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lhbs78
|
can you explain how you don’t know up from down when you are disoriented in the sky? (Specifically trying to understand the KB flight issues and crash). Wouldn’t your body feel going down rapidly?
|
Earth Science
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"No, not necessarily. When you are falling, there isn't really a distinction between up and down besides the air moving past you. Now add that wind may be blowing, and it's very possible that you lose your bearing immediately in freefall. Not to mention that most of the time, people are not in freefall, so any way of orienting yourself might be lost in a stressful situation.",
"In a helicopter, you don't feel gravity. In fact, you never feel gravity. When you're on the ground, you feel the ground pushing up against gravity, but you don't feel gravity. When you're in a helicopter or a plane, you likewise feel the vehicle pushing on you but you don't feel gravity. If the plane wasn't pushing you up, and instead was pushing you sideways, you wouldn't know. Just like how in a fast roller coaster, you never feel upside down on the loops."
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lhbxps
|
How are we able to infinitely reproduce but we die of age because of DNA damage?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Sperm and egg cells are very different from normal cells. They only have half of the DNA required to a real cell, and they don't actually last that long once they are matured/produced. The single-cell human (called a zygote) they produce is undifferentiated, as it matures into a human the undifferentiated stem cells are used to make differentiated cells, like muscle cells or nerve cells. These are the cells that have limited replacement capabilities.",
"There are two kinds of cells in our body: stem cells and differentiated cells. Stem cells can reproduce essentially infinitely, to create different cell types, whereas differentiated cells have a limited number of divisions. Your germ line cells (the cells making eggs and sperm) are stem cells that give rise to all the different parts of the fetus. However, the human body is made up mostly of differentiated cells, because that’s what we need to carry out functions - so our heart cells can work, and our brain cells can send signals, for example. Because differentiated cells have a limited lifetime and can’t replace themselves ad infinitum, and because the amount of stem cells we have decreases as we get older, we eventually can’t maintain all of our cells, and this is part of the aging process."
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lhbxwz
|
Why is light affected by gravity if photons are massless?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Gravity doesn't pull on mass. Gravity is a distortion in spacetime. Inertial matter (matter with no force acting on it), including matter in a gravity well, will follow straight lines through spacetime. However, a straight line through spacetime will 'curve' towards the massive object. Light is an extreme of this, moving at c, but it follows the curve just as well.",
"The idea that gravity is an attraction between masses is called \"Newtonian gravity\". The math works really well for most things we deal with (us, planets, starts, orbits, etc.) but, like you note, under Newtonian gravity light shouldn't be effected because it has no mass. It turns out the physics behind Newtonian gravity is wrong. Gravity isn't an attraction between masses, it's a distortion in spacetime caused by masses. Light travels in straight lines in spacetime, so if you distort spacetime you bend light passing through it. This \"looks like\" Newtonian gravity in most cases, but also explains some very strange things we can observe in the universe, like the fact that gravity does bend light, that gravity messes with time, and the weirdness around black holes. This formulation of gravity is called \"general relativity\". We know that general relativity isn't 100% correct (it doesn't work at quantum physics scales) but it's a lot more accurate and correct than Newtonian gravity."
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lhc4oj
|
Why do air conditioners generate hot air out of the back but heaters don’t generate cold air?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Because they use different methods to generate the heat. It is REALLY easy to generate heat directly from electricity. All you need to do is run an electrical current through a high resistance material and...poof...it gets hot. You then blow air over that hot material and you have a heater. Generating cold from electricity is much harder. There are no simple materials that you can run electricity through to generate cold. This is because electricity is energy, so by powering something, you are adding energy. Things that are colder have less energy. So the trick of AC, is to push out air that has less energy than it did at the start, all the while you are adding more energy into the system. This is done through a much more complicated process than a heater uses. In simple terms, if you compress a gas into a higher pressure container it will heat up. If you let that heat dissipate into the environment (since it is now hotter than the ambient temperature, it will cool down), you end up with a pressurized gas at room temperature. You can then let that gas expand again and it will cool down (the air has the same temperature but a larger volume). You then have cool air coming out one side, but at the cost of warm air out of the other side. If you have ever used a can of compressed air, you can kind of see how this works. As you blow out the compressed air, the remaining air increases in volume and cools down. As you blow out the air, the can will become noticeably cooler.",
"We can create heat from other energy sources; this is what heaters do. We cannot \"create cold\", we can just remove the heat from something and move it somewhere else. It has to go somewhere. An air conditioner works by removing heat from the air going through it and dumping it out the back.",
"Many heaters do. If your home is heated by electric heat, then the heater used almost certainly does output cold air \"out the back\". Electrically heated homes use something called a heat pump, where one side takes in warm air and spits it out hotter, and the other side takes in cool air and spits it out colder. This is works exactly like an air conditioner, the only difference is which end is pointed into your home. There are also electrical heaters which don't output cold air. These are much simpler, but much less efficient, so they are only used to heat small areas.",
"Heaters that use the same process, often called heat pumps, generate colder air at their exterior unit. Fuel powered furnaces, like one running on natural gas, actually generate heat chemically, so they don't have that sort of effect.",
"One of the things they taught you in public school science class is that energy can neither be created nor destroyed, only converted from one form to another. And that's true, but they left one thing out: heat is the end of the line. Other forms of energy can be converted to heat, but heat can't be converted to other forms of energy\\*. That's the third law of thermodynamics.\\*\\* So there are lots of ways to generate heat: run electricity through a wire, burn something, let atomic nucleuses decay, and so forth. But if you need to get rid of heat, the only thing you can do is move it from one place to another. Your air conditioner moves heat out of the room and to the outside of the house. Your refrigerator moves heat from inside the box out the back of the machine. Some home heating systems can actually heat the house by moving heat from outdoors to indoors. In science terms, this is called the [Carnot cycle]( URL_0 ). Think of it like pumping water from a low place to a high place. In fact, these machines are literally called \"heat pumps\". And this pumping takes energy, which is why your air conditioner uses so much power. And in the process, even more heat is generated, so the net total heat increases, even while your room is getting colder. ---- \\* And right about now you're asking how do all those power plants generate electricity if they're not converting heat to electrical energy? The way those work is by generating heat (the hotter the better) and then letting it flow from the hot furnace to a cooler place (cooling towers, for example) and collecting energy from that process. Literally running the Carnot cycle backwards. Just as it takes energy to pump water uphill, you can generate power by letting water run downhill. Think of hydroelectric dams. On the surface, it looks like they're turning water into electricity, but at the end of the day, there's still the same amount of water. \\*\\* And this is also what entropy is. Eventually, all of the energy in the universe will become heat. And then that heat will eventually even out until the entire universe is just the same average (very cold) temperature with nothing happening."
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lhc7h5
|
Why is it so difficult to make synthesized instruments sound like their real-world counterparts?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"First, I want to suggest that your experience might be coloured by 'availability bias'. If you ever hear a synthesized instrument good enough to fool you, then, more or less by definition, you won't know you've heard one. One pretty popular brand of synthesized and sampled acoustic instruments, is the Native Instruments Kontakt line, and you can listen to previews of many of their soundpacks here: [ URL_1 ]( URL_1 ) Instruments like these are used extensively in movie soundtracks as well as other music. I bet that lots of them will sound pretty real to you. & #x200B; But why is it hard to do this in general? The answer is a bit different for each instrument. Fake pianos started to sound a lot more convincing a lot earlier than fake guitars, for instance, because there isn't all that much playing nuance to capture in a piano note. The note can be struck hard or soft, and it can be held long or short, and that's just about it. Two parameters, velocity and duration. In piano playing, all the expression and nuance doesn't come from fine details about the note itself, but from how they're put together. A single note on the guitar, though, can have all kinds of inflection on it - picking technique, fretting/voicing, bends, tremolo, all that stuff. It's a lot more work to come up with a simulated model of a guitar which captures all those things about someone's playing style. And even if you \\*have\\* come up with a convincing virtual instrument model, that doesn't necessarily mean composers and players will know how to use it effectively. Most music composition and production software has a quite generic, non-instrument-specific approach to writing out melodies and chords. There's no standard way, for instance, for a composer to tell a virtual guitar instrument, which chords should be strummed upwards and which should be strummed downward. People using these instruments might have to manually edit their compositions note-by-note to add tiny minuscule timing offsets to simulate strumming, since if all 6 notes in a guitar chord are struck at exactly the same time, it will sound unnatural. It's the same for many other instruments, like saxophone or violin, which allow for a huge number of different ways to play a single note. Most computer and keyboard-based composition workflows do not have good ways to expressively simulate those technique nuances. Edit: Here are some examples of [wind controllers]( URL_0 ). If you wanted to get a convincing synthesized saxophone sound, controlling it with one of these would be a must. Playing the sax line on a piano keyboard or drawing it out on a sequencer grid just wouldn't cut it.",
"Professional musicians playing actual instruments do so many things to add a little character to their sound, from how they articulate the note (hit it really hard at the beginning or let it kind of fade in or all things in between), how long their notes last, which ones they play louder (if you listen to most any melody lines played on instrument, especially in jazz, they very rarely play every note at the same volume), the timing of the notes (you can very subtly move notes over rather than having a specific grid aligned to the beat), tonal choices especially with horns, and other small things like that. Maybe it's possible to program that much personality with a computer, but at that point it's cheaper to just hire a musician. A song that really demonstrates what I mean is [Always and Forever]( URL_0 ) by Pat Metheny. Listen to the amount of detail in the guitar solo and listen for the things I mentioned earlier, and you'll see why it's so hard to replicate."
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"https://www.wwbw.com/the-music-room/electronic-options-for-woodwind-players",
"https://www.native-instruments.com/en/catalog/komplete/cinematic/"
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|
lhcpm8
|
What happens to your skin on a cellular level when you burn it?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"The UV energy actually breaks up important proteins and nucliec acids including DNA. This causes some of the cells to die. In some cases it can cause the cells to reproduce their DNA incorrectly, but your body is well programmed to kill those cells before they can do anything too wrong to the surrounding tissues. In very rare cases those cells with messed up DNA “get away” from the cellular machinery that kills them and start growing inappropriately. We call that cancer."
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lhda4b
|
How do we know how much a currency cost next to the other?
|
How and when we decided to give and compare the value of money? and, why does local currency have the value it has next to other currencies? E.g € vs $, or ¥ vs £ Does it have to do with resources?
|
Economics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"The underlying reasons are complex and people debate that all the time - but the stability of the country, economic development, confidence all play a role. How is the value determined? Go to a bank and ask for an exchange. All the people wanting to exchange one way or the other means there is an exchange market - if more people want to purchase that currency, the value rises. If more people want to sell that currency, the value drops. Since there are people holding all these various currencies - their combined desires set the exchange rate. The exchange rate is like the price of a product, in this case it is the \"price\" of that currency. The price of a product freely traded is determined by demand and supply.",
"It's because there are people willing to buy your dollars and sell you Euros, or vice-versa. Today, a Euro costs $1.21 USD. Let's say, just for fun, that someone was willing to sell me a bunch of Euros for only $0.10 each. That'd be an amazing deal for me! I could fly to Europe, buy a bunch of Philips Hue light bulbs for €25 (which only cost me $2.50, remember), then return back to the U.S. and sell them for $25 each and make a huge profit. This depends on my knowledge that a particular style of Hue bulbs cost €25 in Europe and $25 in the U.S. and that particular bulb is compatible (most aren't, I suppose). But hypothetically, I could do that. You get the idea. Now imagine there are thousands, even millions, of people all willing to buy and sell currency, looking for deals like that. They're willing to take advantage of opportunities to buy one currency cheap, then use that currency to buy a bunch of stuff from that country, then resell it somewhere else where that same stuff is commanding a higher price. What tends to happen is that the price of the currency tends to stabilize. The price ends up \"fair\" based on what things actually cost in that currency."
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lhdev3
|
the differences betwern analogue and digital for storage information
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Emma and Madison are field goal kickers on their (American) football team. Every day they go to the practice field and practice kicking field goals, and as one of their challenges they try to beat their personal best distance record. Emma keeps track of her distance using a long rope. She ties one end of the rope to the goal, and every time she successfully makes a goal, she ties a knot in the rope corresponding to where she was standing. Madison instead looks at the yard lines, adds the distance between the end zone and the goal, and records the number in a log book. Emma is recording a analog measurement. Her distance is not recorded as a number, it's recorded using a physical object. Over time, that object might degrade or stretch, and that might make it difficult to determine the exact distance as accurately as the day she took it. Madison is making a digital measurement. The number itself isn't necessarily more or less accurate than Emma's, but once she writes down a measurement, like 46 yards, there's absolutely no question as to what measurement she made. The number is written down clearly and precisely and there's no chance someone would misread her notebook as saying 45 or 47 yards. So again, digital isn't necessarily more accurate or precise. But it isn't subject to degradation over time as anything physical is. A film negative is analog. Over the years the colors might fade and the material might degrade. A digital photo is made up of pixels on disk. 10 years from now if you open the same image file it will look exactly the same as the first day it was taken. The file is digital; the color of every pixel is stored as a number that doesn't degrade over time."
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5
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lhdoyp
|
why do we sometimes twitch when laying in bed?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"If I remember correctly it's called a hypnogogic jerk. Your body thinks it's dying so it sends a jolt of electrolytes through your system to make sure everything still works.",
"More speculation from someone who has had sleep paralysis: I've read that it's your brain sending out a signal to \"test\" if you're asleep or not. If you're asleep then your muscles won't contract; if you're awake then your muscles will twitch. Sidenote: if you focus, you can feel that twitch coming and forcefully relax your muscles so they won't twitch even when you're awake and your brain sends the sleep signal. This was *meant* to help lucid dreaming, but instead gave me horrific nightmares and sleep paralysis. Would not recommend.",
"I can't cite my source on this one because it has been SOOO LOOONNNGGG. And maybe the working knowledge has changed since then.. But, here's what I remember from my time working in a neuroscience lab It's not your body \"checking\" on you. Your motor nerves have an impulse threshold, meaning a certain level of neurotransmitters makes the nerve fire and that moves your muscle. As your nerves and neurotransmitters are changing levels and thresholds in preparation for sleep, sometimes your current level builds up past the threshold, and you jerk. ELI5: You know that big bucket at the water park that tips over once it is full enough? Picture that bucket as your nerve, and the water as your neurotransmitters. The tipping part is firing the muscle. Now put a hole in the bottom of the bucket, so that mostly you are at a steady state and not tipping unless you crank up the flow of the water. Well, as you go to sleep, the size of the bucket changes, and the flow rate in and out of the bucket are being adjusted, and sometimes the bucket tips when you didn't mean for it to.",
"Your heartbeat slowed down way too much, as well as other bodily functions so your body (did not think it was dying) was making sure you weren’t hurt and sent out an electric shock to EVERYTHING to speed a few things up and contract a few muscles. There are other reactions to our body thinking it’s dying or actually dying and this isn’t one of them. Some things that might cause it that we’ve observed is caffeine, anxiety or stress, and other causes.",
"Because watching your favorite streamers from your bed produces high amounts of dopamine which makes it a relaxing and enjoyable activity",
"Hypnotic jerk reaction. Skeletal muscle gradually relaxes as you start to lose consciousness when falling asleep. I believe it occurs during NREM sleep (non-rapid eye movement), a stage of the sleep cycle characterised by a decrease in both the amplitude and frequency of brain waves (beta, to alpha, to delta, to beta, etc). Interestingly, hypnotic jerk reactions do not occur during REM sleep (rapid eye movement, aka. dreaming). This is because the body is experiencing muscle paralysis, thereby inhibiting movement of the limbs so that we don’t act out our dreams and potentially put ourselves at risk. The phenomenon of sleepwalking is hence fascinating when considering this."
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lhend1
|
- Why does drinking water help with coughs, unless that cough is caused by drinking water?
|
Have you ever taken a sip of water too quickly, and when it hits the back of your throat, it causes the feeling of needing to cough? But when you try to drink more, the feeling doesn't go away?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Dry throat is one reason that water helps, also hydration can allow your body to break down mucus which helps too. The reason it can cause a cough is aspiration, when water gets in your trachea (or any foreign body really) your immediate reflex is to cough to expel it and prevent it from entering your lungs"
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lhf4u9
|
Why does making movie cost so much money?
|
For example, Endgame’s budget is $356 million. What are the cost of it? Also for animation movie, for example, Frozen 2’s budget is $150 million. It might sound stupid but I really need to get it out. If the entire movie are made in computer, why is it cost that much?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"It takes a lot of people to make a movie. Pay attention to the credits and you will see how much people work in the process of making it. Aside the millions the actors earn, there are other hundreds of people working. CGI demands expensive hardware and software and there are other production costs. They must travel, rent places, etc. Marketing costs a lot in order to make a successful movie, and we can't forget the distribution costs.",
"For animated movies you need very capable (and expensive) people running very powerful (and expensive) computers almost 24/7. For example: To render 1 frame of the movie monsters & Co. That contained Sully (the blue hairy monster) they needed 24 hours of rendering ON ALL THE COMPUTERS OF PIXAR, that's because every hair has to interact with air, gravity, inertia and every other hair in a way that is modeled by very talented (and expensive) mathematicians. For the movie frozen pixar had to create a new mathematical model of snow that allowed them to do iper realistic avalanches, [this helped solve a mistery of 60 years ago]( URL_0 ) The Ray-tracing tech that we want in videogames was used in movie making first. Most often than not, all big production have to pioneer some technology to make the film they want, this is often extremely expensive.",
"For endgame: there are a LOT of A list actors there, all their fees. There's the other people: look at the credits. There's like 1000 non-minimum wage people working for *years* on it. Other actors, costume, makeup, location scouts, lighting techs, sound techs, editors, CGI and effects crews, props, set designers and builders. And then support people getting fruit trays and water bottles for all those 1st people. And everyone in admin and HR and custodial and security staff at the studios, its all baked in to their cost. Then there's physical stuff: renting locations, renting sets, renting sound stages, building materials, props, a hundred top tier PCs for rendering all the CGI, all the lighting and microphones and camera equipment. Then there's distribution, making thousands of copies of the film and shipping them around the world. Then there's marketing. Showing the trailer on hundreds of TV networks around the world means buying hours and hours of air time. Paying for the actors to travel to promo events. Paying for the venues and promo events themselves. Making Endgame isn't just like \"pay RDJ a few K and buy a camcorder\". It's an industrial scale years long megaproject with thousands of \"moving parts\" around the world.",
"Lots of people work on a film. Some of them (director, lead roles, stars, DoP, editor, producers, writers... everybody \"above the fold\" whose names you see in the opening credits) are really expensive. They are expensive for many reasons, because they are good at what they do, because they attract audience (so-called star system), because each of those names is actually a team of personal assistants, trainers, coaches, whatever... Then there is an army of people needed to make a film. See end credits. Not all of them work through the entire production (preproduction and postproduction included) but still, they do work for some part and paychecks do add up during a couple of years that the project spans. Extras are not payed much, but there can be a lot of them. And when you have lots of extras, shooting takes time. Then there are unsung heroes that are not even credited but that cost money. People that maintain and keep the studios and production houses running. Security people. Drivers. Janitors.... There are offices to be payed for, electricity bills, computers, office supplies.... Locations to shoot, whether sound stages or external, cost money. There you also need a hell lot od electricity. And gas for vehicles. You also need to rent tech. And to pay insurance for it. And to have people to operate and handle it and drive it around. All the music and sounds you hear (and there is lot more of it than you notice) is payed for. That all goes for a simple drama, present day, no stunts, no vfx. Go do something out of this time and place and bills pile up. And so on and on... Once you have your film finished, you need to distribute it and do the marketing. For big hits that usually cost the same as the production. You also have to pay taxes for all that."
