query stringlengths 8 249 | answer stringlengths 45 7.8k |
|---|---|
Why do male orgasms get more intense in relatively short amounts of succession? | Well everyone is different. Wildly so, in fact. Some people are capable of sustaining multiple, repeating orgasms of increasing intensity. This is more common in women, but certainly possible in men. Others can only have one orgasm of great intensity, after which they lose sexual stimulation for a long refractory perio... |
Why is there no standard for which side the gas tank is on on a car? | For the most part, the gas tank is centered on the frame. What you're probably thinking of is where the gas cap is, which generally will depend on the manufacturer. U/aykprod [answered that one]. |
How do airport scans actually work? | Congratulations on making it onto a watch list! Without saying anything too classified, density. Density of materials is almost like a finger printThe new full-body scanners use millimeter-wave radiation to detect items based on their density. Anything that is more dense than the surrounding matter will show up on the ... |
How can you be sure that it is safe to give your credit card number to customer service online or over the phone? | As someone who used to do this for a living - you can never be 100% sure, but that doesn't mean the companies don't have a load of policies in place to minimize the danger. Company I used to work for, we weren't allowed to read back the number , everything got recorded, we had a certain kind of criminal background chec... |
Why do I find things funnier when I'm tired? | Same reason you find everything funnier when you're drunk- impaired judgement.We call that "slap happy" in my family. I distinctly remember when I was about 7, my grandmother and I staying up far too late and someone made a rhyme on accident and it just spiralled out of control until we were giggling hystericallyI may ... |
Why is Tony Abbott (Prime Minister of Australia) so hated? | Where to start? He attacked the previous Prime Minister for being too controlling of his MPs. One of the first things Abbott did when he became PM was to order his MPs to not speak to the media without running it past him first. He attacked the previous government for not being transparent enough. One of the other thin... |
How does Imodium work? | They decrease the water absorption in the intestine. A lot of water and nutrients are absorbed by the intestines, and Imodium basically reduces the absorption of the water. That's also why they're so dangerous if taken in a large dosis. |
why there seems to be no patent war in the car industry. | General Motors [patented electric car batteries and never used them], so their competition couldn't either. I think this is even worse than patent warring. |
Why aren't beers required by law to have nutritional info on their label? | Foods are regulated by the FDA. The FDA requires nutritional labeling on foods. Beer is regulated by the BATFE. The BATFE does not require nutritional labeling on beer - in fact, doesn't want it, because it would give the impression that beer is food.In part because the ingredients that went into it aren't what's in th... |
November day light savings time | You definitely gain the extra hour. Give him an example. Say you forget to change your clock the previous night. You wake up at 6, realize it's daylight savings, set the clock back to 5, then sleep until 6 again.We set the clocks back an hour to gain an hour, saving an hour of daylight because the sun begins to set ear... |
How Momentum is Conserved when Light Refracts | When light refracts at the boundary, it also reflects. This reflected light carries momentum which then satisfies momentum conservation. |
Why is ice cream soft when it's first opened but harden after you put in back in the freezer? | When ice cream is made it's constantly churned while being frozen, the churning process breaks up the ice crystals into small pieces making the ice cream soft, when you put partially melted ice cream in the freezer there is no churning so large ice crystals develop leaving you with hard ice cream. |
Why does my barber hand me a warm wet towel when he finishes cutting my hair? | I would assume so you can wipe the stray hairs off your face and neck? My barber just blasts me in the face with a hair dryer. |
How does Youtube channels like "WatchMojo" earn money when all their videos contain copyrighted materials? | Youtuber here. Watchmojo is their own youtube Network. When you join a network, you are assigned a custom id under your youtube network. The ID number is what youtube references. As long as your content falls under the approved media for that ID number, you can monetize. If Watchmojo has these various forms of media co... |
Why are bitter citrus fruit harder to peel? | The bitter ones we humans haven't cultivated into tasty fruits that are easy to eat. The closer to natural you go, the less sweet and harder to peel citrus get.Genetic patterns suggest the four original parents of the citrus varieties we have today are citron, pummelo, mandarin, and papeda. Generally the sweeter variet... |
