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benjamin libet's free will experiment.	I'll try. Libet instructed his subjects to make a small wrist movement whenever they felt like it. He also instructed them to note the time on a clock regarding the moment they first became aware of deciding when to move. Of course they were all wired up to have their brains activity recorded. Turns out that Libet co...	[ "In 2004, Conway and Simon B. Kochen, another Princeton mathematician, proved the free will theorem, a startling version of the 'no hidden variables' principle of quantum mechanics. It states that given certain conditions, if an experimenter can freely decide what quantities to measure in a particular experiment, t...
Are rocket launches (to space) generally straight or curved?	As I understand it, getting something into orbit is more about going sideways really fast than going up really high. You have to go a bit up to get above the atmosphere but then go mad fast in the same direction as the Earth is spinning.. That spin gives a nice like speed boost. Put those 2 needs together and you get ...	[ "The diagram illustrates three cases. The middle rocket shows the straight-line flight configuration in which the direction of thrust is along the center line of the rocket and through the center of gravity of the rocket. On the rocket at the left, the nozzle has been deflected to the left and the thrust line is no...
Need access to archives, what should I do?	I'm a librarian and an archivist. First off: contact your library. If librarians only advised on issues we were personally subject experts on we'd have to shut down right now. You think I answer questions about eunuchs all day? Of course not. Librarians are familiar with how to find anything, that's what we're trained ...	[ "These online archives serve many needs, such as storing the scholarly works of university authors; preserving information from specific research disciplines; and disseminating new scholarly work quickly, without a lengthy publication process.\n", "Your Archives is a wiki for the National Archives on-line communi...
if salt is so bad for cars, why do we use it on the roads?	salt is good for not dying in car crashes and car crashes are worse for cars then salt. Some places use other things, but salt is really cheap compared to most alternatives, although sand is pretty good.	[ "As a result of Canada's icy winters, salt is needed in order to deice slippery roads. The primary ingredient of road salt is sodium chloride. Road salt, while helping cars and people to gain traction in the winter, can have serious consequences for soil. As National Geographic found, \"Road salt can pollute soil a...
How could have people found and colonized islands in the Pacific almost 2000 years ago while it have took much more effort to do the same with the America?	2 things: To this day, the colonisation of the pacific islands stands as one of the most brillant feats of navigation. The time scale you describe speaks far more to the excellence and motivation of the Pacific islanders as navigators than it does to any ability of the Europeans. Cook established through his first con...	[ "The aim of the expeditions was to prove that the Pacific Islands could have been populated by migrations from South America in the centuries before the Spanish Conquistadors arrived. Alsar maintained that ancient mariners knew the Pacific currents and winds as well as modern humans know road maps.\n", "Spaniards...
how can websites display an overloaded page if they're overloaded?	Modern websites, especially popular ones are not a standalone computer running a webserver. They're usually part of a full network of servers. Front end web servers that receive a request from users. Web caches that store commonly requested pages and data. Databases and file servers for a lot of the back end data. S...	[ "Consider a web browser which attempts to load a page while the network is unavailable. The browser will receive an error code indicating the problem, and may display this error message to the user in place of the requested page. However, it is incorrect for the browser to place the error message in the page cache,...
what is stopping me from taking a loan out to pay another loan and then taking a loan out to pay that loan?	This is commonly done and is sometimes called rolling over a loan. The problem is that the amount due will keep increasing due to interest charge, and eventually it will be so large that no one will be willing to loan you that much.	[ "Borrowers can either opt for a short-term relief by having their mortgage payment suspended for a short period of time (known as forbearance in the U.S.), or they can apply for reduced payments over the life of the loan’s term (known as loan modification in the U.S.). Lenders are required to give a particular reas...
why do scuba divers go into the water backwards instead of front first?	If they don't go back first, they go feet first. Both for several reasons. 1. Out of the water, the tank is heavy. Imagine doing a belly flop while wearing a backpack full of cinder blocks. You hit the water, then the pack hits you. Ouch. 2. Hitting the water face first means you get the mask smacked into your fa...	[ "Because of the direction of thrust is mostly in line with the diver, or slightly upwards, it is suitable for situations where disturbing the silt on the bottom can cause dramatic loss in visibility, such as inside wrecks and caves, and at any other time when the diver needs to swim close to a silty substrate. Some...
