feet so tough yet so ticklish? | [
{
"answer": "You got a lot of nerves on both your hands and feet, you use the ones on your hands to handle things and the ones in your feet to handle your balance, plus checking if you aren't walking over broken glass.\n\nIf you try it, its easy to notice that \"ticklish\" sensation on your hands, thing is, you... | null |
155cbv | If one were to build a ladder into space, past the gravitational field of the earth, could you theoretically climb the ladder to escape the earth's gravity, without having to achieve escape velocity? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, you do but you can accelerate to that velocity using the Earth's rotation if you happen to have a space elevator. That's the tricky part.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You don't have to achieve escape velocity: rockets seldom do. You just have to have constant propulsion to ... | null |
17tvvg | why do some dogs never stop eating? | [
{
"answer": "In the wild a wolf wouldn't have any idea when their next meal might be. So, overeating when there is an abundance of food will let that wolf build fat which will see it through during times when food is scarce. This instinct has continued on with domesticated dogs.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
9mbki5 | why does florida water taste weird? | [
{
"answer": "One thing to consider is not all of Florida uses similar water. There is both well and municipal sources, depending on which you got, and how it was treated or can have various different properties such as taste and smell. And well water is usually treated at location, which means system and treatm... | null |
6c1k6c | How does a changing magnetic field induce a current? | [
{
"answer": "If you consider electric and magnetic fields just as they are in maxwells equations, the question becomes more phillosophical. I am not aware of explanations for this in quantum mechanics but I do know how to explain it in terms of another mathematical approach. \n\nLooking at this question from th... | null |
60estn | what would actually happen if you were ejected from an airlock into outer space without a space suit on? | [
{
"answer": "Micheal over at Vsauce does a good take on this.\n\n_URL_0_\n\nJump to 8:30.\n\n...on mobile and cant do all the fancy linking.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You would suffocate because there is no air to breathe.\n\nHowever, even if you're rescued slightly before dying, you are ... | null |
3ebeo5 | Who was in charge of soviet nuclear launches during the cuban missile crisis? Did they disobey orders to launch at any time? | [
{
"answer": "There were a number of officers with launch authority. \n\nMany Soviet subs carried nuclear torpedoes as well as SLBMs; at one point during the crisis (accounts vary) a captain ordered his sub's torpedoes armed and fired at a US Navy ship that had been harrassing his submarine. His first officer pe... | null |
240zd0 | how come i can smell my fart when i'm running? | [
{
"answer": "Because you aren't running fast enough",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "You're on a treadmill.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "5856404",
"title": "Patufet",
"section": "Section::::Description.... | null |
489yvk | When and how was February 29th accepted internationally as leap day? | [
{
"answer": "The ancient Romans originally had ten months, the forerunners of March - December. (this is the reason the later months have names which correspond to latin numbers two less than you would expect). Originally the season of Winter was outside the calendar, its days were undated, but eventually Ja... | null |
25dfih | - if the earth is a sphere, why is north america considered "the west?" | [
{
"answer": "Back in the day, if you started from Europe, you see Asia to the east and an undefined amount of water to the west. When we found out there's actually several Americas there the West/East dichotomy had already been established.\n\nAnd overall, USA is extremely similar with Europe in terms of cultur... | null |
5d5hjw | Why has nature been able to reclaim Chernobyl and Pripyat so well, but humans cannot safely live there? Has the life adapted? | [
{
"answer": "Life hasn't adapted. There's more habitat for animals, but the animals there (that aren't miscarried) have a greater chance of mutation, cancers, cataracts:\n\n*Møller et al. (2005) suggested that the reproductive success and annual survival rates of barn swallows are much lower in the Exclusion Z... | null |
s4s48 | why countries sell each other guns | [
{
"answer": "You sell things to other people to make money. For example, the US sells fighter jets to Israel to make money, yet national security isn't threatened because Israel is 1) far away and 2) a friendly nation (to the US). If you have surplus weapons and equipment sitting around at cost, then selling ... | null |