How do lottery ticket companies make sure their workers don't track down the winning tickets that they print? | A computer prints the numbers on the scratchoff tickets as they roll through the printing presses at a thousand tickets a minute and the machine also coats the tickets with the scratch off coating in the same process. So when they come out of the press all the employee sees is the completed tickets in a giant stack. Th... |
why do some animals like cats give birth to multiple offspring but humans usually only have one baby per pregnancy? | Place on the food chain. Prey animals will have more offspring to account for losses from predators. Imagine a grizzly bear having 10 cubs a few times a year. |
Why do sounds go deeper when slowed down & higher pitched when sped up? | Sound is a wave and pitch is caused by distance between the compressions of the wave. A shorter distance means a higher pitch. It's not so much causation as definition. Simple sound editing software only compresses the waveform when speeding up, pushing compressions together, resulting in higher pitch. This is done so ... |
Are facial expressions natural or a construct of our society? | [Studies show] certain facial expressions are universal. A study of blind people has shown that "anger, contempt, disgust, sadness, surprise and multiple types of smiles" were consistent across the seeing and non-seeing.Most facial expressions are universal and the same across all of humanity. They're from deep in our ... |
How does difference in air pressure affect cloud formation? | What exactly do you mean by "differences in pressure"? Differences in pressure cause wind and the wind can indirectly affect cloud formation. However, the main factors in cloud formation are differences in temperature at different altitudes, terrain , and weather fronts . |
- how do engineer come up with names for different parts? | Engineering names for parts are usually descriptive of the design or function of a part. Thus an "oil filter" filters the oil in a car. Perhaps if you had an interesting example you could get an interesting explanation. |
What it takes for a Third World city to achieve good governance and a high quality of life for its residents ? | There is an entire academic discipline devoted to this question. If anyone had a definitive, ELI5-able answer for it, they'd probably have a Nobel prize coming. |
Why does it make a difference in taste, if the water I brew tea with has boiled or not? | It's about temperature and solubility. Coffee is the same way, you're toeing a fine line with certain flavor compounds that come out at certain temps. For instance, if you boil the water, once it's all mixed in with the tea leaves it'll sit at say 204F , this is hot enough to get all of the good flavors out of black te... |
How were cartoon sound effects produced such as those from Hannah-Barbera and 80's-90's anime? | They had people called "foley artists" who would record unique sounds. Some of these sounds would be kept in a library of sounds that could be reused, other sounds would be recorded specifically for individual purposes. They 'd use anything and everything imaginable. People still do it today, and it's not just cartoons... |
Why do i sometimes hear voices in my head when trying to sleep? | Very few schizophrenics hear voices the way you describe them despite common misconceptions. So please ignore those fears. Instead you are engaging in a very common phenomena know as a pre-sleep dream or Hypnagogia. During the onset of sleep the brain fires impulses despite relaxation occurring and produces small figme... |
Why are white rats mainly used for studies instead of other rodent species? | Lab rats are often of a particular strain, or a family that mice are taken from that are as genetically identical as possible. This is to be able to conduct effective studies on the effect of individual genes, and partly to limit the effect of genetic diversity in influencing the results of trials. Several of these str... |
Why is the Magna Carter so famous ? | It is the "Magna Carta" and it was a document signed by the Nobles of England and was the first document to start to limit the powers of Monarchy in "modern" European history. It is the touchstone base for what became the British Parliamentary system and was at least in part one of the influential documents for the US ... |
Why is time considered an Illusion? | Time isn't an illusion, it's a fundamental parameter of the universe. It's not a construct of human imagination it's an inherent property of the universe. |
The differences between rocks, minerals, gemstones, and crystals? | **Rock** is a more generic term for any kind of hard, brittle mineral composite. Usually they're mostly silicate with some impurities and their structure varies significantly between types. Rocks have classifications and types, but usually not a specific chemical formula. A **mineral** is more specific, they are natura... |