how is it that we are still discovering galaxies that are relatively close to our own galaxy when we’ve discovered millions of galaxies that are much farther away?	So... look at the sky. Now. With your hand make a circle Now through that circle, focus on only the sky you can see in the perimeters of your hand. Imagine zooming in almost endlessly, finding millions of different cosmic clusters just in those small confines. Now pick another random part of sky. Do it again and ...	[ "BULLET::::- Astronomers report that the most distant known galaxy, UDFj-39546284, is now estimated to be even further away than previously believed. The galaxy, which is estimated to have formed around \"380 million years\" after the Big Bang (about 13.75 billion years ago), is approximately 13.37 billion light ye...
do animals have body clock?	Well seeing as how humans are mammals. And mammals are animals. And we have have one. Yes other animals do too	[ "Most animals and other organisms have \"built-in clocks\" in their brains that regulate the timing of biological processes and daily behavior. These \"clocks\" are known as circadian rhythms. They allow maintenance of these processes and behaviors relative to the 24-hour day/night cycle in nature. Although these r...
why does your appetite decrease in extreme heat?	Your metabolism's job is to regulate the temperature of your body. "Metabolizing" food is basically like setting it on fire in your body and using the heat for energy. In the extreme heat, your body temperature is already high. So your body doesn't burn the energy it has as aggressively (your metabolism slows down) s...	[ "BULLET::::4. Thermostatic hypothesis: According to this hypothesis, a decrease in body temperature below a given set-point stimulates appetite, whereas an increase above the set-point inhibits appetite.\n", "The cessation of a desire to eat after a meal \"satiation\" is likely to be due to different processes an...
what exactly is petrified wood and how does it become petrified?	It's when it's turned to stone after millions of years. The wood becomes buried underground where it's preserved because of the lack of oxygen, and as water flows through the ground on top, the minerals enter the wood and replace the organic material. Eventually all of the organic material is replaced by mineral, and t...	[ "Petrified wood are fossils of wood that have turned to stone through the process of permineralization. All organic materials are replaced with minerals while maintaining the original structure of the wood.\n", "Petrified wood (from the Latin root \"petro\" meaning \"rock\" or \"stone\"; literally \"wood turned i...
How close to the original texts is the New Testament today?	I guess I'd tackle this question by first addressing what "in the texts today" means. Biblical versions in modern languages are translated from what's called critical editions of the NT. A critical edition is produced by taking the earliest manuscripts of the NT we have, comparing their texts and--through certain (qu...	[ "There is no scholarly consensus on the date of composition of the latest New Testament texts. Conservative scholars John A. T. Robinson, Dan Wallace, and William F. Albright dated all the books of the New Testament before 70 AD. But most scholars date some New Testament texts much later than this. For example, Ric...
Generation War or Our Mothers Our Fathers	Disclaimer: I liked Generation War, for what it was, a piece of entertainment; and fairly decent combat scenes. Now, with that out of the way, I do agree there needed to be a huge suspension of disbelief. My eyebrows merged with my hairline when the 'Token Jewish Friend' made his first appearance. This was unheard of;...	[ "Generation War (, literally \"Our mothers, our fathers\") is a German World War II TV miniseries in three parts. It was commissioned by public broadcasting organization ZDF, produced by the UFA subsidiary TeamWorx, and first aired in Germany and Austria in March 2013. The series tells the story of five German frie...
In the Middle Ages, in times of war, how likely would princes participate with their father?	I can specify for Early Medieval rather than necessarily High Medieval, although there is some considerable overlap. In essence, the answer boils down to the fundamental values of medieval kingship. A medieval king has three major responsibilities: to defend his people, to justly uphold the law, and to maintain the fai...	[ "From the feudal obligation of chief princes to stand by the king's side in word and deed, a consequent duty was derived by the time of the High Middle Ages to appear in person, at the request of the king, at royal assemblies in order to offer counsel and participate in decision-making. This was the so-called court...
why can they lose 10lbs+ a week on the biggest loser when weight loss resources for us normals say not to lose more than 2lbs a week?	What's more discouraging is the more common scenario, where you think you're going to lose 10 pounds a week and then gain 1 because you don't realize how hard dieting is. The Biggest Loser, like all TV, is about entertainment. A realistic diet program would have half the people losing no weight and maybe the best 1% l...	[ "According to LiveScience.com, \"physicians and nutritionists worry the show's focus on competitive weight loss is, at best, counterproductive and, at worst, dangerous\". Contestants on the show lose upwards of 10 pounds per week (in the very first week, some contestants have lost 20–30+ pounds in that one week alo...
how do some cities (e.g.) baltimore, washington, d.c., st. louis, etc. have neighborhoods that are very well developed and safe, but then, just a mere 5 or 10 miles away, there be a very impoverished and dangerous neighborhood?	1. Wealth distribution and property values make a self-feeding cycle. More money in one neighborhood means better upkeep of buildings and infrastructure. This increases property value, which in turn encourages developers to invest more money into high-end developments. 2. Cities (and states and countries) have a diffe...	[ "The city is known for a great diversity of neighborhoods and land uses very close to one another. Within its borders are the prominent Hackensack University Medical Center, a trendy high-rise district about a mile long, classic suburban neighborhoods of single-family houses, stately older homes on acre-plus lots, ...