10rhde | What is this strange stuff growing on my lawn? | [
{
"answer": "This is called [slime mold](_URL_0_), which is actually a protist (like algae), not a fungus.\n\n[Here's a link to a GIS search for \"slime mold grass\"](_URL_1_). \n\nIt is not harmful to your lawn, as you can see by the healthy look of the plants upon which it's growing. ",
"provenance": null... | null |
6vk7wl | why are sprouted grains touted as being so much healthier than non-sprouted? | [
{
"answer": "sprouting grains increases the bioavailability of their nutrients. Unsprouted grains are harder to digest. Cooking grains can breakdown certain nutrients into more digestable forms but can also destroy some of the nutrients. so thats a toss up. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The... | null |
1b407g | Why did the Irish not think of fishing, during the Great Famine? | [
{
"answer": "The following is a quote from [The Irish Famine](_URL_0_) by Peter Grey (1995):\n\n > ...the fisheries of Iraland, were undeveloped, and in Galway and Mayo the herring fishermen were too poor to buy salt with which to preserve a catch.\n\n > ... A large part of the Irish coast, in the south-west, w... | null |
261kb8 | Did females entering the workforce cause a drop in wages due to a much larger supply of labourers? | [
{
"answer": "Lets make this question more specific. After the U.S. entered world war II many females assumed jobs that were vacated by men who went to fight the war. This caused a surge in female employment. What happened to wages in the country when the men returned from the war?",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
11g8kn | Within your area of expertise, do you feel that, in general, the course of history is inevitable? | [
{
"answer": "Napoleon and the French Revolution changed a lot. It doesnt matter what the Monarchs of other countries did, the revolution ideas eventually spread through Europe.\n\nKind of funny this exact case for Spain: When France invaded, Spain´s provisional government created the first constitution with a l... | null |
9h7bjy | what is arp cache poisoning? | [
{
"answer": "Every network device has a MAC address, it's just a number, and every network card is built with it's own unique number. When you connect to a network (like your home Network), your computer asks for an IP (an address on the internet). Unlike a MAC, IPs are made in such a way that you can narrow do... | null |
1lix8h | Is Joan of Arc an historical anomaly? Are there other examples of young women in roles of military leadership? | [
{
"answer": "[Gustavus_Adolphus](_URL_0_) led the Swedish Army when he inherited the crown at age 16.\n\nEdward, Prince of Wales (known as The Black Prince) commanded the English vanguard at Crecy, being 16 years old.\n\nAlexander the Great led the left wing at the battle of Chaeronea aged 18 and was in overall... | null |
3ff7tv | why does a scale give different readings when i'm standing, crouching, or on my tip-toes? | [
{
"answer": "It has to do with the way your weight disperses across the internal plate that's connected to the scale. If you stand on a corner, it's going to affect the way your weight makes it to the sensor, if you crouch with your ass out, your center of gravity is off of center, and the same thing happens. T... | null |
3udxq9 | why do school district have to pay for special aids for students who are deaf or with major disabilities? why not health insurance? | [
{
"answer": "Why should a school pay for health insurance? That's a private decision up to parents and families. They make these videos as it falls within their realm of responsibility to educate children regardless of condition of learning. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenanc... | null |
ctbe29 | assuming they are not shot out if the sky. how long will satellites function without human interaction? what would make them fail? | [
{
"answer": "Usually the limiting factor in sattelite missions is funding.\n\nIf the project stops being funded the sattelite is either deorbitted and burns up in the atmosphere or left dead in space.\n\nIf communications with the sattelite is severed then it will drift for a very long time. However due to diff... | null |
441lr4 | Resurrection is recorded in the Bible. Where did the idea originate? Is this the first recorded instance of someone (or something) rising from the dead? | [
{
"answer": "I am not by any means a historian, but your question is more literary than historical, feel free to remove is any of this is viewed as questionable. \n\nFrom a purely literary perspective, the theme is pretty much as old as we have recorded stories in writing or pictures. It has been largely linked... | null |