Why do investors buy collapsing companies debts? | There are quite a few reasons they do this, and a lot depends on what the bankrupt company does and why it is bankrupt. Possible scenarios include but are not limited to: * A company is bankrupt but still has assets that can be of value to the purchaser such as a built-in customer base, a valuable brand name, physical ... |
Why is there controversy over the seasonal starbucks cup? | Because there are no snowflakes on it and it is plain and christians think they are denouncing christmas .. Im not jokingSome more conservative-leaning people feel that there's been a tendency for government, media, advertising, etc in recent decades to kind of kind of try to minimise Christmas as part of a progressive... |
Why metal makes the *tinktink* noise when cooling down. | Using the example of roll-formed roof sheets , in the heat of the day the sheets expand. They contract when it cools down. The expansion and contraction from the change in temperature causes a friction/static buildup and at a certain point it will release which is what causes the noise. Kind of like sometimes when you ... |
What is a saturated market? | Meaning that that specific market has reached maximum capacity, or is approaching it i.e. there is no more room to expand in that market. |
How are spies from foreign countries tried in courts in the United States? | Most likely they get charged with espionage in accordance with the Espionage Act of 1917. The crime is against the US as a whole so the defendants will be tried in Federal Court. Any lawyer they can afford can defend them and if they can not afford an attorney, an attorney will be provided. Why would the US listen to f... |
Why are they telling us Californians to stay alert until Tuesday. Does the EQ threat end after that or...? | In California there is always an earthquake threat. There is always a chance of an earthquake anywhere. But the chance is much greater in California. I was only in California for eight weeks and felt a building shaker. Californians care so much about earthquakes they have built a robust detection system for measuring e... |
will they ever go after the actual person(s) who wrote and built the code for Volkswagen to cheat the emissions testing? | When a company does something wrong, you sue the company, not the CEO, or the manager, or the engineer. This is what's called corporate personhood. So no, they won't go after the person who wrote the code. |
Does night mode have a practical function, or is it purely cosmetic? | It is easier on your eyes. Bright light is especially bad at night since it can trick your body into disrupting your circadian rhythm, leading to insomnia or other sleep issuesMost people have a hard time looking at bright screens when the room is dark. So night mode makes the screen darker so you do not strain your ey... |
Why does the Thompson SMG have a higher muzzle velocity than M1911? | barrel length. once a round exits the barrel it's no longer being pushed by the pressure of the explosion of powder. If you increase the time that the bullet is pushed the more velocity is imparted onto it by that force. |
Why are my visual memories sometimes in third person? | It's pretty common. After some time, episodic memories become semantic memories. That is, memories you can visualize become facts you can recall. So sometimes when we try to recall those memories visually, it's in third person because you are wanting to see yourself. You may be able to find that with a little effort yo... |
What is it exactly that makes noise when you hear sizzles while standing under a high voltage electric line? | These are [corona discharges]. The electric field becomes sharp enough immediately surrounding the wires that any randomly-generated free electrons in the air will crash into other molecules and produce more free electrons and ions. An AC corona alternates between positive and negative modes. This process produces soun... |
How are acids made? | Some are made by dissolving solids in water. Many natural substances create acids when dissolved. Some are made by bacteria. If you let juice ferment, it will turn to alcohol, then vinegar . |
What data does Windows 10 actually send to Microsoft? Is it really anything bad? | It actually sends every keystroke you type. Now Microsoft says this is to help improve it's spelling corrections, but with a warrant the FBI could use it for other things. It's not stored for a long time, by default, but that doesn't mean they couldn't be ordered to keep records for longer. Cortana sends every sound ma... |
If games can render near photo-realistic graphics in real-time, why does 3D animation software (e.g Blender) take hours or even days to render simple animations? | Games use a lot of tricks to fake the photorealism at less cost than doing it for real . The most important one is the lighting. You may notice that shadows don't always look right in games. You know how when you hold something colored under a light, it starts to glow that color? Games don't do this because they don't ... |