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lhfqtd
|
Why is it safe to wash dishes by hand with a drop of washing up liquid and warm water, but domestic dishwashers need to spend up to 3 hours washing, using caustic cleaning materials and ejecting their contents at the temperature of the sun?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Because they need to use water, heat, and \"caustic\" cleaning agents to replace the \"mechanical friction\" of your hands doing the scrubbing. Technology Connections on YT has a GREAT video on this topic.",
"One reason they use 'caustic cleaning compounds' is that they can. Dishwashing soap needs to be mild enough to not damage your skin. So it can't be a caustic - which really means highly alkaline - soap. It must be fairly neutral, which means it isn't as good as a soap - a highly alkaline soap reacts strongly with oil to create more soap. Secondly, domestic dishwashers take 3 hours because they are very water and energy efficient. If they used lots of clean water, they could wash a lot faster."
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lhfsjd
|
Why do noises make me angry?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"text": [
"Misophonia describes a disorder where people have strong emotional reactions to certain noises. It may relate to how the brain filters sound. It isn't clear what causes it and it isn't currently accepted as a psychological or auditory disorder. But you aren't alone: I have to leave a room if someone eats noisily and I have to remove batteries from loudly ticking clocks. It is frustrating and occasionally feels socially debilitating having to \"manage\" anger because someone is chewing loudly in a restaurant!"
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"url"
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[
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lhgisv
|
How are media and album Sales counted? Are they counted when the stores buy them or when the costumer buys from the store?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"text": [
"Depends what data you are looking at. Billboard uses a point of sale tracking but requires retailers to opt in. RIAA (gold, platinum etc) uses wholesale shipments, not retail sales. Streams or digital sales are counted in different ways (ie 10 single song purchases equals one album sale, even if it's the same song 10 times)."
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lhh2j2
|
How do transplanted organs, connect back to the new body? Do doctors reenginner tens of millions (?) of connections back?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"text": [
"There really aren’t that many connections. Take the kidneys for instance. There is the renal artery going in, the renal vein going out, and the tube for urine going to the bladder. For the most part, that’s really it. Sure there might be a bit of connective tissue that holds the organ in place, the body can easily grow that back though on its own, it’s pretty good at repairing itself. Arteries and veins will eventually grow into each other to make a better seal. Similar case for the liver. One artery in, one artery out, bile duct is also connected connected, stitch those together and it should work. Fun fact: Many organs have nerves, these are not connected during a transplant. Nerves in organs are only really needed to feel pain to tell the host that something is wrong. This includes the heart, so people with heart transplants can actually have heart attacks that they do not feel simply because the nerves are not connected.",
"The body is very good at reengineering itself after damage on its own and does not need much help from the surgeons. As long as the wounds is close together they will fuse together and blood vessels and neurons will bridge the gap. And while the networks will not be exactly the same as before the body is very good at adjusting to these kinds of changes and will be able to route blood through the new pathways and will use the new neural connections. This ability have helped our ancestors withstand serious wounds in the past.",
"Not really. Basically, every organ simply react to chemical signals. When the brain want an organ to do something, he sends the chemical. If you want an image, consider people using firework to direct a boat on the ocean. Green mean go slightly more to the left, red mean slightly more to the right. Blue is a confirmation that you're on track. It doesn't matter the boat, nor the port. As long as everyone knows that code (which is the default one), every boat can arrive at destination, even if ports don't have access to the same pigment. One blue is slightly darker, while another lighter. It's still the same color. Maybe the boat will interpret the darker green as \"MORE to the left\" and lighter green as \"Slightly to the left\" but nonetheless, they do as expected. Well organs work the same way. The base composition of these signal is the same. It may not be 100% perfect but it'll get the job done until both the organ an the brain know how to properly communicate. If the body doesn't reject the organ beforehand ofc."
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lhi0kl
|
. When lightning is more likely to strike tall metal things, how does it know where to go?
|
I get that if it happens to hit the metal it's easier for it to travel, but how does it aim for the metal like it has a mind?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"Water in a river 'want's to reach the sea. But really, it just flows from its source on higher ground, to the sea on lower ground. When the river moves, it goes along the easiest path - the lowest ground it can, pulled by gravity, all the way to the sea. & #x200B; Lightning 'want's' to go from the sky to the land (or the land to the sky, infact!) because there is energy in the sky and land, and they want to discharge themselves into one another to get closer to equal. & #x200B; When this happens, lightning, like the river, finds the easiest path. Air is very good at stopping electrical currents passing, like rocks are very good at stopping water pass. So the lightning goes through an easier path, like metal, which is good at passing electricity. & #x200B; That's why it looks like lightning chooses metal surfaces, but really, its just energy finding the path of least resistance - the easiest path to travel by. Because we know this is how it works, we sometimes build lightning rods to give lightning an easier route to move to the ground or the sky, instead of the top of a building, for example.",
"We humans tend to build towers out of concrete and top them with metal, but the tall thing doesn’t have to be metal. The lightning is seeking the path of least resistance to gain equilibrium between the uneven charges of the clouds and the ground. Sometimes goes up, sometimes down. Electricity, like water, will follow the path of least resistance. Sometimes the path goes thru metal, sometimes thru cars or trees or kites or people in copper armor yelling the gods are all bastards. Just depends on the shortest, least resistant path between the unevenly charged ground and clouds.",
"It doesn't basically it goes in all directions and queues up behind, so that there is a charge waiting to go like a traffic jam. Once the lightning finds a motorway/freeway of metal where it flows fast and free down the metal all the \"traffic\" queued up behind it can rapidly follow down the metal.",
"Think of it like water in a pipe. The electrons on the pole are being pushed by the charges above them. The direction of the pole is the easiest direction for them to move, so they go that way. Then electrons from above fill the gap the moving electrons left, and current starts flowing."
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[
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lhi623
|
Why do we seem to have realisations or understandings beyond our waking consciousness just before falling asleep?
|
In the seconds or moments before sleep there seems to be a new state of conciousness emerging, one where you can discover things or have sudden realizations / truths. This seems to be a common occurrence among people.
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"I don't know how to elaborate the scientific reason behind this (which there is) but I was once listening to a podcast about dreaming on Spotify and it said something like you're in your highest neurological state when you're drifting between being awake and falling asleep and vice versa, the small moment between sleeping and waking up. Most subject-relevant people say that it's the best time to repeat your affirmations as well. And also to plan your day, about what your priorities are - because the brain sees nothing negative in that moment so anything and everything is possible to your brain. I wish someone could explain this with facts and science though.",
"Am no brain scientist, but I have done my reading on the matter and have a semi-scientific opinion on the matter. Your subconscious is relatively the more powerful part of the brain, it is where actually most of your problem solving is done but for the most part the subconscious is not connected to your higher brain function. In the moments before you sleep, your conscious mind hands over control to your subconscious to do the brain cleanup that happens when you sleep. THis is usually why these moments are quite revealing you make links that you generally don't make when you are awake."
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lhilaq
|
In what ways are Android phones less secure than iPhones?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"Apple only lets you play with toys it gives you. Android also lets you play with anything you bring on your own, including knives, bleach, raccoons, and anything else you can get your grubby little hands on.",
"It's a pretty common case of freedom against security. Both android and iPhones are the top runner in the category (smartphones). As a result, for any competent hacker, bypassing either of these phone's security is a big deal, because it means a large amount of targets. But android and iPhones have very different ~~politics~~ policies in how to handle development on their devices. Android try to follow windows: Open as much as possible. They want to appeal to the devs. \"Making an app on our device is easy, fast and rewarding\". As more devs go to android because its better for them, they have more apps than iPhones. They have more possibilities. On the other hand, iPhones do the opposite: Close as much as possible. You need an uncommon programming language, certification, and pass test to have your app allowed on their store. Not only that, unlike android, you can't install an app without the store. This lead to much less apps, but also to potential censor. But it also mean that it's very difficult to get into the device when you have bad intentions. It's trading security for freedom. And that is only when it come to the security issue, there are some proprietary issue with iPhones, also about the right to repair. But that's another topic. Edit: Correction from politics to policies.",
"Apple limits what you can do with your phone. Android gives the user more options. With more options also comes the risk to do something wrong and compromise your system. Examples: on an Android you can install software that's not part of an appstore (where they get \"vetted\" in a way to try to ensure there's no malware in them), on an iPhone you cant (unless you jailbreak it, I think).",
"Basically iPhones have something called a Secure Enclave (SE). This is a separate part of the chip that even the operating system can't access. It runs its own little stripped-own operating system that can only perform certain functions, has its own data, its own area of encrypted memory. When you set up your phone, the SE holds all of your encryption keys. When you set a passcode it creates an encryption key based on a combination of the phone itself and of your passcode. The same passcode produces different keys on different phones. The keys never leave the SE, the OS has no way to access them. So you let your iPhone record your face for unlocking. This is converted into a numerical representation, and a call is given to the SE to accept a new face definition. You have to enter a passcode first to do this, so the SE verifies you are the authorized user before accepting this new face definition. Then when you go to unlock, the phone sends whatever face representation it sees to the SE. The SE then either responds negatively, or it hands over a derivative of your original encryption keys to unlock the phone and access the data. It's actually a lot more complicated than that, with various key exchanges, but that's the short of it. That's just one example of how the SE makes it secure. In 2015 Android phone maker HTC just left your fingerprint as a graphic on the open file system. The OS matched your finger read to that graphic to unlock. Zero thought to security there. Apple had released their first phone with an SE two years earlier. So one of the basic problems is the question of whether YOUR phone maker really cares about security. Not all Android makers necessarily do. I hear some have copied the SE concept since then, good for them, but they're still playing catch-up. Otherwise, as noted by others Apple runs the whole OS. You have one vendor that tests the security of its whole product. All apps run under it with limited privileges. Your Android may have many third-party apps running with system privileges, and that really isn't good for security. This doesn't mean Apple is perfect of course. There will always be vulnerabilities in any OS that hasn't been mathematically proven (and that's only really possible for a small OS)."
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|
lhiv40
|
why do most lotions contain alcohol when alcohol is very drying for skin?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Alcohol is a big word that contains a lot of different types of chemicals. Some of them are dry but others are called \"emollients\" and they partially consist of fatty substances which help hold in moisture. Putting them on your skin has a moisturizing and protective effect, and they also help in making the lotion because they hold some of the other chemicals together when their normal behavior would be to separate. Note for adults: the FDA considers the common types of these emollients to be very safe.",
"As someone else said, some formulas will have other alcohols that don't have the drying effect. Glycerin/glycerol is an alcohol for example, but it helps retain moisture in the skin because glycerin has an affinity for water and \"holds onto it\". Long chain alcohols like cetyl or stearyl alcohol are water insoluble and act sort of like a thin grease layer on the skin. This makes a barrier to keep moisture in. The formula may also contain ethanol as a stabilizer to help different things blend together (mixing oils and water can be tricky). In concentrated form, ethanol and other alcohols with low boiling points such as rubbing alcohol (isopropanol) will definitely dry skin. However, the amount of ethanol is probably too low for it to have a noticable effect, or at least the drying effect will be nowhere near as large as the moisturizing effect from everything else. If the other ingredients are able to slow down the ethanol's evaporation, that should diminish the drying effect even further.",
"Firstly you're confusing the word alcohol in common use with alcohol in professional use. In common use, it tends to be referring to ethanol 90% of the time. In professional use, it is just the name of a wide group of chemicals. Their properties and effects on skin vary with each individual chemical. Secondly, the core of the very question itself (alcohol ie ethanol is very drying for skin) is a disputed claim with no clear answer. Studies often report no changes in dryness or no differences in comparison to an equivalent exposure to water. Thirdly, your lotion is likely a cosmetic, not a drug. It's under a completely different level of scrutiny from regulatory bodies. Under US law, they can basically print any claim they want as long as they don't claim to be for therapeutic use, such as treating or preventing disease, or to be able to affect the structure or function of the body (because they would be scrutinised and regulated as a drug at that point). The \"dermatologist approved/tested\" label means nothing, companies are not required to back up that claim.",
"I suggest looking up Lab Muffin Science blog or YouTube channel for more in-depth analysis (she has a PhD in chemistry!) on alcohols in skincare, but essentially it comes down to what kind of alcohol it is AND how it's reacting with other ingredients. An ingredient in itself can be drying, but depending on the concentration levels and other ingredients in the lotion, it may end up not be drying at all.",
"Alcohol, by itself, is indeed very drying for skin. However, many moisturizing chemicals are dissolved in the alcohol. The alcohol helps deliver the moisturizers into the skin before evaporating, leaving your skin more hydrated than before.",
"Glycerin, part of fat and a moisturizer, is an alcohol too. Really, almost anything that has a hydroxyl group (HO) on a hydrocarbon is an alcohol, including sorbitol(hexanhexol). Its just that ethanol i the more well known one due to being fun",
"For most people's skin it works great but if you have eczema it's best to stay away from those creams in my experience",
"Similarly, is salt in shampoo used as a preservative? Almost all of them have NaCl in it and my hair doesn't like seawater."
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|
lhiyc6
|
Why do people always say that something is 50/50 just because it can only be one thing or another thing
|
For example: are we living in a simulation? People say its 50/50 because either we are or we arent. This just seems wrong to me and doesn't make any sense. Someone explain pls?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Because people don't understand probability. They don't realise that even if there are only two possible outcomes, the likelihood of the two isn't necessarily equal.",
"I've only ever heard this phrase used as a joke, specifically about how probability *doesn't* work like that, but it makes for a fun image. There isn't a single scenario which cannot be formulated in terms of \"is\" or \"is not\". This, you'd simply say \"either it is or it isn't\", with the joke that since there are only two possibilities, it's a 50/50 shot either way.",
"\"We can't measure the exact probability, but we know there are at least two options. Since both options are *equally unpredictable* we will say 50/50.\""
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lhjt0l
|
why is pain (physical and/or psychological) worse at night?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"The same reason you can barely even hear the lowest volume on the TV during the day, but in the middle of the night, it suddenly becomes too loud. The pain is basically partially drowned out by both other stimuli, and you mind is busy with other things to top it off.",
"Humans have a natural cortisol cicle, it increases after waking up and decreases during the day, having its valley at night. Cortisol is a hormone with antiinflammatories properties. That is why you wake up felling shitty during a flu but gets a little better during the day.",
"It's not. It's just that during the day, you usually have stuff to keep your mind busy. When you to bed, there is nothing left to keep your mind off of the pain. Your brain thus focus on it.",
"1. No distractions and low cortisol levels (like others have mentioned). Ie, you're both distracted and slightly doped up during the day because it's an evolutionary advantage to be able to hunt (or otherwise satisfy your basic needs) despite being slightly injured. 2. When it comes to pain in joints and musculature. If you're moving about muscles tend to naturally clench and relax. That means they're always able to get a bit of rest. When lying down and being passive those musclejoints can't relax at all and will stay clenched. Eventually they will start to hurt. For muscles this is usually a symptom of muscle weakness (since they stay tense because other muscles are too weak to support them).",
"Quick note: if it's specifically back pain, then severe or unrelenting pain at night (when laying down, non weight bearing) is considered to be a red flag for neoplastic conditions.",
"There's less adrenaline running around in your body when resting. Rest basically is that. Things, (biological/chemical) that require physical activity are at the lowest distribution. Adrenaline being one 'thing' that is barely noticable but it still released during any activity and therefore acts as a natural painkiller. However, pain sensation is a permanantly ON (Like breathing reflex for example) and is directly connected to brain receptors. Essentially, the reduction of Adrenaline (the bodys own natural pain killer) allows the pain to me more noticeable."
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lhjuyl
|
Why does time pass slower the faster we move? I always hear scientists say it, but there never are any good explanations.
|
How can moving faster effect biological processes within our bodies like cell division (mitosis)?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"Because the speed of light is constant. Let's make a clock. Now since we know the speed of light is constant, we can do so by bouncing a light pulse between two mirrors and counting how many times it bounces. Every X bounces is 1 second. Not the handiest clock, but we need it to explain the rest. We stick this clock in a spaceship and have the spaceship fly at 3/4s the speed of light past us. In 1 second we should still see that beam of light in the clock bounce up and down X times inside the clock. BUT in that same time those mirrors have moved 3/4s of 1 lightsecond as well! So through Pythagoras, in the time you in the ship see 1 second on the lightclock, I see your light pulse move a longer distance: sqrt of (1 squared + 3/4 squared) lightseconds, which is 1.25 light seconds. Normally this would not be a problem BUT we know from experiments that the light speed is constant. In what I measure as 1 second on my clock, I measure as 1.25 seconds on your clock flying past. The speed of light is constant. That vertical distance is constant. That means the only remaining variable, time itself must have changed. When 1 second passes for me, I see 1.25 seconds pass for you. Or vice versa when 1 second passes for you, only 1/1.25 seconds have passed for me. Hence your TIME itself has slowed down. Tl;DR: Because the speed of light is constant, time cannot be constant.",
"It doesn't *directly* affect biology. If we move at *relativistic speed* (so approaching the speed of light) then our timeframe slows down in relation to other timeframes OR other timeframes speed up from our view. The why is also rather indirect. Mostly simply speaking \"if it wasn't Like this we couldn't explain electromagnetism\". We had to drop the idea of a constant speed of time, everything is relative and dependant on how fast the viewpoint moves. We know it's true because we need to correct the GPS sattelite clocks for this effect, otherwise they'd go out of sync and GPS would stop working. This affects the physical time that passed, so it applies to atoms, molecules and then even biological processes. But within your own viewpoint time always moves at the same speed.",
"Space and time are intertwined, hence the term \"spacetime\". We are always moving at *full speed* through spacetime. The slower we move through space, the faster we move through time; and the faster we move through space, the slower we move through time.",
"So space and time are actually linked, hence why we call it \"space-time\". Why? We don't know, but the best way to explain what we see in physics is for it to be that way. Kinda like gravity; you just gotta take it as a given principle of the universe (until we develop a better physics model). So you can only move a set speed in space-time. If you don't move spatially at all, that movement is through time. But if you mostly move through space, then you'll move through time slower (and thus biological processes will also be slower). Think of it like skiing or snowboarding. You could just jet down the hill at the fastest speed, but if you decide to turn and go diagonal down the hill you'll go down the hill slower, but travel much further side to side. At least, that was how it was explained to me.",
"Everything in our universe moves through spacetime at the speed of light. You are moving through space *and time* with a combined speed equal to the speed of light. If you are \"at rest\" with no speed through space, you move through time at the speed of light. The faster you move through space, the slower you move in the time \"direction\". Photons move through space at light speed, for them time stands still."