6mh15t | why does something just smelling/tasting bad make some people physically sick, even though they haven't consumed any of the item in question? | [
{
"answer": "It is something called taste aversion. \n\nBasically, you have smelled something similar to the bad smelling thing in your past and it has done some sort of harm to your body, and your brain makes a copy of that smell so that your brain knows \"If we smell/taste this again, get it away immediately!... | null |
75pvre | how are the bubbles when you spit formed? | [
{
"answer": "I'm assuming this is referring to when you simply spit on the ground.\n\nWhen you spit you are forcing saliva out of your mouth by mechanical (muscular) forces and also by forcing air out of your lungs. The gases you exhale when spitting do not all dissipate. Some of these gases may become \"trapp... | null |
18va1o | Can anybody recommend a good/best biography of Chiang Kai-Shek? | [
{
"answer": "The Generalissimo: Chiang Kai-Shek and the Struggle for Modern China by Jay Taylor. Taylor breaks from the common rhetoric of Chiang being an inept dictator who mismanaged China until he was ejected from the Mainland by Mao, after which he ruled Taiwan for the rest of his life under the protection ... | null |
1jo6dq | liberalism vs socialism | [
{
"answer": "One major difference is that liberals may acknowledge what they consider pragmatic considerations in their lives. It is possible to be a 1% top earning executive, and support social structures which narrow wage gaps. The executive may demand she be paid highly given the value of his specialized wor... | null |
tvh38 | What does our solar system orbit? | [
{
"answer": "It orbits the center of the Milky Way. [See here](_URL_0_).",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "To explain a little further than snooptray, everything in our galaxy (including our solar system) is orbiting a supermassive black hole that is in the center of our galaxy. It's generally ac... | null |
8arr35 | how did "chinese" food in the u.s. get so standardized? | [
{
"answer": "They all buy from the same enormous restaurant supplier, much the same way that so many diners have pretty much the same menus. A big truck brings it all, prepackaged and ready to prepare. It keeps costs down and customers are more comfortable eating food they're familiar with; not everyone is ... | null |
13hxm3 | Can you tan from the moon? | [
{
"answer": "Nope, sorry. The theory is there, but it doesn't work out in real life. The sun is about a half million times brighter than the moon, so you would have to be out for half a million nights to get the same amount of sun you can get in one day. Also, the moon isn't as good at reflecting UV rays, the o... | null |
17e5i9 | Chinese Imperialism | [
{
"answer": "I am trying to determine what efforts you have made in the past century to stem the growth of power and influence of the Chinese. I cannot actually comment on this first question though, as it is far out of our rules for the subreddit. \nThe bonus question is another matter. \nThe borders of \"Chi... | null |
24ntr8 | how does applying to college work, with paying, scholarships, admittance, and etc. | [
{
"answer": "Its a lot of paperwork, and it varies based on the school.\n\nBut the basics are these -\n\nYou apply to college by filling out an application. Many use the \"Common App\" or the \"Universal App\" but some schools have their own application they want you to use. In either case a quick trip to the... | null |
a4r4u3 | do people calmly wake up from comas? | [
{
"answer": "I've been in a coma( 2 days) and so have a few of my family members, from what I've seen no, they usually jump up or make a loud gasp, in my case it was screaming.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "I feel bad for anyone who watched the 2013 YouTube rewind then got into a coma then sa... | null |
4lnogu | What was the advent of 'modern' military R & D? | [
{
"answer": "The first documented instance (in Italy) when military engineering was specifically removed from the ad-hoc efforts of an officer or commander to the purview of a noncombatant specialist for a sustained period of time was in early 16th century Italy, when Leonardo Da Vinci was handed letters paten... | null |
19tbf0 | [Geology] Can metals be minerals? | [
{
"answer": "A long long time ago, Chemistry and Geology had kinda a bromance going on. Geology was particularly interested in mining, and chemistry was developed around purely pragmatic and industrial reasons at the time. (That is why we see Geologists like Alexandre-Emile Béguyer de Chancourtois developing pe... | null |
7dvo07 | what does it mean that a city was founded by someone ? | [
{