Why do multi-vitamins contain more than 100% of certain nutrients? | Something people haven't patronized yet on here is bioavailability & bioaccessibility; even if it says 100%, you don't really get a 1:1 ratio of access/usage from it, same as when you eat food. Also, the daily recommended requirements are often really low, more like a "this is good enough so you don't outright have an ... |
Why car manufacturers sometimes have different names for the same car model in different markets? | Sometimes it's a marketing reason, and sometimes it's copyright or trademark law. For example, back in the 1960s, Ford wanted to export the Mustang to Germany. However, a German company, Krupp, was already using the name "Mustang" on a line of delivery trucks. Because Krupp already had the rights to use the name "Musta... |
Why do some people not remember anything when they get drunk? | To expand on tstorm1986's comment, I believe ethanol specifically inhibits the short-term-to-long-term memory transfer process, thus making those people unable to remember even the smallest action more than 5 minutes afterwards, or as soon as they start thinking of something else. ELI5 version: A tiny amount of the liq... |
Why is it considered grammatically incorrect to use 'ain't'? | I ain't saying that you're wrong, but I ain't saying you're right either. It's not grammatically incorrect to use ain't, it's just informal. In any formal writing, "am not" is much preferred. Funnily enough the word "amn't" which actually makes my spell check say it isn't a word is also defined, and is also therefore g... |
What is the actual structure of the Chinese government? How is it organized? | The crucial difference between western democracies and China is that in China the Constitution explicitly gives the Communist Party certain very important powers. In particular there is no difference between the leader of the Chinese Communist Party and the President of China. They are separate positions but always emb... |
how could depression affect us physically? | It often makes your sleep and appetite wonky, which makes you feel physically bad in other ways-- if you've been asleep all day and haven't really eaten, you'll probably feel like shit. |
If Colds are passed on by an infected creature, how did the first creature get it? | We're not really sure how viruses started. A virus is basically a chunk of DNA on it's own that can break into living cells and take over those cells to make it produce more viruses. Nobody's sure if viruses evolved as an offshoot of cellular life or if they're just a random corruption of broken-down cells.Thats a chic... |
Why are we using a loud, obnoxious *BEEP* to censor curse words? | I was thinking the beeps are used for a humorous effect. If we can't have curse words out in the open in case there's children watching, we can at least have a laugh at the obnoxious beeping. |
Why is my voice so much deeper in the morning? | When you sleep, your vocal cords get looser, so the vibrations are more bass-like. It takes a couple of seconds to tighten them up thoughI heard alcohol also loosens the vocal chords if you have been drinking |
What is the history behind Earth Day? | There was a giant oil spill near Santa Barbara in 1969 which - as you might imagine - was an even more gigantic catalyst for environmental protection. That movement picked up pace pretty quickly, aided by the “Summer of Love”, after a fashion. It wasn’t too long before John McConnell, a noted peace activist, was propos... |
Why do electric cars have such a low top speed for their horsepower? | Perhaps they are more concerned with efficient power consumption than going faster than a Lambo?', "Electric motors deliver their maximum amount of Torque at low speeds, and their maximum amount of power at middle speeds. Gas engines deliver maximum torque at middle speeds and maximum power at high speeds. This means e... |
Do birds re-use nests that were previously used by other birds? | Doves/pidgins use other birds nests for sure. I watched a robin build a beautiful nest on my property, she spent ages on this nest, laid her eggs and then one day a pidgin comes along, kicks the robins eggs to the ground and lays her own. Then she sat there, like a proud mama, defending her eggs against the angry robin... |
Why do dogs grab their toys when really excited? | They associate smells with objects too, which can draw them to things like owner's shoes. Showing off toys is less of a natural dog instinct, and more something we condition into them by praising them when they do cute stuff like pick up toys to play with |
Why do most animals have tails but humans do not? | We did have a tail at some point in our evolution. But now we only have tails during part of the time we are embryos but it reduces to the tailbone or 'coccyx' before we are born. The functions that tails serve can all be accomplished by us through other means such as hands for manipulating objects, language for commun... |