What was the first song with the I-V-vi-IV chord progression?	[Andalusian Cadence!](_URL_2_) Also known as the Diatonic Phrygian Tetrachord--sometimes written as i-bVII-bVI-V (or, in the key of A, the descending sequence A, G, F, E) [the Dorian tetrachord--](_URL_1_) A popular melodic pattern of Ancient Greece[5] offers a possible starting point for the Andalusian cadence. A s...	[ "The I–V–vi–IV progression is a common chord progression popular across several genres of music. It involves the I, V, vi, and IV chords; for example, in the key of C major, this would be: C–G–Am–F. Uses based on a different starting point but with the same order of chords, include:\n", "In music, the vi–ii–V–I p...
If the Moon was created by an asteroid hitting the Earth, why didn't Earth get knocked out of its orbit around the Sun?	Because the earth is a whole lot heavier than the moon. Even an asteroid large enough to crash and knock out a moon-sized piece of the Earth would barely change the orbital speed of the Earth. Think of it like standing on the highway and throwing a rock as hard as you can at an oncoming semi-truck. Then you wonder why...	[ "The carbonaceous boulder that would have been captured by the mission (maximum 6 meter diameter, 20 tons) is too small to harm the Earth because it would burn up in the atmosphere. Redirecting the asteroid mass to a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon would ensure it could not hit Earth and also leave it in a...
why do most foods taste terrible while going through chemo, but others have no change at all?	"Everything changed for me" "I'll never forget the day that everything tadted like tofu. Everything tasted like nothing." Source, wife who went through chemo last year. Tastebuds are fast turnover cells that regenerate and die quickly. Chemo kills the tastebuds before they can develop and mature. What taste you...	[ "This may be done for medically necessary reasons, such as to change the form of the medication from a solid pill to a liquid, to avoid a non-essential ingredient that the patient is allergic to, or to obtain the exact dose(s) needed or deemed best of particular active pharmaceutical ingredient(s). It may also be d...
Happy New Year, AskHistorians! You may now have historical relations with 1998.	To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Askhistorians comments. The historical analysis is extremely subtle, and without a solid grasp of Critical Theory most of the posts will go over a typical reader's head. There's also the mod team's nihilistic outlook, which is deftly woven into their content cur...	[ "Happy New Year, America is an American television special that aired on the CBS television network to celebrate the New Year. It first aired on December 31, 1979 (leading into 1980), and last aired December 31, 1995 (leading into 1996).\n", "Ron Grossman, writing for the \"Chicago Tribune\", opined that the spir...
do animals see different stars than those we see?	There are two reasons why they see the same stars. 1. Pretty much every star gives off light in the visible spectrum. 2. Pretty much every animal can see the visible spectrum. So effectively, we all see the same stars. The only reason some animals might see more or less is their sensitivity to a star's brightness. ...	[ "Research shows that animals sensitive to more than three color channels are likely to see the world in a very different way from humans. These animals are likely to experience different and more numerous unique hues, along with additional ways of mixing them.\n", "Other animals, such as tropical fish and birds, ...
Why did Londoners reject Empress Matilda in 1141?	We don't exactly know, unfortunately. There were legitimate reasons for English people not to accept her as queen. When William I died in 1087, William Rufus immediately went to London to be crowned at the Tower; when William Rufus died in 1100, Henry I immediately went to London to be crowned at the Tower. When Henry...	[ "Empress Matilda (c. 7 February 110210 September 1167), also known as the Empress Maude, was one of the claimants to the English throne during the civil war known as the Anarchy. The daughter of King Henry I of England, she moved to Germany as a child when she married the future Holy Roman Emperor Henry V. She trav...