"answer": "Practically speaking most founded towns in the old world were already small settlements and generals would add economy to them by basing resupply ports, garrisons, etc there and relocate populations from other conquered regions to make it work. There are some that were completely new though and th... | null |
vupxw | Were Christains killed for their faith in the Colosseum? | [
{
"answer": "I don't have much time but I will eventually elaborate on this. =P\n\nBasically Christians we're being killed for not participating in the sacrifises all Romans must participate in. Ea. their personal \"contracts\" with their Gods. Not doing this was treason. The commentary with the sources will ex... | null |
e74z4o | how do christmas lights flash individual bulbs? | [
{
"answer": "Many are done as an arangement of 3 strings. If you look closely you can see three wires on many strings or icicle lights. If you really look closely, there's never a need for the entire string to be off and a individual bulb lit. You can get away with controlling 33% of the string at a time for ... | null |
382j2z | "The Umayyad Caliphate actively discouraged Islamic conversions because of the jizya tax" how true is this statement? | [
{
"answer": "Quite true. It wasn't just because of the jizya either; Islam at the time of the Umayyads was not a cosmopolitan religion. It was supposed to be for the still-tribal Arabs--foreigners just wouldn't \"get it\". \n\nHowever, even though it was discouraged, Islam still did spread chiefly among the Ira... | null |
85aa5c | Was Middle/Late Bronze Age a time of societal and technological stasis in the Near East? | [
{
"answer": "The Middle and Late Bronze Age spanned nearly a thousand years, and naturally there were quite a few changes during that time period. I wrote about many of these changes from an Egyptian perspective in [Ancient Egypt is often described as the longest continuous human civilization, and seems to have... | null |
4olrp0 | what is the point of image-based captchas if there are already lots of bots that can solve them? do ticket-reselling websites have some secret ocr/high performance photo recognition software that google doesn't? | [
{
"answer": "Captchas don't need to be perfect to be useful. If robots are making 5 accounts an hour then it's not really the end of the world, if they are making 5 accounts a second then a service quickly can get overwelmed. A speed bump can be as useful as a stop sign. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"... | null |
aeoob9 | how does comparable gpu's have completely different power needs? | [
{
"answer": "More modern manufacturing process, using smaller transistors that leak less heat during operation, and improvements to the arrangement of those transistors that results in a more efficient architecture.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The amount of transistors determines how well t... | null |
1i9m1b | Did medieval knights fight with any particular style? | [
{
"answer": "In fact they did. It varied from the region and weapon used but many knights and fighters were trained in a specific style. Unfortunately not too many records exist before the 1300's but after that they are many training manuals and records from many different countries. If you're looking for an ov... | null |
28wy6k | Relative value of Roman Currencies in Julius' Caesar's day? | [
{
"answer": "Egypt would have used the Tetradrachm during this time period near the end of the Ptolemaic Empire. Rome would modify the Egyptian currency slightly but allow it's own form of currency since it was specially under the direct control of the Emperor.\n\nA denarius was supposedly a single days wage (... | null |
78bfiz | if uranium has a half life of 4.5 billion years, why do uranium fuel rods used in nuclear reactors need to be replaced every six years? | [
{
"answer": "Because they are being spent. You can keep gasoline in a barrel for a really long time too, but need to refill your car at pretty regular intervals during use.\n\nThe same concept applies to all fuel, Uranium is broken down in the nuclear reaction, leaving less of it than there was before, at a rat... | null |
c760a9 | How do you increase tolernce to alcohol? | [
{
"answer": "Consumption-induced alcohol tolerance can be divided into functional tolerance and metabolic tolerance. There are some other minor changes but these are probably the most important.\n\nFunctional tolerance is when your body (particularly the central nervous system) adapts to compensate for the incr... | null |
ftq1dp | why do racecars have to change tires so often? usually tires are good for much longer than a day. | [
{
"answer": "The quick and easy answer is race tires are designed for performance not longevity, as soon as racecars start to lose performance in the tire they change them so that they maintain an optimal race pace",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Race car tires are quite different from the tire... | null |