The location methods used by explorers like Columbus to record their findings and navigate home | [Columbus was the first sailor who kept a detailed log of his voyages. We therefore know how Columbus navigated, and that he was a dead reckoning navigator. On the first voyage westbound, Columbus sticks to his westward course for weeks at a time. Only three times does Columbus depart from this course: once because of ... |
The Lacanian idea of the Other and the 'objet a' | I 'd crosspost to /r/philosophy. Zizek has written exhaustive words on Lacan. As I understand Other, it is how we frame ourselves, language, relationships, etc against the world we perceive. "Objet a" deals with objectifying desire, glory, drive, libido all are unattainable but we compelled by them. He never wanted to ... |
what do doctors/forensic specialists mean when they say a bullet "bounces around"? | Because the body isn't a piece of homogenous mass. You've got bones inside you, and bones are pretty damn solid, especially compared to soft lead bullets. And as the bullet travels through you, all that mass begins to slow it down, making it more susceptible to ricochetting off something. |
Why are operating systems written in C? | Your OS needs to care about all the low-level details like interfacing with your hardware or managing memory. Languages running in VMs or interpreters do not offer such functionality and adding them does not make any sense from a language point of view .C is very low level. Higher level languages like Python and Java r... |
Why is running on a treadmill so much easier and less tiring than running outside? | As far as I understand, the belt turnover of the treadmill contributes greatly to helping you run. The belt is guiding you towards running and as a result, most "serious" runners don't equate their time on a treadmill to be the same as what they would do when running outside. Aside from the ground not being a moving be... |
Why would a company like Mars modify one flavor of a candy like Skittles and then refuse to go back to the old flavor in the face of monumental backlash? | "Monumental backlash" often is nothing more than a vocal minority complaining loudly and often about something they don't like. Those people are also likely to continue buying the product in spite of their vocal distaste. Mars knows that these people will fade away soon, and they probably haven't seen any appreciable d... |
Does Earth appear as a bright planet? | A few million light years away? That is an insane distance. Our entire galaxy is only ~100,000 light years in diameter. Even one lightyear away would be too far, not only is our planet not that bright, it is minuscule in comparison to the sun so anyone trying to look for us would just see our big, bright sun. This is a... |
Why betting the same amount on two boxers to win will not always give a payout due to differing odds. | Any real-world bookie is going to adjust the odds and payouts so that they get a cut for themselves . They're not working for charity. |
Why does PBS get the rights to BBC content where other networks do not? | Downton Abbey is not a BBC production; it is created by ITV, a commercial television company. So whatever is the reason that PBS gets British shows, it's unlikely to be a specific agreement between them and the BBC.British entertainment, while popular, is still considered a niche interest amongst the larger population.... |
How do coaxial cables transmit so much data with only one pin? | Coax can carry more bandwidth . RG-6 coax can carry somewhere 1-3Ghz while Cat 6 Ethernet can only carry about 500 Mhz. The reason is the shielding is so good and the impedance of the RG-6 coax cable is guaranteed over a long distance. HD TV channels only need 6Mhz so a single RG 6 can carry roughly 166 channels simult... |
Why TV's/Monitors are rectangle and not square. | We have two eyes, next to each other. So our area of vision is wider than it is tall. Screens reflect that fact.Because of aspect ratios. It used to be that the monitors were square because the normal, common aspect ratio was 4:3. Now, with the widescreen format being most common most TV's and monitors are built to mee... |
The difference between Gray and Grey | Same difference between color and colour. Continent-based spelling differencesIn British English, "grey" is the preferred spelling. I believe "gray" is US English. Not certain about Canada or Australia. |
Why do accents seem to disappear when singing? i.e. why do Aussies, Brits and Kiwis all seem to have american accents when they're singing? | This old ELI5 had some real answers in it: _URL_0_ What I understand is that accents are largely derived from how long you hold certain sounds when speaking, but when singing regional differences go away because we all try to hold the same sounds the same length to sing "correctly."', "Lots of singers start off by emul... |
Why do wet wipes clog up the sewage / plumbing system? | Because toilet paper dissolves and wet wipes don't. Most things you flush down the toilet can break down into smaller and smaller bits except for wet wipes, female hygiene products, and similar products. If these get caught on something inside the pipe it can completely clog the pipe up and no clog remover is going to ... |