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[
"url"
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[
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lhkj7y
|
How do masks work if germs are smaller than the fabric?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"Many germs and viruses can only travel through the air on water droplets. The fabric of your mask catches those water droplets as you breath/sneeze/cough, preventing them from spreading as far as they would without a mask. You can easily test this yourself if it's cold where you are just by going outside and breathing normally with and without a mask. Without a mask, you'll see your breath travel quite a few feet. With a mask, you'll barely see your breath at all.",
"Because coronavirus isn't airborne, it travels in droplets, the mask stops the droplets from getting out",
"As people have said, coronavirus generally hitches a lift on water droplets which are relatively easy to trap. However - and this is totally unintuitive - a decent filter will also trap a particles way smaller than the pore size! Once things get very small they move around in a far more chaotic manner than you'd expect as they bounce off air molecules. This means tiny particles have a high chance of randomly bumping into a fibre in the filter and getting trapped.",
"For airborne diseases they would make little to no impact. Coronavirus isn’t airborne. The virus forms little droplets that settle on surfaces. The mask does well to block the droplets. It is not 100%, but that also doesn’t mean that they serve no purpose. It would surprise some people to learn that there is like a whole middle ground between 0% effective and 100% effective.",
"To add to some other answers: In the case of a big sneeze, or other situation where the virus gets sprayed into smaller-than-droplet particles (what we mean when we say \"aerosolized\"), imagine Plinko from the Price is Right. You have little pegs that slow down and redirect the puck, and usually keep it out of the highest scoring slot. The fibers of a mask act like the pegs, physically slowing down, pushing aside, or even stopping the particles, even though they're small enough to pass through. If you've never seen Plinko, picture dropping a bb through a slice of swiss cheese. Easy enough, right? Masks are actually several layers of fibers, so it's more like trying to drop that bb through 4 or 5 slices of swiss where the holes don't quite line up. It still goes through sometimes, but much less often.",
"Electrostatic forces - an n95 mask is designed such that as air traverses a mask electrostatics will attract things in the air causing them to cling to the mask and be filtered out. See minute physics for more URL_0",
"Answer: the germs themselves don't exist as a single entity when you inhale or exhale. When the gems leave a sick body, they ride small water droplets into the air. These water droplets are the carriers for the germs. Still often microscopic, but they're affected by masks. Notably, the virus needs a water droplet to survive long outside a body. This is why the virus is so dangerous in enclosed spaces (where water droplets easily circulate), but less dangerous on surfaces like packages in the mail (where small infected droplets stick and dry up on contact, decreasing the survival rate of remaining viruses on that surface). While masks do decrease the likelihood of you inhaling droplets, Masks most significantly decrease the ability of your exhale to spread droplets into the air (protecting others). This is why it's important that EVERYONE wear them (correctly) to stop transmission. A single anti-masker isn't at much risk themselves, but has a high chance of being a super spreader. Since Masks are most valuable at preventing the release of risky particles (not just protecting ones self), anti-masker are a uniquely selfish danger to society.",
"Imagine you have a garden hose that sprays about 6 ft. You also have a towel hanging from a close line. You hit the towel with the hose water from about a foot away and the water soaks the towel and falls to ground. But the water no longer goes 6 ft. The towel isn't water proof but it is enough to break up the flow of the water. Masks are pretty much the same. The keep the breath which has water droplets which can have virus. So now imagine you are wearing the towel and someone turns the hose on you. You still get soaked. This is why masks are more about protecting others and not yourself.",
"The germs are carried by droplets that are not smaller than the weave of a good quality mask. The highest standard of mask, the n95, is named such because it blocks 95% of particles above a certain really small size. Also i believe part of what makes the n95 so effective is the n95 has ionization in the layering that attracts charges particles which are immobilized before coming in contact with the person behind it."
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lhkpbk
|
How after 10000 years of humanity surviving off of bread do we have so many people within the last decade who are entirely allergic to gluten?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
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"It's been around for a long time, but it was hard to figure out what was causing it. If everything that you ate had grain in it then you were just considering sickly and having digestive issues. it wasn't until Holland during World War II when they had bread shortages and a doctor noticed that when they had no bread some of the people got healthier and then relapsed when they started having bread again. URL_0",
"0.X% of the populations has always been deathly allergic to something. we just didn't call it allergies. it's \"timmy choked and stopped breathing all of a sudden. may God rest his soul\"",
"Many people choose to go gluten free because they believe it is healthier to do so. Actual gluten sensitivity or Celiac's disease is not as common. Not that it's rare, but it's not as common as many people believe.",
"The thing about Celiac's is that it isn't like an allergy to peanuts where you have an allergic reaction. It damages your intestines, which not only isn't as obvious over long periods of time but also takes years to fully cause an impact, and when it does after 10+ years of eating gluten the impacts are usually severe enough to kill you. Also we didn't only eat bread, a lot of the world are exclusively potatoes or rice. It depended where you came from",
"In my wife's case, doctor's think another illness triggered celiac in her. She was the biggest pasta / bread lover with no issues for the first 35 years of her life. Then she got sick out of the blue and wasn't getting better. Finally they figured out she had celiac which they think was triggered possibly by the norovirus. It's just a guess by the doctors but it's the best they can come up with. Never had an issue and suddenly she cant eat bread.",
"People always had stuff like Intolerance but never knew where it was coming from.. And there are sayings that you just have to be happy to have food and eat what is been served so people didn't talk about it.",
"The same reason we have a lot more clinical diagnoses of mental health issues and no cases of *\"demonic possessions\"* There's a phenomenon experienced by many that we didn't fully understand before, but do now.",
"Ooo I can help answer this! For background, I have celiac disease and have done quite a bit of reading into the history of it. Let's start with evolution though. It's a messy process, and in general it favors maximum production off offspring over anything else. Most people with celiac disease live into adulthood, and in fact it might not even develop until you are an adult (autoimmune diseases can activate at any time during a person's life). It's even possible to carry the genetic markers for celiac disease and never actually develop it at all! So with that in mind, it really isn't surprising that the genetics for celiac disease have managed to survive (I won't speak to allergies here really, since they are a different mechanism and the genetic components aren't as well understood). As for the history of celiac disease itself, it's been a recognized and described medical condition for about 2000 years. Aretaeus of Cappadocia was the first physician to name it, in Greece. That being said, it didn't stop most people who had it from having families and passing on the genes, especially if you lived in an area where wheat, barley, and rye were not regular parts of your diet. In all likelihood it's been around since humans started cultivating grains, but because it doesn't generally kill people before they are able to have children, the genes have survived to this day. The main reason we see such a prevalence of it today is better diagnostic tools. It was only 30 years ago that it was recognized as an autoimmune disease, and even less time that we've had reliable diagnostic tools for it such as antigen blood tests.",
"The show \"Cooked\" on Netflix had an episode called \"Air\" that talked about this, that I would recommend checking out if your interested. Its been awhile since I watched the episode but the main takeaway I got was about how different bread is made today(grocery store mass produced bread with instant yeast vs. traditional sourdough fermenting bread baking.. Heres a short clip.. [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 )",
"One theory I’ve heard has to do with how bread is produced in modern times. Prior to the last century bread was primary produced like sourdough. Modern production uses artificial yeast which instead of a fermented “starter.”Even the “sourdough” you buy in the store uses artificial yeast to rise and has a bit of sourdough as flavoring. They do this because it cheaper and takes less time than traditional sourdough. Old fashioned, traditionally produced sourdough supposedly is better for people with a gluten allergy. Of course, it’s expensive to buy and time consuming to produce, and most people don’t realize that commercially produced sourdough isn’t really the same thing as what our ancestors produced.",
"In addition to the other responses I'll point out that a growing number of people are recognizing that they have [FODMAP]( URL_0 ) sensitivities. You can think of it kind of like an allergy in that when they consume something that contains a particular type of ingredient (fructans, sorbitol, disaccharaides, etc.) they don't feel well. One of the FODMAPs is fructans/fructose (which is a sugar, think high fructose corn syrup) and is naturally found in many things including brussels sprouts, garlic, and wheat. So for a lot of people it's not actually gluten that they have an issue with, it's fructans. And like lots of medical things, this has probably been going on for thousands of years, but since people up until recently had no idea how complex gut chemistry was they just didn't label it as anything.",
"So many answers already and most are dead wrong. The main thing is we selected wheat with much higher gluten density because it makes fluffier bread. Aside from previous generations eating bread made with less gluten, another thing is the bread making process used to include bacterial fermentation which made the whole thing more easily digested. Nowadays we don't use that often as it's cheaper and easier to use yeasts only. Lastly, all the shit we spray on our fields to kill the insects and rodents can't be that good for our innards. Don't expect to see serious studies regarding that as the food industry couldn't survive (and us with it) without such treatments.",
"To top off what other said, if we accept the health benefits of, say, gluten free bread, it only matters to us now. There are much more people, so a small percentage suffering from it is now much more obvious. On top of that, it can now easily be expected in the developed world, that a child born, will live to 80+ with a good lifestyle. When you usually live until 40 before a war or the most recent plague takes you, all while under threat of famine and doing back-breaking labour, gluten's negative effects is the least of your worries. Now that removing it is both financially viable, and could extend your life by a few percent which may easily be several years, people actually care about it. This does not answer your question, but I just love the thought that somewhere in history, a food tester was definitely executed because he was fine after the food, but the king turned out to be deathly allergic to strawberries or something.",
"Isn't this just a repost of the top of all time ELI5? The only difference I can see is that you typed 10000 years instead of 5000 years.",
"We don't. The overwhelming majority of people with \"gluten allergies\" are self-diagnosed and wrong. It's just the \"cool thing\" to claim.",
"I avoid gluten, because it gives me low-level asthma. I didn’t figure this out until age 39; prior to that I ate bread everyday, at most meals, so that low-level asthma was my ‘normal’. It wasn’t until my seasonal asthma got bad enough I required a daily prescription AND I did an elimination diet to try to reset some bad eating habits that I caught the effect gluten has on me. My whole life I thought I was a lazy bookworm; turns out I’m still a bookworm, but one who loves hiking and swimming and lifting weights and kayaking *when she can breathe*. I still love bread, and will occasionally eat a slice of sourdough, but the wheezing & shortness of breath afterward is enough to keep it to an occasional thing. I imagine that generations ago, I would have just been labeled as lazy or unathletic or as having ‘poor wind.’",
"Because for those 10000 years we let yeast do it's thing and break down the gluten. In the last 100ish years we switched to fast rise processes that leven bread quicker, but don't have the time needed to break down the gluten.",
"It’s not so much that people are more likely to be allergic now, it’s more that bread manufacturers are offering more gluten free options because gluten was identified as something that causes allergic reactions. In addition to the people who now realise that they are allergic, there’s another demographic of people who swear off gluten for health reasons.",
"Celiac is a measurable thing. Non celiacs Gluten sensitivity is tough because self reporting when the gut is involved leads to false positives. Basically if I ask you to pay attention to every fart or cramp you have throughout the day you will notice them more and consider it \"bad\" when in fact nothing has changed. This messes up studies. Also if diagnosed with NCGS you will change you diet which will change how you feel, falsely confirming the treatment as a success. URL_0",
"A certain percentage is allergic. Human population is bigger than ever so the absolute number of people with Intolerances is super high compared to the olden days. Also knowledge is increasing and we can now diagnose this more often when back it the day it would have been a vague we don't know what is causing this",
"I don't know if someone already posted this but here's a study investigating the usage of glyphosate sprayed on wheat as a potential trigger in gluten intolerance. As others have discussed its likely celiac disease has existed for some time but modern day agricultural practices have contributed to the rise of celiac and gluten intolerance. Glyphosate, pathways to modern diseases II: Celiac sprue and gluten intolerance URL_0",
"People somewhat over-state the universality of gluten. Corn, Rice, and Tubers were all main staples of vast parts of the world too (and still are). It was only in the last few centuries that wheat went global, and even then it was displaced in much of its old homeland by corn and potatoes. Huge swaths of the population just didn't eat wheat so if they were intolerant, they would never know. Added to that, wheat intolerance doesn't typically present as immediately fatal. So even in wheat-based societies, people would stumble through life inconvenienced and sickly, but never removed from the gene pool.",
"A LOT of it has to do with the internet. Now that we have the internet and ways to share information, the information is \"suddenly\" out there. 50 years ago if no one in your circle of people had a gluten allergy you may not even know about it. It's the same with a lot of things. Look at child abductions. \"Back in the day your kids could just play at the park.\" Well there were kidnappings then too, but it was harder to publicize it than it is today.",
"Food intolerances are believed to come from gut health issues caused by the destruction of good bacteria in the gut from modern medicines and anti-biotics. I didnt use to get violently sick and bed ridden for days with pain until I hit my teen years, it was suggested I keep an eating journal to see if things I was eating were causing auto immune reactions, sure enough wheat and dairy were the 2 that still to this day... 15 years of proof that those 2 were causing so many hospital visits.. and it never used to be that way. Modern medicine may keep certain illnesses away, but it can also take away natural things our bodies make to keep us healthy. There are people that dont believe in food intolerances, but its definitely ignorant and a lot of us suffer through so much pain and agony on the daily. Not to mention the tens of thousands spent on seeing different specialists between two states, our doctors and scientists are just now trying to catch up with what's been going on for so long. Also, in the past, a lot of people died without being diagnosed with anything, so you cant say people were \"surviving\" off of gluten.",
"To everyone talking about how \"the way they make bread has changed\", what you're talking about is the invention of the Chorleywood process in the 1960s. This is how almost all commercial bread is made nowadays (except your very artisan bakeries). Traditionally bread is kneaded to activate the gluten, to create the structure that allows it to rise, and then it is leavened by the action of yeast over a couple of hours or more. During this fermentation a wide range of reactions are taking place, affecting the proteins, starches and sugars in the bread. In the Chorleywood process the bread is essentially whipped to incorporate air bubbles and activate the gluten at many times the speed. Yeast is used, but the majority of the texture and rise comes from the processing rather than the yeast, and it's only given a very short time to prove. Now I don't know exactly what difference this makes onan chemical level, or why this should interact with our guts etc, but I certainly find that I have way more trouble with regular commercial bread products than I have with sourdough or home made bread. I feel like it's fermenting inside me, causing major bloating and indigestion. So perhaps it's not gluten per se that people are struggling with nowadays, but the way the gluten is processed that makes the difference?",
"Thats because the internet exists now. You know more general information than billons of people before you.",
"10,000 years is evolutionarily a blink. Also, microbiome changes likely contribute to celiac, and can shift quickly and dramatically, especially with antibiotic use.",
"The bread you buy today is not the same as the bread baked a long time ago, as cheaper and cheaper production methods have been found bread has become more prominent in our daily diets and has reduced in quality.",
"I think it is the same with lactose intolerance, it does not kill you just makes you feel like crap and go to the bathroom a lot so no one paid much attention to it, especially seeing that you probably always felt sick seeing that until recently you could not even count on the water you were drinking to be ok. It is just recently with modern medicine and hygiene that people have started noticing that feeling sick all the time is not normal.",
"Oh I know this one, because my dad asked this question before. He asked “why do so many people have mental problems like bipolar, ADHD, autism, depression, anxiety disorder, nowadays”. Well, the thing is, it’s not just people nowadays having those problems, it’s people in prior ages having it but not having it diagnosed. For example, ADHD kids were considered just “kids who are hyper active” or “kids who are bad at school”. Same with gluten allergies. People always had it, it’s just that there was no name to it, and people who had the reaction simply avoiding things that caused a reaction rather than seek a doctor.",
"The other thing that hasn't really been mentioned is that celiac has a huge range of symptoms. We used to think that celiac was a very particular and severe form of wasting, the cause of which was only identified in WW2. The people who were initially diagnosed were those with \"failure to thrive.\" They were basically starving to death or dying of malnutrition because their bodies were so damaged that they couldn't absorb any nutrients. It was thought to be an exclusively European disease because the symptoms for diagnosis were so narrow. Now, we identify over a hundred potential symptoms that could manifest celiac, and it turns out you can have the intestinal damage without any symptoms at all. We tied it to certain forms of cancer, and have just in general gotten better at identifying it. Unfortunately the tests needed to identify it are not as accurate as they should be, and are highly invasive, so many people recognizing that when they don't eat gluten they just feel better, never get tested. As a friend with diagnosed celiac told me \"getting a diagnosis doesn't change the treatment, it just increases your insurance rates.\"",
"Many of the grains used to make bread don't have any gluten in them. Modern wheat is actually quite modern. I believe it was invented/crossbread/hybridized like 150 years ago. Something like that. Meanwhile if you make a flower out of something like rye or millet it's completely gluten-free. Note that that's not a modern rye bread which is a typical mixture of wheat and rye flour. The rise of the all-purpose wheat flour greatly increase the amount of gluten available in the diet. Now it's certain that a small number of people who could afford the high quality wheat breads of the past suffered from the gluten intolerance or celiac disease and didn't know what their ailment actually was. Lots of these sort of changes in inversions happened over the centuries. For instance linen used to be the low quality cloth that peasants wore, but then cotton came along and became a low-quality cloth and linen became something reserved for more expensive clothing. we have a tendency to keep the same words even as the underlying processes change. So yeah the materials changed that we used to make bread out of things that we don't currently, popularly use."
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"https://www.imaware.health/blog/quick-history-and-evolution-of-celiac-disease"
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[
"https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0IqcZF-1iM4"
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"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FODMAP"
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[],
[],
[],
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"https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/what-s-really-behind-gluten-sensitivity"
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhlolb
|
What makes people snore? Why is the sound when you’re asleep different than when you’re awake?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmxw8rx"
],
"text": [
"In the back of your throat, you have a bunch of soft tissues at the top. Just at and behind the thing that hangs down from your throat (uvula). When you are relaxed enough, the muscles that hold those soft tissues relax, and the tissues droop and end up partially (or fully if you have sleep apnea) block your airway. When that happens, as you breathe in, it makes the snoring noise. Some people snore even when awake if they get really relaxed."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhlv8l
|
Why is sugar bad for teeth?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmxwomz"
],
"text": [
"Oral bacteria feed on sugars and grow, excreting acidic metabolic wastes as they do so. These acidic wastes are what attack the enamel and cause tooth decay."
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhmcir
|
How do criminal networks (or anyone) launder money through casinos (or businesses)?
|
The biggest casinos in Australia (Crown Casinos) are currently under heavy scrutiny for money laundering with the Sydney Crown found unsuitable to hold a license. How is it done?
|
Economics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmxzlvp",
"gmy3srn"
],
"text": [
"1: you make $700,000 selling drugs 2: you can’t just deposit this money in the bank, it’s kinda weird that you’re making a fortune while “unemployed” 3: you start a business that often takes cash like a casino or night club 4: you report your drug money as business income through the company and pay the required taxes 5: as a successful “legitimate businessman” you can now spend the illegally gotten money without suspicion.",
"Let’s say you have a million dollars dirty money. You go and you play so that you break even or take minimal losses, then you cash out and claim it as “winnings.” Now you have a receipt from the casino to show where you got the money from."
],
"score": [
12,
5
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhmuf6
|
Why is source code being leaked for a video game a big deal?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmy390z",
"gmy2vh9"
],
"text": [
"the source code is the recipe, the product you buy is the cake. just because you have a piece of cake in your hand doesnt mean you can determine how the cake itself was made. however if people have access to it, they have a much easier time finding exploits/hacks, use the code to build their own versions of it and make money from those, etc.",
"Code for games is compiled, or translated into binary and obfuscated (or obscured) as a result, if you try to decompile it then it will still be unreadable (to a human). Source code is the human readable version of code, and would allow someone with malicious intent to find a vulnerability that would allow them to modify the game in ways the developers didn't intend."
],
"score": [
14,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhmzoq
|
On a biochemical level, what makes something biodegradable?
|
Is it even a biochemical thing?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmy5o9f",
"gmy63ak",
"gmy6pzj"
],
"text": [
"The product or object is readily broken down by \"normal\" processes. Usually the product might be edible and broken down by other organisms (bacteria, worms etc). Or the product is made of materials that eventually break down chemically or physically (water or sunshine typically) into byproducts that are readily used or integrated back into the natural environment (sort of like glass, can be crushed into pretty much sand) For it to be called biodegradable in a legal/regulatory sense, this process cannot take too long nor should it produce toxic byproducts. So plastics that may survive hundreds of years before breaking down are not generally termed \"biodegradable\".",
"There are organisms, for example funguses, in the environment that naturally breakdown complex materials, like a tree, into smaller, simpler materials, like dirt. They can't breakdown everything though, a newspaper is basically made of ground up wood, so the same organism that eat wood can generally eat newspaper. Organisms that eat fruit can breakdown eaten apple cores, or potato peelings. There are no organisms that naturally eat glass bottles though, or tin cans, or computer chips. So if I left an apple core in the woods for year it would biodegrade into dirt, if I left a glass bottle in the woods for 100 years it would still be a perfect glass bottle. Hence apples are biodegradable and glass isn't. It's important to note that other forms of degradation can occur, a metal can might rust away into dust over decades, but that's chemistry (oxidation), not biology. Also important to note that biodegradation needs oxygen, so a newspaper in the woods might biodegrade in a year or so, a newspaper at the bottom of a compacted municipal dump might still be perfect 200 years from now.",
"It needs to be biologic. Basically, all things tear down. For one reason or another, all bonds between molecule eventually break. Water damage, sun damage, wind, animals, etc. As such, everything is \"biodegradable\". Everything will eventually tear down into its base component to be recycled. It might take a few days, a few weeks, or a few millennia. But it will. But I think what you want to understand (correct me if I'm wrong) is why do we say that something is biodegradable while something isn't. We call something biodegradable when nature itself can take care of it reliably fast (as in a few years at worst). Plastic by the common definition is not biodegradable. Because nature cannot take care of it quickly. usually, for something to fit within that biodegradable ideal, it need to be something that small insects can destroy. So anything that can constitute food for smaller organisms (worms, ants, microbes, etc...) end up being considered biodegradable. As such your question is more about biology than biochemistry. Funnily enough, this also mean that depending on how things go, even if the definition stay the same, the answer can change. We found a bacteria that can consume plastic. It's been in trial for a while to consider the possibility of using them to degrade plastic on a larger scale, making plastic biodegradable."