jq96p | jpeg compression | [
{
"answer": "Let's take an image that is 1000 by 1000 pixels. Each pixel requires some number of bytes of data to tell you what color it is. Now, that's a significant amount of data, so a compression algorithm tries to reduce the amount of data you need to store that picture.\n\nI'm not sure if this is how JP... | null |
5ickcc | why do people lose weight during sleep? | [
{
"answer": "water loss, either through sweat, pee, or just the humidity in your breath.\n\nthe other is carbon dioxide, inhale oxygen, exhale CO2. Add up all those carbons and you can get a measurable amount of weight.\n\nBut of your 2lbs, i would be sure atleast 75% of it was water.",
"provenance": null
... | null |
7v3lj7 | the difference between men's and women's deodorant, aside from price | [
{
"answer": "The ingredients. \n\nWomens products tend to contain more fragrances and moisterizers then men's products.\n\nThose extra ingredients don't come free.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": " > and thirdly, does that drive the price difference at all\n\nNo. The price difference is almost e... | null |
a574s7 | Were any of the prominent writers and thinkers of Enlightenment Age-era Europe aware of Buddhism? And if so, what were their thoughts on Buddhism as a religion and/or school of philosophy? | [
{
"answer": "Most of the historical work on the West’s encounter with Buddhism has focused on the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, and it is generally assumed that there was not a great deal of information in Europe about Buddhism before this. It is true that Buddhist texts in Sanskrit and Pāli were not wide... | null |
aogbzq | How do amino acids from food enter cells and become proteins? | [
{
"answer": "The family of proteins called solute carrier proteins comprise a very large number of proteins, that were identified early, but not quickly characterized. We know now that many of them serve the role of transporting various amino acids into cells. \n\nyou can read more in this review: [_URL_0_](_UR... | null |
300gbo | why don't word processors like ms word have extensive autocorrect like smartphone keyboards do? | [
{
"answer": "Extensive autocorrect on smartphones exists because typing on them is hard for most people. When you have a full keyboard, and in a word processor for desktop you are expected to, it's more annoying than helpful for the program to make guesses about what you *meant*.",
"provenance": null
},
... | null |
1sfg8e | Have there been any cases of sterile kings using "other" methods for producing progeny? | [
{
"answer": " > Would they adopt children to serve as heirs?\n\nIndeed, this is the practice in Roman empire, when emperors lack legitimate child. Most famously this was practiced by the first four of Five Good Emperors:Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and Antoninus Pius. They chose their successor by adopting them. Mar... | null |
wopq3 | Are there any books regarding indigenous peoples of the extreme north? | [
{
"answer": "The northernmost people in the world at the Inughuit and Jean Malaurie's *Ultima Thule* is a classic book about them and outside contact. Expensive but you can get it used. Not sure if [Báiki: The International Sámi Journal](_URL_0_) is still publishing but at least their website it still up.",
... | null |
eepgaa | I'm hoping to make an in-depth timeline of events to help my research. To anyone who's done the same, do you have any software or method recommendations? | [
{
"answer": "I can recommend the free website Time Graphics. My example timeline is actually only semi-historical, as I used it to plot events in ancient history against the ancient timeline of the show *Steven Universe*, but hopefully it will serve as a good example of what the website is capable of: _URL_0_\n... | null |
4zm67t | how do venus flytraps digest? | [
{
"answer": "They secrete digestive enzymes. Interestingly enough, the digestive action of venus fly traps seem to have come from defenses against insects that were co-opted into carnivory. Jasmonic acid, which is used in other plants to activate defense mechanisms, is used by the venus fly trap to activate dig... | null |
kj41n | how does a new show get on tv? | [
{
"answer": "Someone comes up with an idea and pitches it to a network. \n\nIf the network likes the idea they create a \"pilot episode\" so they can see if they still like it and show it to other people to see if they like it too.\n\nIf that goes well then the show is made and broadcast on TV.",
"provenanc... | null |
3iwrhk | ...why does flash seem to be universally hated? | [
{