Why is it wrong to discriminate against people for their political beliefs but there is public outcry when someone is anti-gay marriage etc. | This post is not asking for a layman-friendly explanation to something complicated or technical, so it doesn't belong here and it's been removed. Entirely subjective questions generally belong in /r/askreddit. Asking "why is this wrong" or "why is this ok" is inherently subjective and so it doesn't belong here. |
Why are Saudi Arabia and Iran are having a war in Yemen? | Yemen has only been a single country for 25 years and fought a civil war in the 1980's. The central government is weak, the economy weak, an active al-Qaeda branch causes problems, and the various tribes follow different religions. The current unrest is a new civil war supported in part by outside parties. Saudi Arabia... |
Why are tobacco companies allowed to continue selling products guaranteed to kill or do serious harm? | Because it is worth a lot of money to the government!', "Because it's not illegal for people to harm themselves. |
How do CEOs use their money if its all in stocks? | It varies. 1. A CEO only takes the "$1 salary" with lots of stock if they can afford to do so. So in many cases, the money is indeed locked up, they just live off the rest of their money. 2. You can sell some shares, assuming your stock is in a company that is reasonably liquid. This could be company buy-back, could be... |
What determines if I bleed a little or a lot? | The size/depth of the cut and where it is. Your blood flow and pressure. Wether or not you have haemophilia. |
What are the beliefs of the Church of Scientology, and why are they hated? | It's a brainwash scheme that takes desperate people, isolates them socially, brainwashes them with some bad scifi, and then has them give up all their possessions, house, car, anything they own, as donations to the church. They also take in celebrities, who get different kind of treatment. They get paid good dime for a... |
Why do most of us forget our dreams? And some remember every minute of it? | You remember your dreams vividly as soon as you wake up, but you begin forgetting immediately. Keep a journal next to your bed and the second you wake up, start writing down what you just dreamt about. Eventually you will remember your dreams in full detail and even begin to dream lucidly which is pretty damn awesome.I... |
Why can't dogs and cats be tickled? | They can. Many animals can be tickled. They just can't *laugh*, so perhaps you're not aware of it, but they can be tickled. |
How can adware companies run business operations that are based on such ideas as reinstalling malware? | Legally, they can't. But when you're operating out of a small Eastern European country that won't extradite you and you make sure not to attract any attention in your own country, there really isn't anything anyone can do. |
What is the difference between a "culture" and a "subculture" | A subculture resides within a dominant culture. The simplest example is probably the African-American subculture existing within the larger North American culture. So you can see both are characterized by larger patterns: both eat at McDonald's, shop at Walmart, and watch the NFL on Sundays. But then there are things t... |
Why are sports contracts so outrageously high compared to avg worker wages? | Professional sports make a lot of money. LOTS of money. The players feel that they should get a reasonable part of the money being made because they are the major reasons why people pay money for season tickets, buy jerseys and hats, or watch on TV. If your boss made millions of dollars off of your work, you'd want to ... |
is drug resistant bacteria evolution? | Yes, it is. It's a perfect example of it. There's a bacterial population infecting someone, they take the antibiotics till they feel better, but not until they clear the infection. There's a few of the bacteria that aren't immune but slightly better at surviving. Once the person stops the antibiotics because they feel ... |
Why are there no heated snow shovels? I feel like this product is a no brainer. | My experience with shoveling has taught me that wet snow sticks to the shovel, making it harder to move or throw the snow. A heated shovel would take normally cold, "dry" snow and turn it into heavy wet slush that sticks to the shovel.Surely it's easier to shovel snow than water. Seems like the last thing you'd want to... |
Why are cats terrified of cucumbers? | Possibly the same reason as why many pet birds are afraid of arms/hands reaching towards them - because they vaguely resemble snakes which are a predator. And because it's unexpected. |
Why don't we have the $3, 60-year LED lightbulb yet? Why aren't LED bulbs getting cheaper as promised? | From what I understand, basic LED technology has been rather difficult to scale up to actual room-lighting. On a smaller, dimmer usages they're very efficient, but once you try to scale up to very bright outputs, you run into a few issues. As an LED bulb gets warmer, it will get dimmer, which is bad. Also, a bright LED... |