],
"score": [
5,
3,
3
],
"text_urls": [
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhn9yn
|
Why scientist theorize the universe is infinite
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmy6cc5",
"gmy7gng"
],
"text": [
"> When talking about the universe, most knowledgeable people would agree that it could be infinite in scale. However, I have a hard time believing this. > > For one, there are universal laws, such as the conservation of mass/energy, that limit the amount of mass/energy to a finite amount in a system. Taking this into account, it would be impossible (to my knowledge) for there to be infinite mass/energy in the universe, since that law would be nullified. Conservation of mass/energy does *not* limit the amount of mass or energy that can be in a system, it merely says that, for any closed system, the amount of mass or energy remains constant. It cannot increase or decrease in mass or energy. > Secondly, there are Planck units, like the length/second, that prove that there are terminating points of scale in the universe. If you were to calculate the amount of Planck lengths in the universe, the answer wouldn't be infinite; mass is finite. Therefore, there would be a terminating point of scale on the opposite end of the spectrum of measurement in the universe. Planck units are not necessarily \"terminating points of scale\" and, if they were, that does not suggest the universe is infinite. The set of integers has a fundamental unit (\"1\") for which there is no smaller unit. A \"terminating point of scale\" if you will. Yet the integers are infinite. You can always keep adding more. > Lastly, there is the inevitable end to the universe as we know it. Just as it began, it will end, with all existence ceasing to, well, exist. If the universe is infinite, then how would there be an end to it? Wouldn't it continue to exist, even if an event occurred that wiped out everything? You are correct. In these cases \"Begin\" and \"End\" are used loosely, colloquially, and do not actually indicate a beginning or ending to the universe itself, but rather a drastic or permanent change to its configuration. The end of the universe *as we know it.* > I hope I'm not proposing a purely theoretical explanation here, or that I'm getting into subjects that could never truly be answered. I know that it's a tall order to ask for this all to be explained in simple and understandable terms, but there's got to be *someone* out there who knows this stuff. > > Thank you for your time and consideration in my post! You talk of scientific laws, but consider this fundamental principle: *We do not occupy a special position in the universe.* Also known as the Copernican principle. It states that our view of the universe is the same as anyone else's wherever they may be. This can only be true in a roughly uniform, infinite universe. If the universe was finite, there would be a center and observers could be closer to the center versus the edge, which would make different points of view privileged compared to others. As far as we can tell, there is nothing to support this notion, so we take it as an axiom that the universe is the same everywhere.",
"There are errors of assumption here. The total energy of the universe is not constant. The cosmological constant demands that energy density stays the same, so as total volume increases, total energy increases. General relativity accounts for this and thus this does not violate the laws of thermodynamics. Your second point doesn't even make sense. How does a minimum value prove a maximum value must exist? The function y=x\\^2 has a minimum value of 0 but no maximum value. This just sounds like a convoluted version of Zeno's Paradox. Third, depends on what you mean by end. Do you mean the universe ceasing to exist? There is no evidence to support that claim. The current best explanation for the future of the universe is maximum equilibrium (heat death) which will occur in approximately 10\\^106 years. The universe will still exist, there will just be nothing happening."
],
"score": [
16,
5
],
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhnvm6
|
Parachutist Issue?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmy934m"
],
"text": [
"Just think, if the person kicking kicked with enough force to stop someone moving at terminal velocity, that kick itself would do the same amount of damage as just landing on the ground. It's the old saying \"it's not the fall that kills you, it's the sudden stop at the bottom.\" As long as the stop is sudden, it will kill."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lho196
|
What causes those random sneezes we all get?
|
Like, we wall sneeze when we are sick but even when we aren't sick we just get those random sneezes every now and then (1 to 2 times a day) What causes those?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmya2hy"
],
"text": [
"Your nasal passage is being stimulated by some small debris. It could be pollen, smoke, pet dander, or everyday dust. If the amount in you gets to be a little too much, it'll trigger the automatic response to sneeze and expel the debris to protect your lungs."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhouoc
|
Why are planes flying miles overhead louder to me on the ground then when I'm in the things?
|
I'd have thought inverse square law would have so great an impact that no amount of soundproofing could overcome it. If it's because of soundproofing, how does it work so effectively and why can't we put in our walls when we build houses? & #x200B; Also \*than
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyhw8y"
],
"text": [
"The vast majority of the noise when an airplane is at cruise is the engines, specifically the exhaust. The exhaust noise is highly directional...it's heading straight backwards. That radiates outwards in a cone from the back of the engine but has relatively limited impact on the fuselage so you don't hear it much onboard. You basically have a \\~500mph wind blowing the noise backwards and away from the airplane. But it eventually reaches the ground and you hear it just fine. At takeoff there are a bunch of other noise sources active...the high lift system (flaps & slats), wind noise around the gear, and the fan is \\*much\\* louder at takeoff because most designs go partly supersonic. That's why it's so loud both inside and out at takeoff."
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhp22u
|
How can you remember that you have forgotten something but can't remember the thing you have forgotten
|
In the moment I say to myself "oh that's cool/important I must remember that for later" then when later comes I try to recall said thing but can only remember I've forgotten to remember something
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyl37i"
],
"text": [
"It must have been stored in your short term memory as you really never paid attention to it. That is why some experiences are lost immediately when not processed into unconscious, as all short term memory is only stored in the conscious."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhpd1z
|
. What makes string cheese stringy?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyifxi"
],
"text": [
"Google is your friend. > When mozzarella is heated to 60 °C (140 °F) and then stretched, the milk proteins line up.[1][2] It is possible to peel strings or strips from the larger cheese. URL_0"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_cheese"
]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhq7qb
|
How do politicians get rich off of privatization?
|
Economics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyo0kj",
"gmysuhv",
"gmysnav"
],
"text": [
"They typically don't directly, but the companies that buy the government assets typically get a very good deal and \"repay\" the politicians by favourable campaign contributions, board positions after they leave politics, etc. In more corrupt regimes there's also the straight up illegal stuff like bribes, kickbacks, etc. but that you can at least go to jail for if caught and convicted.",
"* Own stock in Some Company that does X. * Pass legislation privatizing X. Award the contact for X to Some Company. * Stock price skyrockets now that the company effectively controls X. * Sell your shares; now you're rich. & #x200B; * Pass legislation privatizing X. Award the contact for X to Some Company. * Retire at the end of your term. * Get hired by Some Company as a \"consultant\" with a ridiculous salary. Use your contacts to push for even more things to become Some Company's responsibility. * Continue to get richer every year.",
"If they know a sector of the economy, or a specific company, is going to be taking over some task previously done by the government, they can invest in that company, or broadly in that sector, and reap the benefits of insider knowledge that affects the stock market."
],
"score": [
12,
4,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhqkta
|
What actually causes the sound in a flickering florescent tube light?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyvlcp"
],
"text": [
"A fluorescent light is a plasma: a gas that is ionized as its outer electrons are stripped from it. Technically this is another state of matter, just like solids, liquids, and gases. When a gas changes into a plasma, it gives off light (sort of, the exact mechanism isn't important to this question). But its other physical properties also change, like the volume of space it takes up at a certain pressure, its viscosity, etc. When these physical properties change, the plasma moves a bit as it redistributes. This motion causes a sound wave. Fluorescent lights run on AC current, which means they receive bursts of electricity that make them ionize their plasma multiple times a second (60 times per second in the US). This is what makes the \"hum\" you can sometimes hear from them. And when they blink on, that initial burst is what makes the \"ting\" sound."
],
"score": [
4
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhqrhh
|
- What are the mathematical calculations/anomalies that have lead astronomers to think their may be a Planet X/Planet 9?
|
Mathematics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyxl9a"
],
"text": [
"So there's a load of smaller objects in the outer edges of the solar system, and like everything else in the solar system they're organized and clumped up in certain ways as a result of the effects of gravity. We'd expect them to be clumped up in a *particular* way if the only big object in their vicinity was Neptune, but while many of them do seem to work that way, there's a large amount that defy what we think *should* be the way they're organized. What's more, those other objects are not randomly distributed, but seem to be organized in a \"structured\" way. The only natural way for said structuring to exist would be if they were being sorted by gravity, but that would require a rather large object (i.e. the source of that gravity). Thus, it's possible that there is a planet around 5-10 times as massive as Earth out there, but we haven't been able to find it yet because it'd be extremely dim."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhqxal
|
How does certain types of wood light up faster than other types of wood?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyz6nm"
],
"text": [
"That's...kind of a vague question. Are you asking why some woods seem to have a lower ignition point than other woods, or are you asking why fire seems to spread faster on some woods than others. It could be any number of reasons, such as age, water content, sap composition, how low the foliage is, etc. Some trees are designed to catch fire, like eucalyptus trees, for the purposes of weathering a force of nature that kills their competition. As for combustability, alot of that comes down to whether the wood in question is a softwood (pine, cedar, etc) or a hardwood (oak, maple, etc). In general, softwoods are more flammable because they tend to be more porous (and therefore, softer) compared to denser hardwoods, which burn hotter but need a higher temperature to ignite."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhqyw9
|
Why can plants grow hydroponically just fine but if they’re in soil you need to worry about overwatering?
|
Tomatoes are the first plant to come to mind but many others are susceptible to root rot or just “drowning” of overwatered in soil but can thrive when spending their whole lives submerged in water. -Thank you
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyudjn",
"gmz0r3n",
"gmyztv9",
"gmz51ag",
"gn0imyk"
],
"text": [
"Two things: first, many plants *can't* be easily grown hydroponically. Second is that the difference between soil and hydroponics is more than just \"replace dirt with water\". Hydroponics systems tend to have highly managed biochemistry making sure the plants get exactly the nutrients they need and nothing else. Soil, on the other hand, is a natural environment which contains not only all sorts of minerals and chemicals but also living creatures like bacteria, fungi, even insects. It's naturally balanced to support the plant, but if you disturb that balance (for example, by adding way more water than it would naturally get), it stops being a good environment for plant growth. Minerals could be overextracted or washed away. Organisms could be drowned or could overpopulate and invade. It's simply not managed in the same way a hydroponics system is managed.",
"I'm not a pro or well versed in the science, but I run a hydroponics machine for my job. I do have a BS in Ecology and took many plant and soil science classes, and then worked in the corporate environmental world for 6 years (although I could argue that was a fucking waste of time). I grow lettuce and herbs (with the very rare kale or spinach) only in there. The way my system works, is that I fill my tanks with the city water connection. I have sensors that constantly measure water pH, nutrient levels (measured in mS/cm), and temperature. The computer system sets the limits for each of these, and through chemicals injected automatically, the parameters are consistent. So I can set the limits that I know the crop will thrive on, and then that water is automatically dosed through the system at a set interval (for my system, it's every 7 minutes). There are also air temperature monitors and I have a cold A/C running consistently at set temperatures night and day. Additionally, there are grow lights every where that also are automated. So you don't need to worry about overwatering in a hydroponics system because it's meticulously calculated, down to the amount of light the plants get which can also influence evaporation, whereas in field production I have so many other variables I need to consider while watering that just don't exist in a hydroponic system. I won't go into that too much unless people want to know. But my key takeaway I want to be that hydroponic systems are consistent, whereas in ground production has many many factors influencing water levels in the soils.",
"One thing i didnt see mentioned yet is that the water is often aerated (full of bubbles) and/or constantly moving. Not all methods are like that, but it seems like most are. There is also sometimes an inert substrate that mimics the mechanical properties of soil without the nutrient properties. So the roots arent usually 'submerged' in the way we think of it, but rather being constantly washed over by a mixture of water, air, and nutrients.",
"My understanding: hydroponics is more than just growing in water. You have tightly controlled nutrients taylors for the plants, plus most systems aereate the roots by either spraying water, raising and lowering water levels periodically, or having a damp medium they grow in with a constant drip. Most plants roots essentally drown in straight constant water. Also, if the plant is essentally in mud, you get microrganisms and rot friendly conditions.",
"It's basically all about oxygen. Plants grown hydroponically always have air supplied to the roots in one way or another. Either they are in a thin film of water or there's air bubbled into the water or the water is periodically drained away. Or for some plants you can just put them in a jar of water and diffusion of air through the water will provide enough oxygen. This is very different from putting a plant in overwatered soil. If you overwater soil, it turns to mud. In mud, the soil particles are tightly packed and water fills the gaps between them. Unlike in dirt, air can't pass between the particles (because water is in the way). Unlike in a jar of water, air can't diffuse in because the dirt particles prevent water movement and because bacteria in the dirt use up the oxygen as it enters. The roots can't get air and die, and then the plan dies. Source: I teach the aquaponics, which is hydroponics with fish"
],
"score": [
50,
7,
5,
3,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhr0py
|
How can racing sports like track and Nascar be fair if the innermost track is shorter than all of the other tracks?
|
It seems to me that whoever starts on the innermost track anyways has the advantage and whoever starts on the outermost track is always at a disadvantage Edit: Thanks for all the answers! :)
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmytb47",
"gmyul24",
"gmyv4f2",
"gmz9p0t",
"gmyszwg"
],
"text": [
"For events like track, the starting lines are staggered to accommodate for this. In auto racing, position in terms of row and spot from inside is determined by qualifying and better position is a reward for better qualifying time.",
"In auto racing, the inside is shorter yes, but it also has a tighter turning radius which may require you to scrub more speed to hang on to your line. Depending on your car's set up, you may be faster to stay outside and run the high line to maintain more speed through the turn. You see that a lot in nascar on the intermediate sized ovals. If you can handle the turn flat out like at Daytona or Talladega, there's no advantage to being outside, and inside gives you a slight edge generally.",
"You don't race on the inside on oval tracks. If you did, your turns would be very slow and you'd lose the race. If you watch NASCAR, everyone hangs on the outside of the straights, and then aims to the inside to cut the corner, coming back out on the outside of the track again.",
"In track, the lanes are staggered for races that runners need to stay in their lane. All runners will run the same distance. In NASCAR, the drivers are free to move around the track as they’d like. When taking a turn, being down inside near the line will be a shorter route but most likely will result in a slower speed as you need to turn tighter. As you move up the track towards the outside, your distance increases but so does your speed, because you don’t need to turn as hard. Part of NASCAR is figuring out where your car races best on the track and setting your car up to do this.",
"You get post position either by random draw or based on your previous performance in qualifying events. So, what you see is either fair because it’s random, or fair because the advantage is earned."
],
"score": [
21,
16,
5,
5,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhr978
|
What happens behind the scenes when files are transferred from a USB to another?
|
Do the files get temporarily saved on the computer and then get transferred to the second USB? Is it the same when files are transferred from a USB to a cloud service?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmywcso"
],
"text": [
"Exactly how it is done depending on the exact implementation of the operating system. I would expect that the way windows do it is to read the data from the USB drive into a disk cache on memory and then write it to the other drive from memory. If it is a small file it might be completely read into memory but if it is large files the it will start writing it before it has read all of it. So the file is stored in RAM in the computer perhaps not all of it at the same time but it all will pass through the RAM. For a cloud service, the answer is that it depends on the cloud service. It might be that it read from the USB to RAM and upload it. But it is not unreasonable that in some cases the files are temporarily coped to the drive on the computer and uploaded for it. That is so you can remove the dive and the computer can upload it in the background. That is something you would like to happen if you for example upload files from a camera so it does not need to be attached to the computer for a long time. So you can copy it to the drive of the computer but you do not need to. You do need to read it into the computer memory to transfer it."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhrwqo
|
If an airplane is made up of light weight aluminum that helps it fly, then how come in the‘miracle of Hudson’ the airplanes’ impact with the river didn’t cause it to wreck?
|
Edit: plis ignore the typos.
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyz0vv",
"gmz19h6",
"gmyysvj",
"gmzbdgz"
],
"text": [
"Why would it? Lightweight doesn't necessarily mean \"weak.\" It also matters what angle the plane impacts the ground/water, and at what speed. Planes (especially commercial ones) often are designed in such a way that certain areas are reinforced or built in such a way that they absorb impact or act as \"crumple zones\" or even fail in specific ways. For instance, some planes' landing gear is designed specifically to snap off if the plane lands too hard, because the engineers realized that in an emergency landing the landing gear might cause more damage if it didn't (like the impact might cause the landing gear to spear into the fuselage and cause more damage).",
"What the captain did in that case was literally land the plane. It wasn't substantially different from landing on a runway. He kept the landing gear up so the plane would ski on the water as it landed. Now if he would have done a nosedive at 500mph, it would of course be a drastically different story. Pilots do indeed train for that sort of thing as well.",
"Metals come in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, thicknesses, and strengths. When you hear lightweight aluminum, you are probably thinking about a beer or soda can. The lightweight aluminum used in aircraft is way thicker than that and far more sturdy. Also, captain sullenberger had decelerate in the plane to a very slow speed, and angled it appropriately to minimize the impact. The plane basically skipped on the water slightly before settling.",
"The next time you're getting on a commercial flight look at the outer skin of the plane as you go through the door. It's around 1/4 inch thick. It's pretty stout."
],
"score": [
14,
11,
6,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhs0v2
|
Terpenes and marijuana?
|
I consume legally. A dispensary opened down the street from my house. Medical is just kicking off here. I’m like a kid in a candy store. I think I have a rudimentary understanding of THC types and CBD? Now I hear that there is no indica or sativa anymore because some smoke like the other types? If I understand correctly that has to do with terpenes. This bottles my mind. ELI5 please?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmyzjrt",
"gmz3bax"
],
"text": [
"Terpenes may play a key role in differentiating the effects of various cannabis strains. Some terpenes might promote relaxation and stress-relief, while others potentially promote focus and acuity.[Source.]( URL_0 )",
"No sativaand indica are different. It's just that the effects that people say ie indica gives you couch lock. Aren't correct, or there is a lot more similarities between the high of them. However when growing a plant is easy to tell the difference between pure sativa vs indica and you can normally guess which a hybrid is leaning more towards. Sativa and indica plants have very different structures. Short and stocky vs tall and thinner wide leaves vs longer leaves. You shouldn't just get a strain because is sativa but learn about that specific strain. Terpenes affect the high you feel as well as the taste and smell of the strain. Thc and cbd are the most famous cannabinoids however i think there is like 1 or two hundred different cannabinoids that marijuana can contain."
],
"score": [
4,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[
"https://www.leafly.com/news/cannabis-101/terpenes-the-flavors-of-cannabis-aromatherapy"
],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhs5pi
|
Click-Through Rate (CTR)
|
I need this explained to me like I am a 15 y.o. teenager
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmz069b"
],
"text": [
"You can put these all in one question you know lol. Click-Through Rate is a percentage of how many people actually click on your advertisement compared to how many people see it. If 100 people see the advertisement but only 2 people actually click on it to get more info about the product, the click-through rate would be 2%. If 100 people saw it and 90 people clicked on it, then the CTR would be 90%. It helps a company figure out how effective their advertising strategy is (are they putting it on the right sites, targeting the right people, etc.). A higher rate is better."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhskb7
|
How do websites permanently ban users?
|
I'm aware of how websites can just straight up ban users, but how would they *permanently* ban a user, such that any visit to that website is 'detected'? IP address or some such?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmz3b67",
"gmz2zry"
],
"text": [
"Part of connecting to a website means telling the website where to send the page to. This has to involve your IP address, or the IP address of the VPN you're using. If the connecting IP is on the blacklist, then you won't get connected.",
"Pretty much, yeah. The most precise is banning their account. Less precise is banning their IP address (this could potentially ban an unintended person, but at least you're more likely to also hit the target too). Even less precise is banning a *range* of IP addresses (you're even more likely to ban unintended people, but even more likely to hit your target too)."