"answer": "A lot of people are just jumping in on the bandwagon because they see that you're supposed to hate it so they hate it. But they have no idea why.\n\nIn practice, it's a big security vulnerability in the browser. That's the main thing. There's also performance and the fact that its inherently tied t... | null |
7y5u3s | I am a Soviet Army soldier fighting in 1980s Afghanistan. I have been captured by the mujahedeen. How will I be treated as a prisoner? | [
{
"answer": "So the most infamous results of \"treatment\" were quite horrifying. Stories of death and mutilation abound, and certainly were the common image for the scared, 18 year old conscripts being sent to 'fulfill their international duty' of the fate that awaited them, but the Mujahideen was hardly a mon... | null |
25qd2d | Does writing helps us remember? | [
{
"answer": "Check out levels of processing. _URL_0_ \n\nI don't remember the citation, but the idea is that writing something down (specifically, putting it in your own words instead of copying it) forces you to process the information more deeply and thus retrieve the information better. It's outside my area... | null |
1mrbkh | what does the recent increase in arctic ice say about global warming and climate change? | [
{
"answer": "One year does not a trend make on a long term global temperature graph. \n\nTherefore, this really says nothing at the moment. Come see me in a couple or 10 years.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Here is a sequence...\n\n88, 86, 84, 82, 80, 72, 76\n\nWhat does that tell you?\n\nL... | null |
6kxkoi | when we first started measuring temperature how did we decide how large a degree would be? was it merely and arbitrary figure that worked, or was there a specific reason behind it? | [
{
"answer": "It's based on water. They froze some water and decided that would be 0, they boiled some and decided that would be 100. So it's arbitrary in the sense that 100 is an arbitrary number but that's what it's based on.\n\nThe temperature of boiling water will always be the same whether they decided to s... | null |
1oyy8d | How much blame could we actually give to Herbert Hoover for the Great Depression? | [
{
"answer": "Hoover had, in my opinion, little to do with the actual ONSET of the Depression and merely suffered the wrath of the fact that people need to blame...someone. And you can blame the President, while you cannot blame faceless brokers at the NYSE.\n\nAn unregulated and unmonitored Stock Exchange, whi... | null |
4yfetc | Why were the Americans able to fly such large bombers over Nagasaki and Hiroshima? Where were the air defences? | [
{
"answer": "USAAF B-29s started bombing Japan in 1944, from China in July and the Mariana Islands in November. Similar to the strategy employed against Germany, they first targeted the Japanese aircraft industry. Though early raids were not always accurate or successful they did force the dispersal of aircraft... | null |
450cfb | Why are the flags of the Mughal Empire of India and the Safavid Dynasty of Persia/Iran so similar? | [
{
"answer": "With regards to Iran, you can find a great article about historical Persian flags on the [Encyclopaedia Iranica](_URL_0_) website. To summarize, the Lion and Sun symbol has a rather long history. Both the Sun and Golden Lion are symbols of kingship and royalty and were in use from ancient times, as... | null |
804ppu | why hasn’t cancer been bred out of the gene pool by natural selection? | [
{
"answer": "Because cancer isn't solely genetical in origin. There are various causes, including viruses. Also, some cancers don't normally appear until middle age or after, so victims would have already had children.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because cancer isn't an inherited disease. ... | null |
3ioeaq | What did the understanding of the elements of the periodic table look like in the 1500s? | [
{
"answer": "/u/billbillbilly nails it pretty well.\n\nThe modern atomic theory didn't exist until the early 19th century, and things like conservation of mass, etc until the 18th century.\n\nSo forget the periodic table. \"elements\" were the four elements that all matter was made of: earth, air, fire, and wat... | null |
z6u98 | Does exercise reduce blood pressure by sweating out excess salt? | [
{
"answer": "Not a very large role, I'm afraid. BP is regulated by multiple different salts (and a host of other factors). I suspect if you sweat just pure NaCl, you would decrease blood pressure, but it would be fatal since the sodium to potassium ratio must be preserved. Therefore you [sweat out a mixture ... | null |
3j1be9 | the price of eggs have skyrocketed, but why hasn't the price of chicken gone up? | [
{