How come some pictures look better at than others, even though they have lower resolution? | Lighting and visual 'noise' are two major factors that affect the visual quality of an image in addition to the pixel resolution. Compression artifacts also affect the visual quality. Although lighting and noise do not affect the pixel resolution of the image, they do affect your ability to resolve detail in the image,... |
what is the point in giving high ranking Nazi's like Eichmann or Himmler trials, when they are going to be found guilty no matter what? | It's more about showing the world all their crimes, as well as giving formal closure to their victims and victims families. Also, no matter how severe your crimes, the right to trial still applies |
For disc copies of games, why must we pay full price for a new disc if the original becomes scratched or broken? Why can't we buy a replacement version that's cheaper? | Most game companies do let you do that. Let you send in damaged disks for replacements in some warranty agreement. |
Would I die if I drank the water found on Mars? | Probably. Much of the dust on Mars' surface is composed of chemicals called [perchlorates] which are highly toxic. If you were to drink water from Mars it would almost certainly have a lot of the stuff in there. |
What will happen when Windows XP becomes unsupported? Why will it suddenly become vulnerable? | It won't spontaneously become vulnerable. It was already vulnerable, but every time a vulnerability is discovered, a patch is released to fix the vulnerability. Now the vulnerability will not be fixed.An Explanation for 5-year olds: think of a computer program like a game with rules. Everyone's playing by the rules and... |
Is there really any reason we still use the qwerty keyboard? | The hassle to change to a new keyboard layout would be too great for them to justify any new keyboard layout. It works, well for that matter, so there just isn't enough incentive to switch. |
Why do we feel so groggy when we first wake up, but after doing some exercise so much better and alert? | Waking up in the morning is a dormant stage. After doing something such as push-ups, this sends more blood flow to the brain, as well as taking in more oxygen to spread throughout the body', "Melatonin signals your body that it's time to prepare for sleep, and it helps you feel drowsy. Two powerful brain chemical syste... |
Why do zodiac signs and horoscopes exist? | Historically, the stars were very important. Before we had GPS, or maps or clocks or calendars, or even *numbers*, they helped you navigate and told you what time of the year it was. But at the same time, humans had no idea what stars were and why they behaved they way they did. All the knew is when a certain constella... |
Why does ice in a plastic bag end up making the skin wet? | There's water in the air, it's called water vapor. Water vapor can't stay vapor after it cools down. It turns into water through a process called condensation. |
If evolution is driven by natural selection, will the future of human race be affected by modern medicine since more people that should have been phased out can now live and reproduce? | Absolutly. The fact, that a lot of women today are not capable of giving natural birth is an outcome of this. In earlier times, if a womens pelvis was too small to give birth, she and her child would have died. Today, she can get a C-section and she and her kid will live happily ever after. Some smart people, however, ... |
With water shortages increasing, why don't we use sewage water to water and fertilize our crops? Wouldn't the plants benefit? | Our sewage treatment plant is state of the art and produces fertilizer/sludge that local farmers use on their land. One of the big issues with sewage treatment is the increased amount of drugs, mostly prescription, that come through the system. Some, I think are treatable, but not all of them. |
Why is it easy to spin something around your index finger one way and harder to spin it around the opposite way? | It's just muscle memory. I can spin things both directions pretty easily. I just do it a lot. |
What's happening in the video of the guy directing a bug with a pen? | We did this one in my high school science class. It's just something in the ink. It's color-dependent though. My teacher showed us the bug avoiding a blue pen but being unaffected by a red one of the same brand. |
the sensation of spicy. Do people who like spicy food have fewer or more taste buds that react to spice? | A fraction of the population are [supertasters] which means they are more sensitive to certain tastes. Supertasters sometimes [avoid spicy foods] but taste is pretty malleable . I've also noticed that the people who enjoy very spicy foods somehow manage to break down the capsaicin molecule in their guts. Therefore, it'... |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.