time crystals, can this idea be simplified?	> Time crystals, can this idea be simplified? Think about a salt crystal, it has a regular cubic structure which repeats in each of the three spatial dimensions. You can imagine a 3D lattice with each axis having a repeating sequence of atoms bonded together. Now imagine that time is a dimension just like the spati...	[ "The idea of a time crystal was first described by Nobel laureate Frank Wilczek in 2012. Later work developed a more precise definition for time crystals. It was proven that they cannot exist in equilibrium. Then, in 2014 Krzysztof Sacha predicted the behaviour of discrete time crystals in a periodically-driven man...
why do i shake when i'm really hungry	Sounds like low blood sugar. You may have a prediabetic condition. It would be good to see a doctor.	[ "BULLET::::- Louder rumbles may occur when one is hungry. Around two hours after the stomach has been emptied, it sends signals to the brain, which tells the digestive muscles to restart peristalsis in a wave called the migrating motor complex. Food left behind after the first cycle is swept up, and the vibrations ...
During World War II on the Pacific Front, how did American fighter planes get on equal footing with superior Japanese A6M2 Zeros?	[By developing this.](_URL_0_) Also by [capturing one of them,](_URL_2_). What was known was that the thing could turn like a beast and climb like a Valkyrie. It was very maneuverable and fast. Nothing the US had could come close to it. However once the US captured one they found that it could turn great but when fo...	[ "At the start of the war, the United States and Japan were well matched in aircraft carriers, in terms of numbers and quality. Both sides had nine, but the Mitsubishi A6M Zero carrier fighter plane was superior in terms of range and maneuverability to its American counterpart, the F4F Wildcat. By reverse engineerin...
entropy, enthalpy, and hess's law	Entropy is the amount of energy in a system that is not available to do work - that is, it is "waste heat" that isn't useful. We know from thermodynamics that entropy is a measure of how likely a particular process will happen. Because a process that produces more randomness in the system is statistically favored,...	[ "The enthalpy of solution is the solution enthalpy minus the enthalpy of the separate systems, whereas the entropy is the corresponding difference in entropy. Most gases have a negative enthalpy of solution. A negative enthalpy of solution means that the solute is less soluble at high temperatures. The sum of the e...
If the Hubble Telescope was in orbit around Alpha Centauri, pointing at our solar system, how many of the planets and other orbiting bodies could it see?	If we were lined up just right then they could probably see a transit of Venus and Earth. Essentially a mini-eclipse as the planets crossed the disk of the sun. The problem with Jupiter and Saturn is their years are so long they would take a long time to be confirmed. Jupiter takes 12 years to go around the sun, so yo...	[ "More recent (and accurate) astrometric observations by the Hubble Space Telescope ruled out the existence of such an object entirely. The 1995 study predicted an astrometric movement of roughly 90 mas (0.09 arcseconds), but Hubble was unable to detect any location anomaly to an accuracy of 5 mas (0.005 arcsec). Th...
why does medicine get into your system faster than food?	Most pills are basically small molecules designed to disolve and go right in. Most food is large molecules that need to be broken down first.	[ "Some drugs, such as the prokinetic agents increase the speed with which a substance passes through the intestines. If a drug is present in the digestive tract's absorption zone for less time its blood concentration will decrease. The opposite will occur with drugs that decrease intestinal motility.\n", "The amou...
what are the actual benefits to eating ones placenta?	Despite the belief of the many health benefits of eating your placenta, there is no conclusive evidence that placentophagy provides any substantial nutritional value. In fact the preparation process (cooking the placenta or drying it for encapsulation) removes a large portion of its nutrients by reducing protein hormo...	[ "Those who advocate placentophagy in humans believe that eating the placenta prevents postpartum depression and other pregnancy complications. Obstetrician and spokesperson for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Maggie Blott disputes the post-natal depression theory, stating there is no medical r...
Were there any women that left an impact during Renaissance Italy?	Oh, yes! I have [an earlier answer](_URL_0_) on "Renaissance women" bouncing off the idea of Leonardo da Vinci as a "Renaissance man" that might interest you. :D But that post was narrow in scope to intellectual/polymath types. There were so many more ways that individual women made an impact! Religious leaders claimi...	[ "The Renaissance (15th–16th centuries) challenged conventional customs from the Medieval period. Women were still confined to the roles of \"monaca, moglie, serva, cortigiana\" (\"nun, wife, servant, courtesan\"). However, literacy spread among upper-class women in Italy and a growing number of them stepped out int...