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lht7ir
|
What does it mean to mirror a stock index?
|
Got into stocks recently, and I keep hearing to "mirror S & P 500" to get started. I'm not quite sure what this means or what you would do in order to achieve this. I am not requesting financial advice. I just do not understand how "mirroring S & P" works.
|
Economics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmz9ojb"
],
"text": [
"A stock index is a weighted average of certain stable stocks within a market. The intention is to be able to gauge how well the stock market is doing as a whole without having abnormal changes in the prices of single stocks have a big impact on the index. When people are actively trading stocks they will often compare their performance to an index. Losing .5% of your money one day feel a lot better when the S & P 500 went down a full 1%. The average of all traders should be very close to the index. A way to trick this statistics and make sure you are at least not among the worst half of traders is to buy the exact stocks that is part of the index. That way your performance will match the index precisely and therefore you are making as much money as an average trader, all without doing anything. This is so common that a lot of stock brokers offers their own index funds. These usually have very low fees as there is nobody that is working for the fund, just a small part of a computer system."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhtodv
|
how do hexadecimal numbers work?
|
ELI5: how does a hexadecimal number work? Also how is it so hard to guess a 64 bit hexadecimal number that is less than another like in bitcoin mining? Isn't there a hexadecimal representation of 0?
|
Mathematics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmzclb6",
"gmz9a3k",
"gmzc4lg"
],
"text": [
"> Also how is it so hard to guess a 64 bit hexadecimal number that is less than another like in bitcoin mining? That's not how bitcoin works. First, bitcoin uses SHA-256, which means it works on 256 bit numbers. Second, it's not \"less than\", it's \"find an input that when fed through sha256 produces a number starting with the right number of zeroes\". It's not very easy to explain that, but imagine that sha256 is a sort of a blender: you put ingredients in, blend them, and out comes out a milkshake. Only for sha256 it works such that even tiny changes to the input produce huge and random looking changes to the output. This means that getting the output you want is only possible by throwing in stuff at random until you happen to get it right by chance. It's a matter that's hard to explain because the whole thing is full of math and doesn't really have intuitive real-life equivalents. > Isn't there a hexadecimal representation of 0? Yes, 0",
"> ELI5: how does a hexadecimal number work? Exactly the same as decimal numbers, only instead of the 10 symbols 0123456789 you use the 16 symbols 0123456789ABCDEF.",
"The number system you’re used to is called decimal. “Deca” is a prefix that means ten, which is why “Decades” are ten years long. Each digit in decimal has ten different possible values, from 0 to 9. (Notably, ten itself is NOT a possible value for a digit since they start at 0.) “Hexa” is a prefix that means six. So a hexagon has six sides. “Hexadeca” is used for 16, it combines hex, 6, with deca, 10. 6 + 10 = 16. That’s sixteen possible values for each digit, again starting at 0. After 9, digits are represented with the first letters of the alphabet, A through F. So you count 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, A, B, C, D, E, and F, before you reach two digits, 10. But 10 in hexadecimal means you counted what in decimal is 15 + 1, so 10 in hex is 16 in decimal. Why do we use this??? Well, computers think in binary. 1’s and 0’s. They can be represented extremely fast electronically. Bi is two, of course, and the two possible values for each digit are 0 and 1. The problem starts when you convert binary to decimal or back. It’s not easy or fast. 9 in decimal is 1001 in binary, which you kind of have to work out on your fingers if not more carefully. And bigger numbers get harder fast. Hexadecimal is useful because unlike decimal it maps perfectly to binary. 15 decimal is 1111 in binary or simply F in hex. But watch this. 11111111 in binary is a bizarre 255 in decimal, right? And the only way to reliably figure that conversion out is to do long math. But 11111111 binary is FF in hex. 1111 is F, and 11111111 is FF. 1000 binary is 8 hex, and 10001000 binary is 88 hex. See the pattern? Take a guess what 100010001000 binary is in hex. That’s right, it’s 888. No slow complicated math needed. So easy that a few electrons can do it. So hex is basically a convenient shorthand for binary, whereas decimal is kind of a pain in the ass that doesn’t convert easily to either one. Now, you said “64 bit hexadecimal”, and that doesn’t mean what you think. Because a bit is a binary digit, 0 or 1. Each hex number represents FOUR binary digits. So a 64 bit number would be represented by only 64/4 hexadecimal digits, so 16. Another way of saying that is that a 16 digit hex number represents 64 bits of data. I think what you meant to ask is just how big is a **64 digit** hex number, and so you multiply it by 4 to get the bits. 256 bits. Or in decimal, that would be 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639935. *That* is a lot of potential combinations. So many that we run out of words to describe the magnitudes after the first ten or twenty digits. So you tell me, how hard is it to guess a number between 0 and 115792089237316195423570985008687907853269984665640564039457584007913129639935?"
],
"score": [
5,
4,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhvaht
|
why does you see a lot of colours and unusual shapes when you close your eyes but when you are in a room where it is pitch black you don’t see any colour or unusual shapes?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmzjf03"
],
"text": [
"The pressure of your eyelids on your closed eyes creates minute distortions in the retina, which causes misfiring of the optic nerve, which results in an illusory visual sparkle called “Phosphene”. Pressing on your closed eyes with your fingers makes the Phosphine even stronger. (Try doing it while high in psychedelics and it gets really wild) URL_0"
],
"score": [
8
],
"text_urls": [
[
"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phosphene"
]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhwajv
|
How do chameleons camouflage and how difficult is it for us to develop technology that could do the same?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn07hs0"
],
"text": [
"If you want a animal that actually does camouflage well you should look into cuttlefish. Basically cuttlefish have little dots of colour in their skin which are normally too small to be noticed. When they want to change color, they use muscles in their skin to stretch out these dots, making a (relatively) large area look that color. They have lots of these little dots in several colors across their skin so they can mix and match them to make different colors and patterns, sort of how your phone screen can show basically any image only using three colors of pixels. As for technology to do this, it's probably not practical to copy since it would need so many tiny moving parts. Like I said earlier though, it does kind of work like modern electronic displays, so using a modified one of those would probably be most practical. Maybe by using a flexible LCD and replacing the backlight with something reflective you could get a similar effect. Of course you would still need cameras and a computer with special software to tell the screens what to show to blend in, something cuttlefishes eyes and brains do in nature,"
],
"score": [
12
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhwv4c
|
How are reality TV shows like Married At First Sight scripted?
|
Is a skeleton script written out beforehand and characters are cast to fit the roles or is storyline suggested by the characters? Do producers tell the cast what to say or nudge them in the right direction via suggestion? Would love some insight from anyone who has worked on shows similar to this!
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmzsgew"
],
"text": [
"I haven't worked on them but I've read tell all from some of them. They are told to say and do a lot of particular things but even more so they chop the events up and realign them to make it seems more dramatic, or nothing happens for a week and they catch the 1 moment something happened and call it an ongoing fued. Theres rules to reality shows but they are pretty loose."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhx121
|
can you actually convey any noise as a single line on a "sound wave graph" (assuming the graph is infinite), and if so, how does it work?
|
For example, could you record your voice, turn it in to a 2D wavy line on a graph, and then scan it somewhere else and get an exact replica of your speech just from a line? How would the graph be different for two noises of the same note/frequency? Thanks!
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gmzu6t5",
"gmzu0fm",
"gmzuh1d"
],
"text": [
"Yes, and in fact, a vinyl record is almost the object you describe, its wavy line is a spiral groove. You could say it's a graph in polar coordinates. Two musical sounds of the same note/frequency can differ in many ways, especially in their amplitude/loudness, and in their spectrum/timbre. One instrument's waveform might be shaped more like a square wave and another's might look more like a sawtooth, for instance.",
"Yes, with some translation losses and inefficiencies. But it's essentially possible. The reason it won't be perfect is that no recording device is perfect, and no translation and transmission device is perfect. You can get it close enough to the point where your ear can't tell the difference. But you can't actually get it *perfect.*",
"Sure. That's essentially how digital recording and playback works, except computers store the sound wave graph as a series of numbers -- which are more precise. The same principle applies to a wave represented graphically -- which is similar to how vinyl records work. Be prepared for some distortions, though, depending on the image quality and resolution. When you have two notes or noises, you get something like [this]( URL_0 )."
],
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"https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/courses-images/wp-content/uploads/sites/1989/2017/06/13225738/figure-17-10-04a.jpeg"
]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhyetf
|
When animals have bone or nails or teeth that grow through their body, how does their body deal with it?
|
I saw a video of a baby rhino and just realized for the first time that they grow their horns after birth. It still has a lump where its horn will be, so eventually it’ll grow out of its skin, right? Will it be like deer velvet where it’s just a painlessly bloody mess for a while? I know rodents (some of them? Can’t remember which it was) have teeth that grow through their mouths if they don’t gnaw at stuff. Is it the same process or is it different? I think at one point I saw pictures a horribly ingrown nail where it grew out and back in once or twice, too, but it might be my imagination.
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn03349"
],
"text": [
"The growth of horns and antlers can be similar, but they aren’t really the same. For both yes the growth is painless (at least as far as we know, idk what it feels like to grow a horn, but since we can’t ask a rhino we assume it’s painless). But rhino horns grow out of a rhino, like a fingernail, they’re actually made out of the same stuff, keratin, pushing the older material out and depositing new material behind it. Antlers with there velvet instead grow by building on top of the existing antler, making it bigger and bigger and having those branching structures. But those two things are completely different than your rodents teeth/ingrown nail examples. Those are both two cases where it is growing wrong, and can lead to damage and pain and infection. Lots of rodents have teeth that constantly grow to replace what gets worn away, but if they grow too long. The teeth will start stabbing into the rodent itself. This is the same thing as when you bite your tongue and it hurts, it’s the tooth digging into flesh it shouldn’t be. Same thing with ingrown something has caused the nail to grown wrong or misshapen, and that will lead to problems."
],
"score": [
9
],
"text_urls": [
[]
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhyews
|
Can having depression also cause loss of feeling and no pleasure in orgasms, and if so, why?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0qaet",
"gn0o3o7",
"gn01dtz"
],
"text": [
"Brain scientist here (neurobiology), worked in mental health for a while now. *Edit to clarify: the word depression has two different meanings. It can mean the actual emotion of feeling depressed, down, 'low', which is a normal, healthy reaction to certain events and experiences. It can also be shorthand for one of a group of disorders, including major depressive disorders, which cause people to experience the emotion of depression far more frequently, and for longer, than they should. The same applies to anxiety vs an anxiety disorder. In this comment, when I say depression, I'm talking about the disorders* Firstly, depression is a complicated disorder, that can look very different in different people. So there's no one 'normal' way of being depressed. Second, it messes with your whole nervous system, not just your mood and emotions. Depressed people often feel less physical pain and pleasure. Depressed people often lose some of their natural reactions to pain and pleasure - so you might get a paper cut, feel it, but feel less urge to say 'ow' or react. This can absolutely apply to sex. You might even have the physical part of an orgasm, but none of the enjoyment. To be honest, we don't really understand why this is - heck, we don't really understand what depression actually *is* or looks like in the brain. We have a good understanding of the group of symptoms that can come with it, and a whole bunch of very good ideas about why these things *might* all work the way they do, but no conclusive answer. Some of the common ideas: 'systemic inflammation': inflammation is basically what it looks like when your body is on high alert. Your blood vessels expand a little, and all the little machines that patrol your body for bad things poke around a lot checking on things. Very high inflammation looks like swelling and a hot rash, but you can also have slight inflammation. Systemic means the whole body, basically. A lot of people with depression have slightly more inflammation across their whole body than you'd expect. Now, since inflammation is something that happens when we're sick, our brains can interpret this as a signal to go into 'sickness mode' - which means wanting to lie down a lot, avoid large groups, feeling tired, feeling like something is fundamentally wrong, or blocking off certain sensations and experiences. We don't know if the inflammation is what causes the depression, though, or if it's caused *by* the depression, or maybe they're both caused by the same thing. 'chemical imbalance': when people talk about this, what they usually mean is little chemical signals we call 'neurotransmitters'. These chemicals are how your brain cells talk to each other. Dopamine and serotonin are the ones we hear about the most with depression, because of their reputation as the 'love' and 'happiness' signals. The truth is that both of them have a LOT of different jobs. Think of them less as specific signals, and more like notes in a song. A c# might be a fairly cheerful note on its own, but it doesn't have much meaning unless you look at the whole song it's in. That said, if you take all the c#s out of a song, it's gonna sound weird and not work right. Similarly, if your brain isn't making enough of a signalling chemical, this causes problems, and might make certain signals - like emotions and sensations - much quieter. This became a very popular idea when we found out that a type of medicine that helps with the amount of serotonin in the brain (SSRIs) seems to help with depression. However, every time we've looked for solid evidence that low serotonin is causing depression, we've gotten very mixed, unclear results. It's one of those ideas that *should* work, but doesn't seem to. Or at least, it's much, much more complex and intricate than we expected. 'emotional bias' - in short, the idea here is that depression is actually a built in 'sadness' bias, meaning all emotions are interpreted as being a little 'sad', and actual sadness is felt much more. A signal that should be 100% happy is instead felt as maybe 80% happy and 20% sad. This isn't about how someone interprets things, it's about the way the brain does the maths about emotions. There's also some evidence that what we currently call 'depressive disorders' might actually be 3 or 4 different disorders, of different parts of the brain, that all happen to have similar symptoms. In other words, all these different ideas might be true, but for different people. *edit to say that these aren't all the different ideas ('hypotheses' in science-talk) around depression, just some that I happen to know well enough to eli5*",
"You're taking about a kind of anhedonia - joylessness. URL_0 I suffer from it. When I cycle through depression all my sex drives go away. I still masturbate, but get no positive feeling from it beyond relief. I lose interest in my partner - in nearly every way. I find the only thing I can do to prevent a deep spiral is play familiar slow computer games like Factorio, simple chores preferably with heavy lifting, or sleep. I can still smile, and laugh, but there's no element of sustain to the feelings. For me it passes in a few days, but that can be hard to notice if you aren't challenging your depression.",
"Yes. To put it simply, depression is an imbalance of hormones. An orgasm coincides with a surge of hormones that make you feel good. A depressed person would not necessarily have the same ability to produce or accept those hormones in these amounts."
],
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48,
24
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"text_urls": [
[],
[
"https://www.webmd.com/depression/what-is-anhedonia"
],
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhz0rf
|
When making ice cream, you add salt to make it colder and freeze faster, so why do we put salt on roads when it’s freezing/snowing? How does that work?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn05qdu",
"gn083dk"
],
"text": [
"So adding salt to water lowers the freezing point from 32f 0c, so that it can stay liquid to a lower temperature. Same basic idea on both ice cream and roads. You want to freeze the ice cream below water freezing to speed the process and texture. But on roads, liquid is much less slippery than a solid sheet of ice on the roadway. So you put that out and it either creates a rougher surface for tires to gain traction on, or melts the ice and let's it run off the side of the road. Also other things are mixed into the salt for roads, like sand or ash for example. This also adds texture and traction. So for ice cream the salt is used to get the tubs temperature down below freezing for an extended period, on a road it is used to thaw the ice for at least a short time so it can be moved or become rough enough with add in components to let a car not slide around.",
"Also the salt is not added to the ice cream it is added to ice water and a metallic bowl of the ice cream ingredients is set in a bigger bowl of ice water"
],
"score": [
16,
12
],
"text_urls": [
[],
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhz9cu
|
What is the scientific explanation as to why you can “feel your chest and stomach tighten” when your feelings are hurt?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0corr",
"gn0acb4"
],
"text": [
"You know when you fill your car tires with air and they get harder? Or when a balloon gets old it's a lot easier to poke your finger into it. When you have a stress response, your body releases chemicals into your bloodstream. These increase your blood pressure which makes your blood vessels just a bit \"stiffer\" like a filled balloons/tires and you can feel that. You can also probably feel yourself getting warmer for similar reasons. Your stomach and nearby organs are part of a nerve system responsible for digesting the food you eat, and these power down and divert blood flow to other places when this happens - so you feel it most in those places. The purpose is from olden times when the stress would come from a lion roaring at you, and you needed the extra energy/pressure to be able to respond quickly and run faster (or fight better if you couldn't run). Now when it happens because someone was calling you names, it is just a feeling. If it happens too often or for too long, it can be damaging. (Imagine poking a balloon until it gets a tear.) If you're going through a rough emotional time, it can be very helpful for your body if you take some time a few times a week to go for walks, runs, or pick up a sport or something to clear out this extra energy.",
"Part of this is the hormone cortisol being dumped into your system in response to the emotional shock. Your brain feels threatened, so it revs up the body in case you need to fight, or run away. I'm sure it's more complicated than just that, though."
],
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160,
15
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[],
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lhzsn6
|
Amitriptyline mechanism
|
“The precise action of tricyclic antidepressants is not fully understood, but it is believed that the most important effect is the decreased reuptake of norepinephrine and serotonin.” Is this saying it decreases serotonin levels? “Amitriptyline appears to exert effects on both norepinephrine and serotonin (5-ht), although the selective-acting desipramine is a more potent inhibitor of norepinephrine transport. Amitriptyline is metabolized to nortriptyline, which accounts for most of the norepinephrine-reuptake inhibition after amitriptyline administration. Nortriptyline itself also possess antidepressant activity. Additional hydroxy metabolites apparently are active as well. The down-regulation of limbic beta-receptors that result from this synaptic neurotransmitter increase occurs about 5-7 days after therapeutic concentrations are reached.” ELI5 pls.
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0aczx"
],
"text": [
"Okay, assume your brain is producing these chemicals at a constant rate. (Actually it varies a bit.) Imagine a machine making crayons. It prints out one crayon every second, which falls into a bin. There's a crayon collector, too - and it is picking up the crayons that are printed out of a bin. So if it picks up one crayon per second, the amount of crayons in the bin is constant (steady state). So the amount of crayons in the bin is synonymous in this example with the amount of a chemical available in your brain. The crayon collector is your \"reuptake\" - that is, your brain released it, and now it's taking it back out. So *inhibiting* the reuptake means slowing down the crayon collector. And if the crayons are produced at the same rate, but removed more slowly, the number of crayons in the bin increases. That is, it would increase the amount of these chemicals in your brain. *I'm not super sure about that second paragraph of mechanisms, so I'll let someone else take a stab at that.*"
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhzv78
|
Why do we have a whisper voice? Why can’t we just talk normally, but quiet?
|
When it’s quiet and you need to keep your voice down, you whisper. But a whisper isn’t just a quiet talk, it’s an airy, base-less sound. Why can’t we just talk normally, but quiet?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0as7w"
],
"text": [
"You can, we can vary the volume of our voice without changing the tone or pitch much. But there's a lower limit because it takes a certain amount of airflow to get our vocal chords vibrating at all...less air than that and you don't get any tone. It's like blowing really softly into a flute...you don't just get a really quiet note, you get nothing, there's a minimum loudness \"to make the instrument work\". If you want to be quieter than that, then you whisper, which is how we can talk without using our vocal chords."