"answer": "The chickens we eat are not the same chickens that lay the eggs we eat. Apples and oranges.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "Because the chickens that lay eggs were severely impacted by the avian flu, killing more than 45 Mil birds while the chickens that are grown for eating were a... | null |
3nc21q | Is an invisible material physically possible ? | [
{
"answer": "Yes, it is possible to a certain extent.\n\nScientists are currently working with \"metamaterials\" which are usually composed of metals and ceramics. \n\nScientists are making small things appear and disappear but for an invisibility cloak which is seen in Harry Potter - We are a long way from.\n\... | null |
14lc1t | what exactly happens when a music producer "masters" a song/album? | [
{
"answer": "When most people hear the term 'mastering', they are think of the mixing process, aka balancing volumes and adding effects, etc. Mastering is actually a specialized subset of mixing that is a form of audio quality control or quality assurance. Only a relative handful of people and studios are capab... | null |
eba5kp | what makes ab+ plasma and platelets a universal donor? | [
{
"answer": "It get a bit more complicated, but to break it down into just the AB things, because that's what explains this mostly. You have two main blood cell factors, A and B. They interact a bit like puzzle pieces with some clotting factors, such as in a platelet donations. Some of these factors cause an... | null |
1u0c34 | With recent generations being immunized against the chicken pox, how will the frequency of shingles cases be affected? | [
{
"answer": "That would be the idea. It's all herpes zoster infections - shingles is just the recurrence of the same infection. When there are no new cases of chickenpox then, eventually, there would be no new cases of shingles. But it'll take a long time - all the people who have had chickenpox need to get old... | null |
30fe29 | what is an actual good strategy for taking those personality tests you find on job applications? what exactly are they looking for? | [
{
"answer": "the more elaborate ones have a combination of questions that let them see if you're honest. \n\nNot being able to sleep because of stress cannot be good in my view. Bad stress management. \nIt's like saying yes to the question \"do you have psychological problems?\". \n\nThe everything is possible ... | null |
1ty5hk | Can we measure dark energy? | [
{
"answer": "That depends on what you mean by measure. For all practical intents and purposes, however, the answer is no. Dark energy is just the name we give a phenomenon about which we understand very little. So far, the only measurements we've made regarding dark energy is its relative abundance: we know it ... | null |
4akpiz | how does a program that is a 2mb download take up 30mb of space when installed? | [
{
"answer": "It depends. There's really 3 scenarios:\n\n1. It's a compressed installer that extracts itself as part of the installation\n\n2. The installed runs a bunch of scripts that generate placeholder files\n\n3. It's a stub installer that actually is just downloading additional files as part of the instal... | null |
2k7v2e | how are home run distances in baseball calculated as soon as the ball lands? | [
{
"answer": "They point a laser range finder at the spot it landed.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedia_id": "28855",
"title": "Shea Stadium",
"section": "Section::::Features.:Design.\n",
"start_paragraph_id": 114,
... | null |
md0zj | Can someone explain Lupus to me? | [
{
"answer": "Aeina has a great explanation, so I won't retread any ground. I'd just add that in Lupus it's specifically diagnosed by the presence of a antinuclear antibody (ANA), meaning there's an antibody targeting the nucleus, or part of the cell that contains DNA. While there are actually a few variations o... | null |
3fzn7e | why the american constitution is still the same yet laws change | [
{
"answer": "We have amendments for this exact reason. Changing the original document can be dangerous, like in Animal Farm, where all four-legged were equal, then all four-legged were equal both some are better. We want to keep the original writings intact, while adding more to it as the times change.\n\nA lot... | null |
1sna0v | why does society have "girl stuff" and "guy stuff" | [
{
"answer": "Because boys and girls are different.. Give boys barbie dolls and soon they're stripped naked and they're whacking things with them like hammers... give girls GI Joes and they play dress up and act out tea parties with them. Obviously I know this is a GROSS generalization so don't waste your time ... | null |
83a2jx | sometimes police can enter a house saying they have a warrant, but do not need to produce it for proof to the people in the house? | [
{