Why did Saudi Arabia back Communist South Yemen against the US backed Republic of Yemen in the 1994 Yemeni Civil War?	The Saudis had long backed and had long-standing connections with traditionalist forces in North Yemen. In the 1962-70 North Yemen Civil War (really a proxy war) they backed the Zaydi Shia Mutawakkilite Kingdom of Yemen against the Egyptian-backed Yemen Arab Republic. The death of Nasser in 1970 helped bring an end to ...	[ "Southern leaders, supported by the Saudis, declared secession and the establishment of the Democratic Republic of Yemen (DRY) on May 21, 1994, but the Democratic Republic of Yemen was not recognized by the international community. Although the southerners had their own motives for fighting, northern leaders have l...
how are asynchronous calls used?	Synchronous call - I'll drop you off at the store and wait her until you come back Asynchronous call - I'll drop you off at the store and periodically check to see if you are done Most calls are synchronous because the caller usually wants something right now and can't really proceed without it. But if what the call...	[ "In Windows, an asynchronous procedure call (abbreviated APC) is a function that executes asynchronously in the context of a specific thread. APCs can be generated by the system (kernel-mode APCs) or by an application (user mode APCs).\n", "In multithreaded computer programming, asynchronous method invocation (AM...
how when using a proxy such as tunnelbear, google maps can still pinpoint my correct location.	can't be sure of the exact method, but at the very least you can be sure that Google Maps was not relying on the IP address of your http request to determine your location.	[ "Location inference is the method of identifying the location profiles of users on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook from their message content, friends' network and social interaction even when they did not explicitly disclose such on their account profiles or geotag their messages.\n", "Probab...
Is there a physical reason for why some mental tasks require more effort?	The best why I can describe this is how a computer works. A computer processes data and displays that data on a screen. A single core computer is of like the windows 95 or 97 version. The more cores you have the better the computer processes data. This is kinda like what IQ means. IQ isn't how smart you are, it's how w...	[ "A desirable difficulty is a learning task that requires a considerable but desirable amount of effort, thereby improving long-term performance. The term was first coined by Robert A. Bjork in 1994. As the name suggests, desirable difficulties should be both desirable and difficult. Research suggests that while dif...
- how does high octane fuel actually benefit a car in the real world?	Higher octane fuel is more stable at high temperatures and pressures than lower octane fuel. In an engine, there is a thing called 'Knocking' that can happen if you squeeze/heat fuel too much, and it's basically the fuel spontaneously combusting instead of being ignited by the spark plug. Why is that a problem? Well i...	[ "The octane rating of a given fuel is a measure of the fuel's resistance to self-ignition. A fuel with a higher numerical octane rating allows for a higher compression ratio, which extracts more energy from the fuel and more effectively converts that energy into useful work while at the same time preventing engine ...
What's causing the strange ice behavior in this video?	Hi there, since this is a crosspost linked to a very popular video on Reddit at the moment, I figured I should welcome some redditors unfamiliar with AskScience. Welcome to AskScience! We have a few specific rules on this subreddit, you can find them on the sidebar that way --- > In a nutshell, please do not respo...	[ "An ice hummock is a boss or rounded knoll of ice rising above the general level of an ice-field. Hummocky ice is caused by slow and unequal pressure in the main body of the packed ice, and by unequal structure and temperature at a later period.\n", "The video for \"Ice\" consists mostly of two scenes. The first ...
let's say i have 10.000 dollars and wanna get into the stock market. what do i do?	Go to a quality site like _URL_0_, create a portfolio (used to be free, now it might require basic membership of around $7 a month, not sure), and set the parameters (such as how much the assumed cost is per transaction fee, account value, etc...) Now, this imaginary portfolio will be tracked and charted as though it...	[ "\"My job is constant— like the stock market, I have to know value of how much people pay— Sweden, France. I know what he can make in MLS, China, Germany. I know that and I am up-to-date with the market. You have to know the world markets in terms of how much people earn and the values of certain players.\n", "Th...
Tidal effect of the Moon on Earth in perspective..	There are a couple of diagrams [here](_URL_0_) that illustrate the direction and relative magnitude of tidal acceleration over the surface of the earth. Note that I would not describe this exactly as "the moon's gravity tugging on the Earth's surface water." This can at least potentially be misleading; for example,...	[ "In a like manner, the lunar surface experiences tides of around amplitude over 27 days, with two components: a fixed one due to Earth, because they are in synchronous rotation, and a varying component from the Sun. The Earth-induced component arises from libration, a result of the Moon's orbital eccentricity (if t...