],
"score": [
60
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lhzzat
|
How did Dimitri Mendeleev (creator of period table) accurately predict elements before their discoveries?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0an18",
"gn0bidd"
],
"text": [
"He arranged the, then known elements in order of increasing mass. Now, if you did it just like that, you'd just have one long list of elements. So he also divided this list into rows and lined up elements into columns based on similar properties (such as electronegativity). To keep his columns nice and neat based on those properties, he had to leave gaps in the table. Everywhere he left a gap, we later discovered an element that fit into it.",
"We knew how heavy atoms were by knowing how many atoms were in a given sample of the substance. How heavy they are isn't *quite* the same as their position on the periodic table (which is how many *protons* they have), but it's a very close approximation. The original table was just the elements lined up in order of weight. We also knew that there were regular patterns in how elements behaved chemically. We knew, for example, that starting with light elements, you often got three more elements at +8, +18, and +18 from its position on the table. We didn't know why yet, but this pattern is very regular. For example, Oxygen (8th in the table) chemistry resembles that of Sulfur (16th), Selenium (34th), and Tellurium (52nd). If you align the elements into a table, where going left/down is increasing number and these chemically-similar groups are aligned vertically, you get a nice table - what we would today call the \"periodic table of the elements\". But at Mendeleev's time, there were gaps. For example, beneath Boron (modern element #5), you had a gap. Mendeleev (correctly, as it turns out) predicted that there should be an element there that hadn't been discovered yet, with properties similar to Boron. We now know there is: it's called gallium, and it has properties similar to Mendeleev's predictions."
],
"score": [
23,
6
],
"text_urls": [
[],
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li01cc
|
Why does the body naturally wake up around the same times every day without any prompting, even if it hasn't been 8 hours?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0qlkj"
],
"text": [
"Nobody precisely knows. It’s a popular research subject. A Harvard study found that fasting for 16 hours followed by waking up and eating had a good chance of resetting your internal clock to think that meal was “breakfast”, and you’d start sleeping and waking up accordingly. Why this happens is not clear, but it’s an experiment I’ve tried and it does tend to work."
],
"score": [
10
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li0lbd
|
How did the CIH virus manage to write data to a computer's BIOS and destroy it?
|
I've been reading about the CIH virus, which was a very destructive virus from 1998-1999 that would overwrite the BIOS code on your computer with junk data, basically bricking it and making it unable to start. But how exactly did it write to the BIOS chip? Apparently, it only worked on the Windows 95 and 98 kernel. Isn't the BIOS chip on a computer protected? Did computers back in 1990s have no protection for the BIOS and just let anything write code to it? There's not that much information other than "ring0". & #x200B; The source code is here, it's written in Assembly: [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 )
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0kel4"
],
"text": [
"All regular computers can write to the BIOS; they need this capability to upgrade the BIOS firmware. The question is just \\*how\\* do you write to the BIOS. CIH used a particular write-enable function that worked only on a subset of BIOS chips available at the time, so it didn't always work but it worked enough. CIH was doing exactly the same thing that your BIOS update program does today...which is why you want to be really careful about where you get BIOS firmware files from."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li0xq9
|
How much DNA do full siblings share in their eggs?
|
If my wife and sister in law were to have their eggs analyzed, how much DNA would they share?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0goqd"
],
"text": [
"About half. It's an average of course cause of randomness so anywhere from 38% to 61% is still a reasonable result."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li199n
|
How do people genetically modify a fruit??
|
I remember seeing a post showing how a watermelon looked before being genetically modified and it fascinated me. So, how the hell do people even do it? It just seems so bizzare to me, and wouldn't we be able to do this with humans..?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0ionj",
"gn0ij1t",
"gn0jp3c"
],
"text": [
"Selective breeding, same as with all domesticated crops and animals. Pick out the individuals showing traits you like and be sure to breed them extra, pick out the individuals with unwanted traits and make sure they don't reproduce. Over years of breeders carrying on this tradition you get breeding populations that have a lot of desired traits the wild versions don't. You can do this with humans too, but to say that practice is frowned upon is the world's greatest understatement.",
"We can do it with humans! It’s just not ethical. The way we do this is, we take a gene that we are interested in, and insert it into the genome of the species of interest by cutting it at a specific site and having the natural cellular mechanisms glue it back together with your ‘edit’ inserted into it. This could be anything from a drought resistance gene, to pest resistance, to colour, to making the fruit glow in the dark if you wanted to. You can do anything. It’s crazy. It’s awesome. Source: I make worms glow in the dark for a living.",
"There’s a few ways to go about it. The most common is selectively choosing good traits and breeding for those traits. When taken to the extreme, they’re looking for extremely rare traits or mutations. That’s how bananas, carrots, and most of our staple crops have gotten to their common state. Rarer, but still common is when they’ll use pollinating techniques between multiple strains to get fruit that’s essentially seedless. The rarest and most recent is when they’ll actually take the genes of a crop and splice some other dna onto it so that it has super specific qualities. That’s mostly only done for the largest crops; corn, wheat, and tomatos. The first and last can be done on humans. We don’t have the right genetics for the 2nd. However, everyone’s staying away from intentionally doing it on humans. Selectively breeding people is quite literally what the Nazi’s did; it’s...pretty messed up. Modifying genes is a very slippery slope, because it could easily create a genetic class divide cuz only rich people would be able to afford it."
],
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8,
5,
5
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li1hbk
|
Why does a high quality picture/video taken of something look better than seeing it in person?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0qwuk",
"gn15flx",
"gn0wghv"
],
"text": [
"In professional photos, every light source is placed carefully to make the subject stand out, only a few pictures are selected fom hundreds, and some editing is done to make the picture look even \"better\"",
"It is possible that you need glasses. You may be noticing that your eyes can focus on a near screen much better than a distant scene. Or it may be that digital cameras are getting better at automatic processing and make objects look a little hyper-real.",
"It has to do with how your eyes focus. Human eyes have about 575 megapixels of resolution, but only in the exact spot we are focusing on. A high end photo camera can have around 60-70 megapixels, but the focus cone is much wider than what the human eye is capable. So while the human eye is technically higher quality, it's only able to be high resolution on a small area. Plus cameras can zoom and magnify images easily, making the image's details more pronounced."
],
"score": [
7,
3,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li22sv
|
Why do non English original language films have vastly diferent translations between dub and sub?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0p0t5",
"gn0o9pa"
],
"text": [
"Subtitling and dubbing have their own separate set of rules. Dubbing is more strict on the duration of the sounds and matching it with the lip movement, whereas subtitles have a limit of characters. Source: I’m a translator by education. I don’t work in TV or cinema though, so I’m not that well versed on this subject.",
"There are several reasons. For reasons, most of my knowledge of this comes from anime, so all the examples are coming from that. One factor is that the voice actors are trying to match the flaps of the lips, so if a literal translated version is too few syllables, they’ll retweak it to fit. Another factor is audience. If you’re watching something like a Hayao Miyazaki movie, the dub is usually targeted to kids while the sub will mostly be seen by older teens and adults, so the dub may change certain cultural references that a kid might not know about. Pokémon was notorious for this."
],
"score": [
47,
19
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li2fcr
|
how Barnes and Noble stays in business
|
Economics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0rmd9"
],
"text": [
"Paper books are one of the few mediums that have resisted the digital trend. People enjoy the tactile feel of them. This means that people also enjoy still going into the store to read the first, or last, page when looking for books. Saving $1-2 is generally not worth the hassle when looking for something new to read."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li2n1m
|
Why do animals (including people) gorge themselves despite their stomach being full?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0rdvw"
],
"text": [
"Cats will by default eat whatever’s there. It’s a survival mechanism because food is not regularly available in the wild, particularly the animals they normally eat. It also ensures the meat doesn’t have a chance to spoil. You can’t save a mouse corpse two days and then finish it off. And finally, it ensures you get as much as you can before other scavengers arrive to take it. This is a pattern we see in many animals and I think some humans do it as well. I think in the case of humans it has more to do with parents saying “finish your plate” not realizing they’re leading a child on a path to obesity. Moderate your pet’s food carefully, and let your kids leave food uneaten. Side note: similar to the survival rationale for food, you may wonder why cats prefer to drink moving water, and our best guess is that still water in nature tends to get stale and contaminated. So running water is naturally safer. We prefer it too, which is why commercials for drinks show flowing creeks and running beads of ice and such."
],
"score": [
6
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li2xbu
|
How were square roots calculated in the first place, before calculators?
|
Mathematics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0taqu",
"gn0y67k",
"gn0xzm5"
],
"text": [
"You would look them up in a table. The tables were populated by hand calculation. For example, what's the square root of 20? Well, you know it's going to be more than 4 and less than 5, because 16 is 4² and 25 is 5². So you might try 4.5. So then you would square 4.5 and get 20.25. This tells you that the square root of 20 must be a bit less than 4.5. So you could try 4.4. You square 4.4 and you get 19.36. So now you know that the square root of 20 must be 4.4xxx. So you might try 4.45. 4.45² is 19.8025, so that's too low. 4.46² is 19.8916, so that's too low. 4.47² is 19.9809. That gives us a second decimal place. Now let's add another decimal place. 4.475² is 20.025625. 4.474² is 20.016676. 4.472² is 19.998784... So now by essentially guessing and checking, we've gotten three decimal places on the square root of 20. 4.472. We could keep going and keep adding decimal places through the exact same method.",
"Before calculators there were books of these mathematical functions like square roots, logarithms, antilogarithm, trigonometric functions, powers of e, etc. Was in high school in late 1970s and used these. Godfrey and Siddons 'Four Figure Tables'. The math teacher had an electronic calculator the size of a house brick and he would show it off.",
"First, think about what a square root actually is: the length of a side of a square that has the given area. Let's say you want to find the square root of 10005. Draw a square to help visualize this, and assume that that square's area is 10005. You know that the square root of 10000 is 100, so let's draw that square inside the first one with the upper left corners of the two squares on top of each other. You now have a square that you know has an area of 10000, and the square surrounding it shares the same area, plus a strip at the bottom and a strip at the right. Those two strips are the same size: 100 (the length of the sides of the inner square) times some unknown additional width, which we'll call x. (There's also a small square at the bottom right that's x by x, but let's ignore it for the moment.) That extra area must be equal to the difference of the areas of the two squares: 10005-10000, or 5. So let's assume that the two strips together equal 5. Since we have two, let's say each is 2.5. Now we have an area, 2.5, and the length of one of the sides, 100, so it's easy to find the length of the other side: 2.5 ÷ 100, or 0.025. Well, the length of that additional unknown side is how much bigger the square of area 10005 is than the square of area 10000. So that means the square's sides are 100.025, and that's what the square root would be. Except we ignored that x by x sized square at the bottom right, so this is just an estimate, but it's very close. If it's not close enough, though, you can repeat this process with the new 100.025-sided square we just made. It's actually a little bigger than 10005, so you'll have to deal with subtracting strips along the edge instead of adding them, but that shouldn't be too big a deal. Then you can continue repeating the process as many times as you like. (It's important to note that square roots that are not whole numbers are definitively irrational numbers, so you will never find the exact value. Estimates are the best you can hope for.) [Matt Parker has a video about this]( URL_0 ), and I stole his example values. His drawings may help."
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|
li2zju
|
Why hasn't there been a bigger push towards replacing plastics with biodegradable alternatives?
|
So many are on board about climate change but no one seems to be caring about environmental waste. Why are restaurants still using styrofoam and non-recyclable/single use plastics? Why are we still using plastic containers for products? We know most of it is not actually recycled.
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"text": [
"Almost none of the plastic that is problematic is actually coming from 1st world nations like the US. Plastic in the US goes to landfills where it gets buried. Plastic that is buried in a landfill isn't any different than any other material that is buried in a landfill - its essentially just dirt. The plastic that's in the oceans is coming from South East Asia, India, and increasingly West Africa. The reason that plastic comes from those countries is that they don't care enough about disposing of their waste to put it in landfills. It is very slightly cheaper to just dump it into the local river than it is to properly dispose of it, so that's what they do. It then floats down the river and ends up in the ocean. Reducing plastic use in the 1st world will do little to nothing to reduce the amount of plastic in the ocean. We continue to use plastic in the 1st world partially because its cheap and partially because biodegradable alternatives either don't work as good or at all for the relevant application. For example, styrofoam is used for carry out containers because styrofoam is an incredible insulator. Food will stay warm in a styrofoam container far longer than it will in any other container.",
"Because of recycling. Back in the 70s people were REALLY hesitant to allow plastics to become common, like cities and states discussing banning them. They were worried about plastics polluting their communities/the world. But then the concept of recycling was introduced, and that was a sweet little pill people could swallow that made them not worry about plastics, you don't have to feel guilty about them if you throw them out in a different box. That allowed plastics to explode into everything, which of course they would, plastic is a Wonder-material, its cheap, its easy to manufacture, and it can be used for 1 million and 1 things, its amazing in every aspect except and environmental one. But its ok, because we recycle, but here's the problem. Recycling doesn't work and never will how it currently is set up. Plastic, outside of a few specific kinds, simply is not profitable to recycle. In america, waste companies do their best to filter out the good plastic that they can recycle for a profit, and then what do they do with the rest of the junk? Easy, ship it somewhere overseas where they can pick through it by hand and recycle it for cheaper and then they can turn a profit, somewhere like, hey, China! Except not anymore, China this past year banned the import of pretty much ALL Plastic waste. Suddenly all these private companies, the waste managment firms, in the USA and Europe don't have anywhere to send their plastics that they don't want to pay to recycle because they can't make a profit on it. Their only options are to either hold onto these mounds of garbage, or send them to be incinerated by trying to sell it to a power company, or they could hypothetically still recycle it and sell it again, but this would be at a loss (gasp). These are private companies, they don't want to lose money. But again, plastic is a wonder material, no one wants to stop using it if they don't have to. Why spend more money on more expensive materials, like non-styrofoam food containers, when it'll cost them more money. So the only option is that institution we made with the hypothetical goal of \"making society a good thing for everyone general, not based on personal greed\", The Government. Recycling plastic will never be profitable, so a government would have to take over and either recycle the plastic themselves and not care about the extra tacpayer dollars they're spending, or subsidize the private waste management firms, and again not care about the extra tax payer dollars they're spending. The problem being, no one likes spending extra tax payer dollars (at least in theory). So theres the final alternative, ban plastics (especially single use plastics). And thats the option you're starting to see become more common across the country and world, governments forcing private businesses and citizens to spend a bit more money and be a bit inconvenienced in the name of the greater good. But until then people will keep using the best, cheapest material. Here's a great video that goes deeper into the specifics of this: [ URL_0 ]( URL_0 )"
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[
"url"
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li384w
|
when the baby is in the womb. Its drowned in liquid. But the moment the baby comes out, it needs air to breath. How does the sudden transition work? And how did the lung didn't just fill up with liquid all that time.
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
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"text": [
"The lungs are filled with fluid. Before birth though a lot of the fluid is absorbed, and some can be squished out during birth. (Newborns are kinda squishy like that) So the first breath after birth inflates the lungs. Some fluid is left over but that gets absorbed in the first few hours. Though it is possible too much fluid is left in there and leads to difficult breathing for a while till it gets absorbed. Also what happens is that when the lungs first fill with air a lot of pressure gets released from the blood vessels to the lungs allowing more blood flow through them and that sets of a series of changes that reconfigure the circulatory system to transition from being supported by the mother, to being self supporting.",
"The instinct to breathe is triggered by an increase in CO2 in the blood. While in the womb, the baby’s blood is oxygenated by the mother’s similar to how the baby gets its nutrients from the mother as well. When the baby’s lungs are fully developed it will take practice breaths but the lungs stay mostly collapsed. It isn’t until the baby is out (or in some cases not if something goes wrong) that the baby takes its first real breath, inflating its lungs.",
"The lungs do fill with liquid, and some newborns do have trouble breathing if there's still too much. However, most of it gets forced out by the lungs themsleves, the whole chest cavity being squeezed hard during child birth, plus the fact the lungs are sort of like deflated balloona until they start breathing air for the first time so they were never entirely filled with fluid. The transition isn't instant, they get oxygen through the umbilical cord from the mother. When the umbilical cord stops delivering oxygen is when they need to start relying on their own lungs. The knowledge to breath when in air and avoid breathing while in water is instinctual. They breath when they meet air, just like when an infant or adult gets water over their face they instinctually stop breathing in.",
"In the womb, the baby practices breathing by inhaling amniotic fluid. During labor, the contractions squeeze this fluid out of the baby's lungs.",
"MD here During the fetal stage there is a special type of circulation that carries nutrients to the fetus but maintains gas exchange (what we commonly call respiration) without function, it is at birth that the newborn must be stimulated (the now prohibited spanking) so that through the increased pressure within the thorax, lung surfactant (a liquid that keeps the lungs inflated and lubricated) that the circulation changes and starts the gas exchange as a being from this planet sorry for my english, but it's not my first language",
"In the womb, the foetus receives it's oxygen and gets rid of the carbon dioxide through the mother via blood in the umbilical blood vessels (which are carried in the umbilical cord. The cord serves as a connection between mother and foetus. Without an increase in CO2 in the foetus' blood (since it is promptly removed via the mother) , there is no reflex for it to breathe. As such, the foetus does not need to breathe and it's lungs are collapsed and filled with fluid. It is incorrect to say that a baby takes its first breath immediately after it is delivered. It takes its first breath only after the umbilical cord is clamped, thus breaking the connection between mother and child. Upon clamping of the cord, blood CO2 levels start to increase in the baby, eventually triggering a reflex to breathe. In addition, you may be wondering where the fluid in the lungs go. A part of it is squeezed out as the baby passes through the vaginal canal during birth. However for the most part, it is an increase in cortisol levels near term and during labour that helps reduce production of this fluid and also stimulate reabsorption of the fluid back into the foetal bloodstream. This helps to prepare the foetal lungs to take it's first breath. This is also why preterm babies are more prone to respiratory distress. The above also addresses the question posted by another user regarding water births. In water births, the baby will not take its first breath underwater since the umbilical cord is not clamped until it is out of the water.",
"A fetus’ circulatory system is configured a little differently from ours. This is because it’s not getting oxygen/ releasing carbon dioxide with air exchange, but rather, with mom through the umbilical cord that connects them. The moment the umbilical cord is cut, it triggers the closing of the extra fetal vessels and air breathing.",
"In utero, lungs aren't functional stereotypically. They don't receive blood from the heart or any of the amniotic fluid. The Oxygen required for the fetus comes from the placenta via the mother to the fetal heart via a couple of channels called shunts. There's holes in the heart as well, so it allows for the flow of blood from the placenta, through the shunts, to the heart and then to the body and back to the placenta (instead of the lungs, where they would receive oxygen and then be circulated as seen in adults). The amniotic fluid is continuously swallowed and peed out by the fetus to keep the kidneys filtration mechanism to keep going even though there are no wastes being produced. When a baby is born, the supply of blood from the placenta is cut off, which causes the pressures within the heart and the vessels to completely change leading to closure of the aforementioned \"shunts\" thereby causing blood to flow towards the lungs. Now the increasing levels of carbon dioxide (due to the loss of a source of oxygenation) stimulate the centers of respiration resulting in the first cry of the baby, for air. Over time the holes in the heart close up and the normal cardio pulmonary flow is established.",
"Most of your question has been answered in other posts, but I thought I'd just throw out an extra comment about the actual mechanism triggering the switch to needing to breathe. There's a significant change in the baby's circulation pattern that happens because of tightening of blood vessels as a result of losing all the oxygen filled (and CO2 reduced) blood from mum. In short it stops a lot of the heart/lung bypass that exists in the womb and triggers breathing. As for the fluid side of things, most people who've had a baby could tell you how gunky their breathing is for the first little while. They just cope - they're incredibly resilient.",
"Just had a baby so can offer a little insight. Most fluid is absorbed in to the lungs and the baby will cough a lot of it up in the first hour or so of being awake. Water births this is actually less obvious as the birth experience is a bit more gradual for the baby, as opposed to the 'dry land' births where the cold air basically shocks them awake. While all this is going on they're still attached to the umbilical cord which for a few minutes continues to give them air and nutrients from the mother as the placenta finishes its job."