"answer": "Under the Federal Constitution there is no requirement to show the warrant. There is a standard of reasonableness with regard to the manner of execution of the search or arrest, and some decisions have cited the display of the warrant, but the Supreme Court has affirmatively held it is not a requir... | null |
1vaqie | I am a merchant traveling along the Silk Road during the first century. What is life like for me and what kinds of things am I concerned about? | [
{
"answer": "My suggestion to you is to read Susan Whitfields \"Life Along the Silk Road\", it is a historical fiction book, but it beautifully illustrates the trials that people faced along the Silk Road routes.\n\nThe Silk Road, as I'm sure you're aware was not just one long trail that stretched from East to ... | null |
30p9u4 | why does my husband get an erection when he's tired? | [
{
"answer": "Your body needs to tense a muscle to *prevent* an erection. When you're tired this muscle relaxes and you become erect. Same reason you get morning wood.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "His body is relaxed and that allows blood to flow to his penis. Normally, the blood flow is limi... | null |
5tud5h | Were there eunuchs in Pre-Columbian American civilizations? | [
{
"answer": "I've researched this a little, in precisely the same thinking as you! It's a solid *sort of...* If you, fellow eunuchologist, mean as I think you do \"other-gendered people occupying a distinct social role or roles with their gender made manifest through the act of literal castration\" then no. Whi... | null |
bc78yz | how do people "let go" and choose to die? | [
{
"answer": "I'm no expert, but I think a lot of the time that person is actively fighting to stay alive for as long as possible whether it's a conscious or subconscious decision. Once they consciously decide that they no longer want to fight then the brain stops trying to coordinate the body's fight and they t... | null |
22o9ce | why are ncaa basketball rules so different from nba rules? | [
{
"answer": "The NCAA wants to differentiate itself from the NBA to minimize the perception that the players in one billion dollar league are very well compensated while the players in the other are lucky to get a scholarship.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "The majority of college athletes don... | null |
ilsnu | Why does Tyrannosaurus rex have a second set of rib bones? | [
{
"answer": "They're called gastral ribs. Last I read we're not entirely sure what purpose they served or if they had any purpose. That's all I really know about the subject a paleontologist can tell you more. ",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": null,
"provenance": [
{
"wikipedi... | null |
3b4c5l | modern germany's outlook and regulations on naziism? | [
{
"answer": "They do acknowledge naziism in school. Nazi paraphernalia is banned for collecting purposes, although museums can display it. Same goes for Mein Kampf, not allowed to be sold or distributed.\n\nSource: My mother is German, told me about all this.",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "It ... | null |
3si1sp | if gas pumps can accurately measure high speed flow, why do they always slow to a crawl at the end? | [
{
"answer": "Think of it like filling a water bottle from a faucet. If you open the tap all the way and try to fill it you will have to stop when the water starts bubbling out of the top from the air trying to escape. The result is that you have a bottle that isn't actually full. Now if you start to close the t... | null |
cvu6am | Why does it hurt when disinfectant is applied to wounds? | [
{
"answer": "Basically, this happens because of the contents of the antiseptic. When in contact with uncovered flesh, 2 ingredients in the antiseptic (ethanol and hydrogen peroxide) trigger 2 different receptors. Both of them cause you to feel the burning and apperant heat coming from the wound, when in reality... | null |
9lmohd | we always hear that the military is "fighting to protect our rights." but who are they fighting and why do they want to take away our rights? | [
{
"answer": "That statement is not meant to be taken literally. The implication is that if, *hypothetically,* someone were to bring us harm, the military would stop them.\n\nBy that logic, anyone who joins the military has signed up to (maybe, someday) die for our freedom.",
"provenance": null
},
{
... | null |
28acbm | what problems do modern mathematicians attempt to solve? | [
{
"answer": "How to make a living as a mathematician?",
"provenance": null
},
{
"answer": "They're working on impossibly hard problems like:\n\n - Is every even number the sum of two primes? \n\n - Start with any natural number x. If it's even, go to x / 2. If it's odd got to 3x + 1. If you do t... | null |
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