can someone [eli5] all or at least most of ron paul's ideas?	In a nutshell, "Mind your own damned business."	[ "David Weigel of \"Reason\" reviewed the book favorably, comparing Paul's political ideas to those of fellow anti-war conservative Sen. Chuck Hagel. \"Paul has a grand unified theory to offer readers, knowing full well that he's opening minds, not programming them,\" Weigel wrote, adding that Paul \"offers readers,...
when a body of water reaches boiling temperature, why does it not all become steam at once?	_URL_0_ > Latent heat of vaporization. It's generally accepted that water always boils when it reaches exactly 100 Celsius. This is not entirely the case, but we'll assume that it's true for the explanation since it illustrates the point. Once water hits 100 degrees, all heat added to the system no longer raises its...	[ "Water and other homogeneous liquids can superheat when heated in a microwave oven in a container with a smooth surface. That is, the liquid reaches a temperature slightly above its normal boiling point without bubbles of vapour forming inside the liquid. The boiling process can start explosively when the liquid is...
How exactly does cartilage "join/stick" to bone?	Cartilage transition happens in 4 zones, with details [here](_URL_1_). All parts of the cartilage is important for load distribution, but where a transition from cartilagenous histology to more bone-like histology appears at the tidemark zone. A really good picture of this can be found [here](_URL_0_) showing the tr...	[ "Osteons are components or principal structures of compact bone. During the formation of bone spicules, cytoplasmic processes from osteoblasts interconnect. This becomes the canaliculi of osteons. Since bone spicules tend to form around blood vessels, the perivascular space is greatly reduced as the bone continues ...
when you drink a glass of water, how does it get around your body to become saliva or tears?	The water you drink travels through your digestive system to get absorbed by cells lining your small intestines and large intestines. These cells pass the water on into your bloodstream, and hence water circulates as blood around your body. Blood vessels supply the cells in your body with water, oxygen, and other nutr...	[ "The sodium ions in the ECF also play an important role in the movement of water from one body compartment to the other. When tears are secreted, or saliva is formed, sodium ions are pumped from the ECF into the ducts in which these fluids are formed and collected. The water content of these solutions results from ...
why are human penises so long compared to most other primate penises?	There's a very interesting theory about this, called the sperm (or semen) displacement theory. It goes a little something like this. Way back when, humans, and in particular, human males, weren't so much into the pair-bonding thing, and women regularly had sex with multiple men. This meant that the sperm in the woman'...	[ "The human penis is thicker than that of any other primate, both in absolute terms and relative to the rest of the body. Early research, based on inaccurate measurements, concluded that the human penis was also longer. In fact, the penis of the common chimpanzee is no shorter than in humans, averaging 14.4 cm (5.7 ...
if i drive at a constant speed up and over a hill, coasting down the other side, will the extra fuel i consume on the way up be equal to the fuel i'll save on the way back down?	No. You'll burn extra fuel getting up the hill, but you won't save that much going down the other side, because your engine will be (at least) idling, which consumes some fuel.	[ "Fuel economy-maximizing behaviors also help reduce fuel consumption. Among the most effective are moderate (as opposed to aggressive) driving, driving at lower speeds, using cruise control, and turning off a vehicle's engine at stops rather than idling. A vehicle's gas mileage decreases rapidly with increasing hig...
us school system from 0 to phd. (details in post)	0-4ish: pre-school, this is optional but is correlated with higher socioeconomic status and attending is shown to be a good predictor of future success. 5-11: kingergarten (grade 0) and grades 1-6, this is called elementary or primary school. 12-13: middle school, or junior high school. grades 7-8 14-17: high schoo...	[ "All schools offer undergraduate degrees at the level of Licenciatura (5 years) and graduate degrees at the level of master's degree (2 years) and PhD (3–4 years) from the Graduate School. The Graduate School, founded in 1941, offers 222 different specializations, 109 Master's degrees and 40 PhDs.\n", "The United...
differences between summer seasons on the north and south hemispheres	you seem to be confused - the days do not get longer at just one end of the day. both sunrise and sunset get earlier and later at roughly an equal rate. the closer you are to the poles, the more drastically they change, and the closer you are to the equator the less they change. the graphs below help demonstrate this...	[ "Where a seasonal lag of half a season or more is common, reckoning based on astronomical markers is shifted half a season. By this method, in North America, summer is the period from the summer solstice (usually 20 or 21 June in the Northern Hemisphere) to the autumn equinox.\n", "Summer is the hottest of the fo...