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li3aeo
|
How do antihistamines help with airborne allergens (like pollen and animal dander), and why do they also make you sleepy?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0vv3h",
"gn11mu5",
"gn0zcf4"
],
"text": [
"Antihistamines help because they counteract histamines, the chemicals released by special cells in your body that start the allergic reaction. Histamines are stored in special cells called mast cells in the body. These cells basically work as a warning balloon/signal fire for the bodies immune system. The trouble is, when they react with something that is harmless but they're identifying as a hostile invader, like pet fur or dander or pollen, all that allergen sets off a chain reaction in these mast cells where they release tons and tons of histamine to incite an immune response, what we then feel as an allergic reaction. Antihistamines help relieve allergy symptoms by counteracting the histamine, basically removing the first domino that starts the allergic reaction chain reaction.",
"The reason why antihistamine makes you sleepy is that histamine is also used as a signal for wakefulness by your body. By blocking histamine's action in your brain, you will lose alertness and feel sleepy.",
"Put simply, the antihistamine blocks the receptor (message receiver) from sending out the message that there's this thing in your body that \"shouldn't\" be there. This leads to the places that would normally react not receiving the message of hey, \"Bad thing here\". Thus allergens are stopped. The older generation ones (pre-Claritin) make you sleepy because they cross the blood-brain barrier and get into the brain. The newer ones (Claritin) don't and thus don't make you tired. The last part is extremely simplified and doesn't include a true why but it's what my chemistry teacher accepted as an answer to the question."
],
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3,
3
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|
[
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[
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|
li4597
|
if the sun produces white light that then refracts into other colors when it enters our atmosphere, why does it appear yellow in photographs from space?
|
Explanation can be more complex, I don’t mind :)
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn0zx4f",
"gn117xr",
"gn11sgs"
],
"text": [
"The Sun *emits* white light, which is actually a composite of all of the visible frequencies of light. (A prism shows you the visible frequencies of white light.) The distribution of solar frequencies is uneven, the most intense frequency is in the yellow-green part of the spectrum. All of the visible frequencies mixed together produce white.",
"The sun in space is indeed white to the naked eye. The reason space photos are often orange or yellow is because they are -lies-. More accurately they are false color images that often represent wavelengths of light outside the visible spectrum. Even in the visible spectrum, the cameras aren't necessarily going to be capturing the RGB values a normal camera does because those wavelengths aren't significant from a science standpoint. And also white is a terrible color to show details so the person making the image will generally pick a color, and culturally that tends to be a yellow or red or orange because thats how the sun looks on Earth during sunrises and sunsets URL_0",
"The sun from space is white, and if you took a photo would look white. e.g. : [ URL_1 ]( URL_0 ) However, the photos you are thinking of are probably photos taken from space telescopes, like the Hubble. Those photos don't have colors, only shades of grey. The colors are added after, to make the image more interesting and to help visualize details. They choose yellow/orange/red for the sun, because it is what we are used to. But they could choose any other set of colors. If you want to see a better explanation of how they manipulate the photos of the Hubble, and see examples of before/after, check this article: [ URL_2 ]( URL_2 )"
],
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11,
9,
3
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"text_urls": [
[],
[
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],
[
"https://cosmic-watch.com/cosmicbeta/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sunfromspace_c.jpg",
"https://cosmic-watch.com/cosmicbeta/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/sunfromspace\\_c.jpg",
"https://www.businessinsider.com/how-hubble-images-are-manipulted-2015-3"
]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li4dku
|
Why and how do dummies/pacifiers work to calm down babies?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn12oq4",
"gn130bs"
],
"text": [
"They think the mom is actually feeding them and or they can relive tooth pain by biting on something (not expect just rando)",
"It simulates then suckling on their mothers breast, as that experience makes the child feel safe, warm, cared for etc."
],
"score": [
10,
8
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"text_urls": [
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li4mu0
|
How do sites avoid accidentally banning innocent people?
|
So I was just thinking out a scenario. Person A comes onto a site and causes problems. They get banned, their IP is logged and they leave. They get a new IP and continue about their business. Person B is assigned an IP which happens to be the one that person A was using. Person B tries to join the site. How, if at all, is the site able to tell that Person B is not a trouble maker? Would person B be locked out by accident? Or am I missing something?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn13uua"
],
"text": [
"They don't, necessarily. Investigation is always needed when something like this is going on, and people don't wander around the Internet with \"I am John Doe, my Social Security number is xxx-yy-zzzz, my address is blah\" taped to them. So if a site is banning SOLELY based on IP addresses, then yes, dynamic IPs can cause bannings to apply mistakenly, or to mistakenly NOT apply. Similarly with only looking at email addresses, only looking at username, etc. -Dave, whooooo are yooooou? asked the Caterpillar"
],
"score": [
8
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"text_urls": [
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
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li4voo
|
What is dry Humor?
|
It’s something that I can understand if I hear it, but I can’t put it in words.
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn15wky",
"gn15p46",
"gn18x0r"
],
"text": [
"Basically it's emotionless (deadpan). You don't put any intentional emotion into the delivery, almost as if the joke being made was accidental. For instance, the classic: \"Surely you must be joking!\" \"I'm not. And don't call me Shirley.\" What makes it dry humor is the flat delivery of the pun, like the character barely even noticed what their own response was.",
"Dry humor is basically being funny without being cheery or upbeat, not displaying an elevated mood when engaging in the humor, being amusing without displaying amusement.",
"Most jokes are delivered with a kind of inflection of the voice that indicates it is humorous. The snide “duh” sound of sarcasm or the silliness of a pun. It’s often followed by a facial expression or a sound which reinforces that it was meant as a joke (hey-oooh!). Also, a lot of humor is really obviously a joke. Dry humor is delivered naturally with no indication that a joke has been made and is such a normal thing to say that you have to kind of wonder if the person really meant it to be a joke. My favorite example of dry humor is this one: Person 1: I walked by your house last night. Person 2: Thank you."
],
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11,
8,
7
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|
[
"url"
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[
"url"
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li53pa
|
How come paint dries on walls but not in a paint can?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn15mbu",
"gn16v5d",
"gn15n6o"
],
"text": [
"Liquids dry through evaporation. With an airtight lid, there's no evaporation. If you opened a can of paint and left it with its lid open, it would eventually dry out",
"There's two main kinds of paint: Solvent based paints. A common solvent (something than can dissolve things) is water, so you may have heard of water based paints. In water based paints, the the dye is mixed in with the water. These paints dry as the water evaporates away, leaving just the dye behind. The water can evaporate really quickly when spread thinly on a surface. In a container, it will slowly evaporate as it can only evaporate from the surface. In a sealed can, it will evaporate, but because the can is sealed, the humidity rises. Once the humidity in the case rises, no more water can evaporate. Sometimes other solvents other than water are used, but the idea is the same evaporation. Just don't drink or inhale these other solvents, not safe like water. The second kind of paints are oil based paints. The dye is mixed into a special type of oil. These don't evaporate, but rather a chemical reaction occurs with oxygen in the air to harden the oil into a solid. The plastic, rubber like layer you've seen some paints turn into. Basically the same idea again for why a cam doesn't \"dry\". A thin layer on a wall exposes all the oil to oxygen in the air, quickly \"drying\" all of it. In a container, really only the top layer is exposed to oxygen so you get a film on the top. In sealed can, the top will react with the oxygen, but it will quickly run out of oxygen in the small amount of air trapped in the can.",
"Exposure to air. If you leave a can of paint open and don't stir it the top layer will dry too (or depending on the type of paint some evaporates and it slowly gets thicker)"
],
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6,
3
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|
[
"url"
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[
"url"
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|
li5a8s
|
Why do we get a “cold and empty” feeling that spreads through our chest or through our whole body upon experiencing negative emotions?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn16tdh"
],
"text": [
"Your body \"knows\" something bad is either happening or about to happen - but does not know that it is an emotional problem and not a physical one. The cold and empty feeling is caused by the body taking blood away from the internal organs and sending it to the arms and legs. Your body does this so there is plenty of fresh, oxygen-rich blood in your arms and legs so you're ready to either fight an animal or run away from one."
],
"score": [
10
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li5b8q
|
Why does water amplify the taste of mint?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1b3i9"
],
"text": [
"I think it's less the TASTE and more the cooling sensation that mint causes. Mint has a lot of menthol in it. Menthol reacts with the nerves in your mouth and tricks them into sending a fake \"cold\" signal to your brain, which is why mint feels so refreshing. When you drink water, the menthol is spread around your mouth and triggers even more nerves to send a cold signal, so the refreshing sensation is amplified. This is actually very similar to why water also amplifies spicy things. Spicy foods have capsaicin, which reacts with your mouth the same way that menthol does, expect it causes a fake hot signal to your brain instead of cold. Water spreads that signal around your mouth, and makes everything feel like it's burning."
],
"score": [
25
],
"text_urls": [
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li5k57
|
Why do we feel that refreshing sensation on our scalp when using shampoos containing menthol? What kind of receptors do we have up there?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1ayun"
],
"text": [
"You're covered in temperature-sensitive neurons. These are pretty clever, in that they use proteins that change shape based on the temperature. When they change shape, they cause the neuron to send a signal, and that signal is one that the brain receives and goes \"Ah, Jim the cold receptor is signalling, it must be cold!\" What menthol does is it sticks to these cold-sensitive receptors and forces them to change shape regardless of the temperature. So Jim the cold receptor sends a signal even though it's not cold, and the brain can't fact-check Jim. It trusts Jim to be correct, so when it sees Jim sending a message, it is confident that it is indeed cold. Capsaicin, the chemical found in chilis and responsible for the hot sensation does the same thing to Jill the heat receptor."
],
"score": [
15
],
"text_urls": [
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li68tq
|
why is whispering louder than quiet talking?
|
when people talk in a low voice, i don’t notice it. but when they whisper it sounds harsh and noticeable.
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1c9ds"
],
"text": [
"If you were to record the two, and compare the sound waves side by side, you would see that the whisper contains more high frequency content and the low speaking contains more low-mid frequency content. So it’s less about the volume and more about the frequency you’re hearing."
],
"score": [
10
],
"text_urls": [
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|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li6eea
|
Whenever a major financial market crash occurs, why is it that (as shown in movies) the stockbrokers are shitfaced at the end? The investors should be fucked right? Why the stockbrokers, who just buy and sell for the investors?
|
Economics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn2bx5u",
"gn1dltl"
],
"text": [
"1) they will have spent the entire day being yelled at by investors, and know there are more days like that ahead, and that’s rough. The investor who made zillions of dollars in the 2008 crash ended up leaving the investing business because he was so traumatized by all the yelling and abuse and stress, and he *made a lot* of money. 2) they’re investors too and so may have lost their savings 3) they’ll probably lose their job",
"The investors are the ones who are paying tho brokers salaries. It is not unusual for brokarage firms to scale down their operations when investors lose money because there is less money going around. Especially the brokers who lost more of the investors money then others. And that is assuming the investors will not just sue their brokers outright for losing their money. Or the investors may go bankrupt with outstanding debt to their brokers. But you are right that the stockbrokers are not the ones with the most to lose and will usually not be the ones who are first in line at the window. Both individual traders and fund managers have a lot more to lose on the stock exchange."
],
"score": [
3,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li6ngo
|
How does an accident like the Fort Worth pile up happen? Did the other cars not see a huge pileup and stop?
|
In the video I saw, there was already several cars piled up, but other cars kept coming and at *high* speeds. Why did the initial cars crash in the first place? What weather conditions prevented the other cars from slowing down? What can drivers do to prevent themselves getting in this situation? Not sure which flair fits best, so I did ‘other’.
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1eq5q",
"gn1hfpu"
],
"text": [
"Foggy/Misty conditions reduce how far you can see. Water/Ice on the road increases how far your car will still go after you got the brakes. If the stopping distance is greater than visibility, you'll hit the pile up. For example if you can only see 50 meters, you'll see the pile up/last cat when it's 50 meters away from you, and then you'll hit the brakes, however because of slippery conditions, your car needs 60 meters to stop, so it won't stop in time and hit the next car, adding to the pile up. Rinse repeat. There's an additional factor of driver reaction time, but for a 5 year old, it's enough to understand that in some weather conditions, you might not see an obstacle from far enough to stop in time",
"I am from this area. We rarely see snow, and we rarely see ice. Most people in this area can't even handle driving in a light rain fall. They drive too fast and ride your bumper hoping you will move to the right lane and get out of their way. It is not uncommon for people to weave in and out of traffic cutting you or someone else off. The highway around that area is 60-75, depending on whch part of FTW, and whether you are on the toll road or not. A lot of 35 in that area is a series of bridges. And where there are bridges, there is ice (our current weather is below freezing, as of just a couple days ago). Not much time to salt the bridges. Even if you slammed on your breakers, you're not guaranteed to stop. You could slide on the ice. You could hydroplane if its raining. You could even skid on dry road. For eighteen wheelers, they have a large mass and therefore a lot more momentum - it is much harder for them to come to an immediate stop than a small sedan. Since cars dont immediately stop, you need X amount of feet to come to a stop. In this tragedy, there wasn't enough warning to stop safely. Plus in fog and mist, it can be hard to see the person in front of you, and not everyone drives with their lights on in fog. Ex. Let's say the roads are dry and you are approaching a yellow light about to turn red, you look in your review mirror and have to make a decision. Is it safe to stop? If there is someone right behind your car, they may not stop and it might be safer to go through the yellow light. The light at least gives you some notice, \"Hello, you need to stop, I am yellow!\" On highways, the only notice you get of needing to stop is seeing red brake lights, and some people wait until the last second to brake. I have seen multiple car pileups around DFW on numerous occasions. I've also seen one multi car crash, cause another. The events I've witnessed usually only involve one lane. I'm not sure where the actual event took place on 35, but there are areas where highways intersect and you can go from four lanes to seven lanes with merging and splitting. The article I read called it a 100 car pileup. If the area was four lanes, you could think about twenty five cars behind you not having time to stop and then your neighbors on the other three lanes also being affected. Madness... but possible."
],
"score": [
9,
7
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li6noe
|
how does a mould (penicillium) become an antibiotic?
|
I don't exactly understand the step from the mould to the pill/medicine. I mean, you couldn't eat the mould and get the same result, or could you?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1ejv1",
"gn1emp2",
"gn1em5j"
],
"text": [
"Long story short, yes, you could - moldy bread has been used to combat disease for millennia. The distinction is essentially one of refinement/purification and dosage; the antibiotic is «cleaned» from other substances (such as rotten bread) and bits that might not be quite as good for you, and packed into an easier-to-swallow capsule that is less unappealing than old, moldy bread. :)",
"A very specific kind of mold produces penicillin as a defense mechanism against bacteria. Just like how others produce substances that are toxic to us, or how chilis produce capsaicine to defend against insects. I think you could eat the mold in the correct amount and get the same effect on bacteria, but propably some other effects too because penicillin is not the only substance they make. So to get pure penicillin you just let the mold grow and then seperate the penicillin out of it.",
"Fungus and bacteria compete with each other for food. So the mold produces a chemical that will kill many bacteria. Getting penicillin out of the mold that makes it is going to be similar to extracting anything. You grow lots of the mold, kill it, then use some method to extract the specific chemical you want. I don't know what the specific extraction method is with penicillin, but it could be something like steam distillation, or a solvent extraction. In a steam extraction, you steam a substance, and the steam will pick up volatile chemicals. Condense the steam and you will get some of those chemicals. In solvent extraction, you basically make tea. You soak the mold in a liquid, and chemicals dissolve into the liquid. From there, you use other methods to further purify what you extracted."
],
"score": [
11,
7,
4
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li6w1o
|
How did old dial phones figure out where the call is going without having a computer inside? What is the mechanism behind the dial?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1hb0m",
"gn1g2v9"
],
"text": [
"The old, rotary dial telephones were just a small part of a much more complicated machine - the local telephone switch (local being local to a small town or several large neighborhoods.) As part of the greater machine (local switch), and in order to minimize the number of individual wires connecting the handset (rotary telephone) to the larger switch, a signalling mechanism was used involving completing and interrupting a circuit with multiple voltages, both AC and DC. When a call was received AND the phone was “on hook” (such as the receiver being in the cradle), the local switch would send a high voltage AC signal to activate the bell[2] , at around 20Hz. Once the receiver was picked up (the phone was “off hook”), the local switch would detect that and stop the ringer signalling. The mouthpiece in the receiver (the part you spoke into) was a “carbon microphone”[3] that would change the electrical resistance with the pressure waves of the sound impacting on it. This change in resistance would produce the analogue electrical signal representing the voice of the speaker. Conversely, the sound from the other end was impressed on the pair of wires at a higher frequency (than the ringer). A system of passive electronic filters made of inductors, capacitors, and resistors separated the mouthpiece signal from the earpiece signal. In order to make a call, the receiver would be lifted off the cradle, changing the phone from “on hook” to “off hook” state, completing the DC circuit. The local switch would detect this (and would usually provide feedback as a low frequency buzz.) The local switch would connect the phone circuit to a “stepper” switch. Operating the dial would (quickly) switch the DC circuit at a fixed rate (frequency.) This frequency was low enough that it was possible for some agile people to actually make phone calls by tapping the cradle “hook” button fast enough, with the right timing. (A parlor trick for nerdy teenagers.) This fixed rate of on-off switching is the “pulses” of pulse dialing[4] . In the original design, it caused the stepper switch[5] to step through it’s various positions and then (usually) proceed to connect to another stepper switch. These stepper switches were electro-mechanical and hideously complex (for the time - and even for now.) The sheer physical size and number of these stepper switches needed for each subscriber line, the number of cross connects needed, etc. meant that most of these switches didn’t support more than 5-digit dialing.",
"there are two legacy way for older thelephone to compose a number: pulse signaling and tone dial. pulse signaling, more often found in phones with rotary dial, flip the hang button as many time as the number you put: if you want to call, let's say the number 123, it will create the following electrical pulse on the \"hang\" wire: - -- ---. Tone signals instead produce a sound, a note for every number you digit directly on the voice wire: it's the \"beep\" you hear when you're composing a number. today provider sides calls are all routed on various VoIP networks but for compatibility there is a device between your old phone and their network that take the duty of converting those electrical signals into digital signals that can be managed by them."
],
"score": [
10,
4
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li77ze
|
Why do microphones make a high pitched sound when they're close together? What causes the sound?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1i7q0",
"gn1hg9u"
],
"text": [
"It's not when you bring two microphones together, but when a microphone gets too close to a speaker that's playing directly from that same microphone. And you also need an initial sound to set it off - in complete silence it would never start. What happens is that the microphone picks up a sound, which then gets played through the speaker and so the microphone picks that up and it gets played back through the speaker etc.etc.etc. this causes the sound to keep getting louder and louder. The squeal is caused by the particular amplification profiles of the mic and speaker, and the particular position and orientation they are in relative to each other. When all of those things come together to mean that higher pitched elements of the sound get picked up and amplified better than others then it keeps making it higher and higher pitched with each loop as well as louder.",
"It's a feedback loop. They're recording themselves recording themselves recording themselves recording themselves ad infinitum"
],
"score": [
11,
8
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li7gfu
|
The use of Fabric Conditioner.
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1n5zp"
],
"text": [
"It makes things smell nice and feel soft. It does it by \"locking\" in a little moisture - which is why it shouldn't be used for towels, because that same locking mechanism stops towels from effectively absorbing water."