Who/what have been the biggest and most interesting gangs in history?	It you'd classify them as a "gang" (I would) Blackbeard's pirates are interesting.	[ "A number of gangs have gained notoriety in the course of history, including the Italian Mafia, the Russian mafia, the Irish mob, the Polish mob, the Jewish mob, the Albanian mafia, the Yakuza in Japan, the Kkangpae in Korea, the Triads in China, the gangs of New England, the Jamaican Shower Posse and Yardies, the ...
regarding numbers, if i have an infinite decimal such as .999999.... is it the same as 1 because it infinitely approaches 1?	I think the easiest way to explain it is: 1/9 = 0.111..., and 9 x 0.111... would be 0.999... for the same reason that 4 x 111 = 444. So we have 9 x 1/9 = 0.999..., and 9 x 1/9 = 9/9 = 1. So we have 1 = 0.999...	[ "Some proofs that 0.999... = 1 rely on the Archimedean property of the real numbers: that there are no nonzero infinitesimals. Specifically, the difference 1 − 0.999... must be smaller than any positive rational number, so it must be an infinitesimal; but since the reals do not contain nonzero infinitesimals, the d...
what's with all the smoke or steam that comes out of the street in big cities, primarily new york?	It's steam and it's most likely blowoff from the steam heating system. Power plants generate excess steam and instead of dumping it into the air, they pipe it all over the city to heat buildings.	[ "Outside of the imposing free-standing stone building, a coin-operated \"steampunk\" engine greets visitors, complete with lights, engine and train while noises, and fire breathing out of its chimney. The building's exterior walls are decorated with creations such as giant flies made from metal and industrial parts...
What influence did the Iroquois Confederacy, Pre-Kings Israel, and other non-Hellenstic precedent have on the forming of the U.S. Constitution?	I'm probably going to offend you in saying this, but this sounds a lot like a homework question. If so, we can provide you with good sources, but we can't answer it for you.	[ "In the 20th century, some writers have credited the Iroquois nations' political confederacy and democratic government as being influences for the development of the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. In October 1988, the U.S. Congress passed Concurrent Resolution 331 to recognize the inf...
why is happening psychologically in a murder suicide when the victims are not even people the killer knows? why would somebody who intends to take their own life want to kill others before doing so?	Typically such a person believes he has been treated unjustly by society, so he is striking back at society in general -- which includes basically everyone. _URL_0_	[ "A murder–suicide is an act in which an individual kills one or more people before (or while) killing oneself. The combination of murder and suicide can take various forms, often linked to the first form:\n", "There are two broad categories of \"suicide by cop\". The first is when someone has committed a crime an...
Chances of survival in a tsunami?	I'm not sure that swimming skills would help much. Someone looking at tsunami videos [estimated](_URL_0_) the velocity of the recent tsunami in Japan over land near the Sendai airport at 5-6 m/s. World-caliber swimmers go about 2 m/s during a race -- but that's in nearly-perfect conditions. In a tsunami, you'd be wear...	[ "The risk of a tsunami wave between 4 m and 7 m high is estimated as a possibility every 600 to 1500 years. The occurrence of an event comparable to that of 1603, could have grave social and economic consequences as areas near the sea are largely built up, in particular for tourist activity in the region of Sliema....
why do aerial pictures of cities show flat top buildings from different angles?	If you wanted a picture of every building from exactly overhead you would need to fly exactly over every one. That is a ton of flying, it is much easier just to fly where you can see them.	[ "Aerial picture pairs, when viewed through a stereo viewer, offer a pronounced stereo effect of landscape and buildings. High buildings appear to 'keel over' in the direction away from the centre of the photograph. Measurements of this parallax are used to deduce the height of the buildings, provided that flying he...
why do "luxury" cars have bad gas mileage, while 15-20 thousand dollar cars have good gas milage?	People who can afford and purchase luxury cars aren't usually concerned by mpg. Also these cars often serve as a status symbol, so the bigger the engine, the more expensive and exotic the car is, you look "better" with that car. Whereas cheaper cars are aimed towards people who commute, and have to go from A to B while...	[ "Critics of the Gas Guzzler Tax contend that the increased fuel economy of the US passenger car fleet observed since 1978 must be considered in the context of the increased market share of mid-size and full-size SUVs. Many consumers' stated reasons for SUV purchase (comfort, interior room, and a perception of safet...
how/why do we simultaneously have eye contact with another individual although we were not thinking about it.	random chance and recognizing false patters. How many faces do your eyes shift to in a full room? 10? 20? A hundred? How often do you catch people's eyes just at the right time? Maybe once? It's not that it happens that often, its that when it does happen, its memorable.	[ "Eye contact occurs when two people look at each other's eyes at the same time. In human beings, eye contact is a form of nonverbal communication and is thought to have a large influence on social behavior. Coined in the early to mid-1960s, the term came from the West to often define the act as a meaningful and imp...