],
"score": [
3
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li7jpn
|
Every 7 years roughly you have a new body, every 7 years all the cells in all organs would have been replaced by cells that aren’t the “originals” anymore. What about the brain and brain cells? Do they divide die and replace, if not why are brain cells special?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1jov5"
],
"text": [
"The 7 years that takes your body to replace its cells is a legend. Not every cell is being replaced at the same rythm. For example, your skin cells are changed a few times per year, while your nerves takes longer and your brain and retina don't. What makes your brain cells not regenerate is the complexity of the cells and the fact that they need to be connected in the exact same way as the last one in order for you to keep the same abilities. The neurons have lost the ability to duplicate properly because they are too complex to do so. The same goes for the retina's cells."
],
"score": [
11
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li7pik
|
Why does it take an hour to install a game but seconds to uninstall?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1k6s4",
"gn1ldpl",
"gn1op22"
],
"text": [
"When you delete a file, most of the time the only parts being deleted are the parts that say the file exists. Most of the data sits there waiting to be overwritten by something else. This is why you can recover deleted files. Run a format or a multi pass overwrite deletion on something the same size as a game and you'll see it takes just as long.",
"Installing is like writing stuff on pages in a notebook. Afterwards you also write the new entries into the table of contents. Uninstalling is like striking through the relevant entries in the table of contents. As you can imagine, the latter act takes significantly less time.",
"Deleting a game basically removes links to the game and tells the computer that the current files for the game can be overwritten any time you need more space, it doesn't immediately remove all the files for the game."
],
"score": [
11,
5,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li8f1f
|
I am wondering how the concept of time was first discovered and how? When did human began using “time” in their activities?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1npoc",
"gn1ntq5"
],
"text": [
"It happened far too long ago for us to know for certain, but early hunters would have judged that after/around dawn would be a good time to start a hunt.",
"so to my knowledge it al started somewhat 2000 b.c in ancient egypt. Egyptians first used the sun dials to measure time, thus they measured the time from sunrise to sunset and divided them into 12 parts, and then, the need to measure time in night-time pushed them to invent sandclocks and water clocks, the accuracy of these methods weren't high but they did the job. as for the actual concept of time i think it was clear from the start, that there is time, ancient humans noticed that the shiny thing in the sky is moving and it eventually goes down and comes back up. the \"time machines\" were first invented in Europe in the 13th century."
],
"score": [
8,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li8tbw
|
What properties necessitate the seemingly endless array of adhesives available? It seems like one good glue should be fine for everything. Can someone help me break them down into categories?
|
I do construction and the number of adhesives is mind boggling. Really, the only glue that seems to bond anything is plumbers goop. I guess I somewhat understand the concept of "solvent welding" in that certain glues melt some of the parts their bonding. But often, say with general construction adhesive, it'll just not stick to plastics at all and you can peel it off after it dries. Is there an easy way to understand all these things without pouring over the fine print of all the sundry tubes of stuff?
|
Chemistry
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1pl6k",
"gn1piuw"
],
"text": [
"The main problem with plastics is that though we classify them as \"plastics\" in general there are a ton of different varieties. For eg. PVC,PC,PPE,etc and these are just the families with varieties existing inside them as well. Plus some applications use blends of two or more different plastics. What works for one particular material doesn't always work for others. Generic ones which claim to work on all usually only manage a very weak bond and hence you see the peeling off often",
"I don't think you will get a simple sum up. Adhesives are in active research and got a lot better in recent years. We discover more and more well working formulas each with their own advantages and disadvantages. What surface they are good with depends on effects on the molecular level, so you won't really find a one-size-fits-all solution or even simple categories. Alone the molecule size in relation to each other can determine if it tends to crack at the interface when drying, causing a bunch of seemingly random compatability issues."
],
"score": [
4,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
li8yv3
|
Before sheep shearing by humans was common, did all sheep just grow large, unmanageable coats that caused them to overheat or attracts pests and just eventually die?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1qew7",
"gn1qd3d",
"gn1sjia"
],
"text": [
"No, we bred them to be that way. Original sheep that lived 15'000 years ago were of course able to live in the wild and didn't have fur as thick as modern sheep. Then someone thought that this fur looks nice and warm and decided to steal it from the sheep, until someone else noticed that when two sheep wit a lot of fur have a child, that child has just as much or even more fur! By repeatedly mating sheep that had lots of fur, the modern sheep came out.",
"Sheep didnt exist like that before humans. We bred them to have the amount of fur they now do. They probably had a coat closer to a wild alpaca or somthing, still really thick, but not to the point it would dreadlock and cause disease and death.",
"No. Wild sheep still exist and they handle not being sheared just fine. Ever since we domesticated sheep we've been selectively breeding them to increase the amount of wool produced. Just like we bred wolves into something as idiotic as chihuahuas."
],
"score": [
28,
12,
7
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li8z5f
|
Why can we feel people looking at us?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1q0zw"
],
"text": [
"You actually can't. You've probably looked at them subconsciously out of the corner of your eye but you don't have the capacity to notice someone is looking at you without you seeing them. Everything else is just confirmation bias - either someone wasn't looking at you and you don't think about it anymore, or they were and you confirmed what you thought."
],
"score": [
6
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
li9uih
|
Why do we forget most or sometimes all of what we dreamed about shortly after we wake up?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1uuhj",
"gn1uwy1",
"gn2t59j",
"gn1v45g",
"gn3nz4v"
],
"text": [
"When you sleep a lot of the functions of the brain is turned off and not working. One of these functions is the ability to form new memories. Your brain is only able to keep about three seconds worth of memory at once without this function as these are thoughts that are actively being worked on. Even when you wake up and you are able to form new memories again your mind is able to recognize the thoughts as just dreems and will discard them as unimportant.",
"Honestly we’re not entirely sure. It seems like dreams are a tool our minds use to organize and reflect on our memories. And that memory and sleep are closely related. Counting sheep kind of turns off your memory which can help you go to sleep, sort of like putting it into an indexing mode. Another view is that dreams are how our subconscious minds process reality, like our prehistoric animal minds. No language or math, just imagery and sensation. Sunlight for love, sunset for death, etc. And when we wake up, our conscious minds assert themselves over our subconscious, and so the thoughts of the subconscious vanish with it, leaving only trace memories of images we don’t consciously understand. Sleep, memory, and consciousness, are all concepts that science still doesn’t have a perfect grasp on. Even our sense of time gets involved in a puzzling way. Ever have a dream about hearing a knock on your door and then some other things happen over time, but you wake upto an actual knock on your door? How did your dream seem so long if it was triggered by a knock just a moment ago? We’re just not sure. We know some details here and there but the whole picture eludes us.",
"Some people with chronic illnesses (myself included, I think it’s my ME that does it) have really vivid dreams and we can recall a tremendous amount of detail from them. Problem is, whenever I dream like that, which is almost all the time, I never feel rested. When smart watches analyse my sleep it’s almost all REM sleep and not enough deep sleep so that might have something to do with it.",
"Could definitely be wrong but had a teacher tell us once it's due to the brain considering it nonessential information and chosing to not store it.",
"Think of your mind like a computer, with 2 different types of storage. You've got your short term memory, which is your PC's RAM, and your long term memory, which is your hard drive/SSD. When you wake up, your long term memory takes a minute or so to crank up, so the short term memory can't save to it the way it normally does. If your dream is especially memorable, and you fixate on it and think about it for several minutes after you wake up, you're much more likely to remember it. This is also why having a notebook to record your dreams can be helpful, to write them down the moment you wake up. That said, there is research to suggest that dreams are just your brain reorganizing information in your memory, and nothing is more boring than listening to someone else talk about a dream they had, so there's not much practical purpose to keeping a record."
],
"score": [
40,
21,
10,
3,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[],
[],
[]
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
liatp2
|
Why is it that after men orgasm, we become tired and uninterested in sex?
|
Biology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn1zrep",
"gn20jtk"
],
"text": [
"Genetic hard coded. As animals, we strive to copulate for the species survival. After the fact, we have “achieved” we feel no need to redo it. So we take a nap.",
"The logical follow-on question is why (in evolutionary terms) are women able to orgasm multiple times with only a brief gap in between? Is ensuring the propagation of their genes reliant on multiple inseminations?"
],
"score": [
19,
7
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lib1gh
|
when math was being invented, how did they know they were getting the right answers?
|
like we know now how to get certain answers through different processes and all that fun stuff. but when they were first coming up with it, how did they know they were doing it right?
|
Mathematics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn249ba",
"gn21b17",
"gn2gt31",
"gn22ql6",
"gn240kr"
],
"text": [
"We can roughly divide math into two groups: abstract and applied. Applied mathematics is mathematics as applied to issues of the real world. This was how and why math came to be a thing in the first place: to solve real-world problems. And we know we get the right answers by those answers actually solving those real-world problems. I know 2 + 3 = 5 because when I have two sheep and I buy three more sheep, I end up with 5 sheep. As we developed math to solve real-world problems, people began to think about math as a thing in its own right, developing math for the sake of developing math. This is abstract math, math that might not have anything to do with any real world situations. In the case of abstract maths, where we can't \"check\" it by comparing it to real world answers, we check it by comparing it with itself. That is, does this answer, if true, contradict anything else that we know to be true. If there are no contradictions, the new answer is accepted as true. In this sense you can think of math as a game whose rules we get to invent. We define what those rules are, then play the game to see all the different states the game can be in. Every rule is well defined and so we can trace all the steps taken to play the game, from its initial state to any current state, and check to see if the rules were followed. If all the rules were followed, then it's a legal game state.",
"The problem here is that you are assuming that mathematics was invented. It's like gravity, it wasn't invented, just discovered. With math, there is only one answer, you can't add 2 and 2 and get 5. It will always be 4. It's a constant and it is why it is a universal language.",
"I'll disagree with some of the others and say mathematics was invented. What they're describing is *counting*. If I take 2 apples and put them on a rock (tables haven't been invented yet), then put 2 more apples on the rock, I can count 4 apples. Mathematics, on the other hand, was invented to be able to write that down in the abstract. 2+2=4 is divorced from whether or not I have 2 or 4 apples in front of me, or no apples anywhere in sight. I can go back to the apples and check my math, but once proven, I'm confident that 2+2=4. Mathematics was invented to solve not just how many apple there are, but those all-important questions like:. If a man owns a farm, 5 pigs, and 6 fig trees, how much tax does he owe? If each of my graineries holds X bushels of grain, and I have 6 graineries, how much grain did I take from the farmers? We should probably tax the farms more fairly (emphasis on the more). So we invent the concept of area. Or even more complex: If I have Y bushels of grain stored, and 2,000 townspeople, 20 priests, and the 8 royal family to feed, how many standard bowls of grain do I give out a day to last until harvest? Given that the priests get more, and the royals get even more. So far math is pretty grounded in the real world. But by the Classical period, we start thinking about more abstract things, like the area and volume of geometric shapes. We see mathematical *proofs*, where we build on already proven concepts to *prove* a higher concept. One of these the *method of exhaustion*, where we divide a shape into smaller and smaller shapes of known area/volume and sum those. They got pretty close to calculus, but that had to wait for Leibniz and Newton, who again used proofs of earlier known concepts to build a new field of mathematics.",
"From what I understand, most maths are 'discovered' backwards. Starting with an answer or problem, then working out how to get there or prove a solution.",
"At first, we didn’t know we were doing it right. We made some observations, like that if we knew the lengths of two sides of a triangle and the angle between them, if we made another triangle that had the same side lengths and angle, it would look like an identical twin. That was just something to learn, like “ice is cold.” It wasn’t until later that mathematicians like Euclid were able to *prove* it, that is, to show that Side-Angle-Side is a *theorem*, not a *postulate.*"
],
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27,
9,
9,
4,
4
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[],
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}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
lic91b
|
Why are some magnets stronger than others?
|
Physics
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn2ct6d"
],
"text": [
"All permanent magnets consist of many tiny magnetic pieces. These pieces can be either molecules or sometimes just a mixture of elements that produce a magnetic effect together. Depending on the materials involved, some of these tiny pieces can be stronger or weaker, the strongest ones are usually molecules that produce a magnetic effect all by themselves, the heavier the better. This is possible because molecules can be lopsided in their electrical charge due to their physical structure. (Fun fact, water is one of those molecules and the effect can be observed by simply pouring some water in a glass - the surface will be slightly curved due to these magnetic effects) However the material of choice is only half of the key to a strong magnet, the more important part is actually aligning all the tiny pieces in a way that they amplify each others effects instead of cancelling themselves out. This is where many molecules and alloys with great magnetic potential fall flat - water for example is far too fluid to ever be organized enough to actually produce an extended magnetic field. Neodynium magnets for example are made of an alloy that grows in crystal structures, this is very good for large scale magnetism because it provides molecular level assistance to aligning all the little pieces of it into a coherent whole. Another good example is the effect where simply rubbing a magnet against something made of steel magnetizes the steel object. This happens because you are using a magnet to align some of the more easily moving molecules within the object into a coherent direction. The molecule sized pieces are magnetic all by themselves but unable to produce an extended effect while in disarray because naturally they end up in directions that cancel each other out. By applying a magnet on the object however, you pull them into shape which will eventually decay but will hold for a good while. In conclusion it comes down to two things: the strength of the basic magnetic effect of the material you are using and shaping this material in a way to maximize the individual magnetic fields within it into a larger united one."
],
"score": [
7
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
liccjr
|
What exactly is the modern english haiku? Is it just any short evocative sentence?
|
URL_0 the syllable rule does not have to be followed. it doesn't have to rhyme. a single line can be used, even a single word, or just use as many lines or syllables as you want. so any short evocative sentence can be called a haiku? maybe that's the joke, hence the haiku bot? how about that 6-word baby shoes story, can that be called a haiku too?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn2eibi",
"gn4bc0h"
],
"text": [
"It's poetry, the most pretentious form of written word. The rules for a style can be extremely nebulous or hard to define, or even self-contradictory, and still be viewed as that style. The thing about Western Haiku is that it's missing a lot of the original values of the medium. It has none of the social context - a period of great artistic expansion and exploration as the result of a large upper class with nothing to do. It has none of the cultural purpose - poetry like this was almost a game of wit. And most importantly, it doesn't benefit from the Japanese language, which the style was originally created in. Japanese is quite a concise language when it wants to be. It can convey a lot of information in a small number of syllables. English is poor at this, so the 5-7-5 pattern heavily restricts the quality of English poetry. It also leads to a hell of a lot of Haiku getting translated in a way that loses the pattern, so eventually a lot of poets got fed up of the restrictions and just did the same content but ignoring the restrictions (the part that made it a game of wit in the first place) but still chose to call it haiku.",
"“Haiku” is actually a structural format. In English, Haiku format utilized three lines, with a certain amount of syllables in them: 5 first, then 7, than 5. This is mostly similar to how Haiku works in Japanese. Theoretically, any thing in that format can be a Haiku, but what people understand to be “good” haikus are ones that use the limitations to their advantage. This is related to why Haiku exists as a style. It’s actually based off of an even older style of poetry from Japan called “Waka”. Waka were much longer; depending on who was writing, Waka could be six lines or more! But some Japanese poets realized that there were very clever ways of saying multiple things in small spaces. For example, they could use “Kakekotoba”, or “Window Words”, where a single line or word of the poetry can be read in two completely different ways. This was such a neat trick, that Japanese poets decided to limit the size of their poems as sort of a fun challenge. Like how people have fun speed running video games. So they shortened the Waka style into the Haiku style, and they liked the challenge so much that it stuck. Many people try to emulate this style in English, but it tends to not work as well, simply because of how the languages are different. But please do try!"
],
"score": [
5,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
licyhb
|
Impeachment "Jury" meeting with defense team?
|
Other
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn2d51r",
"gn2dgb3"
],
"text": [
"The Senate is not a court, it is a political body. And impeachment isn’t a legal process, it’s a political process. The Senate sets their own rules for how to conduct the impeachment. These rules don’t have to have anything to do with how law courts run trials. And the final outcome is based on politics, not on law.",
"Impeachment is a political process, not a strictly \"legalistic\" one, thus the normal rules don't inherently apply. The Senate sets their own rules for the trial process, and those are hammered out ahead of time."
],
"score": [
9,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lid3f1
|
How were timezones fixed by countries? Why did some countries get 3 timezones and some get only 1 despite being the same size? How did we get all the countries to measure time globally using the same measurement?
|
Earth Science
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn2dz8l",
"gn2dubn",
"gn2f83w",
"gn2fp78"
],
"text": [
"Time zones (if you wanted them to make sense) would go in straight lines north to south splitting the world into segments like an orange. Doing this means some places have one time for their whole country except for a small portion and that would just get confusing, so they told the rest of the world that their whole country would use the one time zone. Have that sort of thing happen a bunch (and some places just wanna be the same time zone as a trade partner) and you get the squiggly lines we have now.",
"Countries decide their own time zones - if one country wants to make up 12 time zones and another country of the same size wants to just use 1, they have that right. And then sometimes territories within a country have the autonomy to decide their own time zones, too. Like in the US, states can decide if they want to observe daylight saving time or not, which impacts which time zone they fall in when other states in the same general longitude range switch over.",
"Time zones are an infrastructural tool. You use them to meet some kind of infrastructural purpose (such as everyone knowing when everyone else's business hours are). Most countries do this by splitting themselves into blocks and giving each block its own time zone and expecting people to convert between them as necessary. Others thought a better idea would just be to put everyone on the same time zone and have some people's work hours start well before normal and some start well after. As for getting the entire world to measure time the same way: Good old fashioned imperialism. Everyone has the same length of day and the same length of year, but comes up with their own way of subdividing this. Europeans were using the current system when they decided they were going to conquer the world, and to make things easier to deal with, they went \"hey people we're taking over, you should use our clocks and calendars!\" and eventually those who didn't want to ended up doing so anyway just because it became more convenient given the rest of the world was already doing it at this point.",
"TLDR: A lot of the standards we used became standards because of European Imperialism. Timezones are a international guidelines, Countries can set them up however they want. The 24 hour day has been in use since at least the Egyptians, but accurately measuring time was standardized by the Europeans because they were the first to make accurate and reliable clocks. The British came up with the idea of timezones, defining the time at Greenwich England as '0', because they realized that time wasn't standardized across the empire. The Sun rises and falls at different times across the globe. Having small accurate clocks was a critical development for navigation because a ships clock is used to determine your longitude. So it was natural that trade ships would show off their accurate clocks to other nations. Like the Metric system, and the Imperial system of measure before it, a lot of nations adopted the European method of time keeping as a standard because it made it easier for international trade, that and good old fashioned colonization and imperialism. Nations decide their own timezones. By international agreement the timezones are roughly defined based on longitude, but a country can decide which timezone it falls in to. Generally speaking you want to follow the international standard because in your timezone noon will be when the sun is overhead. A country could decide it has just 1 timezone to make things easier for it's people, or if it's quite wide it will likely have more than 1. Countries will typically assign their timezones base on their borders, for example crossing from one Province into another, because it's convenient. But there are some weird one-off cases. Newfoundland in Canada for example has a timezone that's 1/2 an hour different from the main land. They are far enough off shore that having a half timezone makes sense, but it's also believed it was done out of protest because the Newfies loved to be different from Canada back in the day."
],
"score": [
12,
5,
4,
3
],
"text_urls": [
[],
[],
[],
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
|
lidafx
|
What kind of 'bots' are captcha preventing?
|
Most captchas are on websites where you have to create an account for something. Are captchas preventing some kind of automation scripts that create multiple accounts on a website? What are some other reasons that captchas exist?
|
Technology
|
explainlikeimfive
|
{
"a_id": [
"gn2gco2"
],
"text": [
"Captcha is meant to deter the usage of any bot, in that they're designed to require human interaction in order to pass the test. Bots can be employed for many purposes, such as mass purchasing of products, en-masse account creation, post creation/spamming, or repeatedly accessing a web page as part of a DDOS attack. A captcha doesn't necessarily prevent these activities from happening, it's just meant to make them more difficult by requiring human assistance to complete, which largely defeats the purpose of the bot in the first place."
],
"score": [
5
],
"text_urls": [
[]
]
}
|
[
"url"
] |
[
"url"
] |
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