if transistors in computers are so small and there are billions of them, then how are computers so cheap (relatively speaking)? shouldn't it take a lot of effort to put all of the transistors in the right places?	> Shouldn't it take a lot of effort to put all of the transistors in the right places? Transistors aren't "put in place". All of the billions of transistors are created together at the same time, using a technique called [photolithography](_URL_0_). In simple terms, CPUs are manufactured in a manner similar to how ...	[ "As it becomes more difficult to manufacture ever smaller transistors, companies are using Multi-chip modules, Three-dimensional integrated circuits, 3D NAND, Package on package, and Through-silicon vias to increase performance and reducing size, without having to reduce the size of the transistors. \n", "The tra...
why are brains wrinkly?	> that doesn't answer why a smooth brain wouldn't be able to hold the same amount of grey matter with a similar volume to a wrinkly brain. Your head can only get so big before your neck can no longer support it. So in order for more neurons to fit in the skull, the increase in surface area must be in wrinkles rather ...	[ "A characteristic of the brain is the cortical folding known as gyrification. During fetal development, the cortex starts off smooth. By the gestational age of 24 weeks, the wrinkled morphology showing the fissures that begin to mark out the lobes of the brain is evident. Scientists do not have a clear answer as to...
how do theft detectors in shops know you've bought the item? is it to do with scanning the barcode, or is there something else that gets scanned?	Most theft detectors rely on one of two mechanisms. Small tags and large tags. Large tags get removed by the cashier, and are either attached in a way that damages the item if you try and force it open or locked in a larger and more cumbersome package. Small tags are usually small magnetic stickers, and are demagneti...	[ "When checking out at a grocery store, the cashier will scan the barcode of each item to determine the total cost. A thief could replace barcodes on his items with those of cheaper items. In this attack the cashier is a confused deputy that is using seemingly valid barcodes to determine the total cost.\n", "Elect...
entropy.	Here we have a cardboard box, about the size of a shoebox, filled with coins. Not a ton of them, just enough so that the all lay flat on the bottom of the box. There are three possible states for that box to be in: all coins heads-side-up, all coins heads-side-down, and the other thing where some of the coins are head...	[ "In information theory, \"entropy\" is the measure of the amount of information that is missing before reception and is sometimes referred to as \"Shannon entropy\". Shannon entropy is a broad and general concept which finds applications in information theory as well as thermodynamics. It was originally devised by ...
why do some substances stain certain types of clothing while others don't?	It's an inverse relationship - the less you want your SO to know you ate it, the more it stains.	[ "A stain is a discoloration that can be clearly distinguished from the surface, material, or medium it is found upon. They are caused by the chemical or physical interaction of two dissimilar materials. Staining is used for biochemical research, metal staining, and art (e.g., wood staining, stained glass).\n", "T...
supply and demand, price elasticity of demand, marginal cost, and monopolies.	Supply and demand work hand in hand to regulate price in an economy. When a new iPhone comes out, the demand for it is high, so Apple can charge a high price for it. But if Apple overestimates the number of iPhones it could have sold, it will flood the market with surplus iPhones (the supply of iPhones exceeds the de...	[ "BULLET::::- \"Supply Curve\": in a perfectly competitive market there is a well defined supply function with a one-to-one relationship between price and quantity supplied. In a monopolistic market no such supply relationship exists. A monopolist cannot trace a short term supply curve because for a given price ther...
why my two week disposable contacts need to be disposed of after two weeks?	A few different reasons, actually. One, the most prominent, is that your eyes will build up protein deposits on the contacts. The solution you clean them in helps with this, but any solution powerful enough to clean the lens completely is going to be powerful enough to physically break down the lens itself. Also, soft...	[ "A slight variant has multiple contacts designed to engage in rapid succession. The first to make contact and last to break will experience the greatest contact wear and will form a high-resistance connection that would cause excessive heating inside the contactor. However, in doing so, it will protect the primary ...
how do laboratories find out what chemical that random sample is?	They have plenty of methods. Let's go with gas chromatography: Vaporize your liquid and inject it into a gas chromatograph (a long column coated with an inert substance). The test substance moves through the column, interacting with the inert coating, causing the various chemicals inside it to separate out (as some "st...	[ "Chemical tests use reagents to indicate the presence of a specific chemical in an unknown solution. The reagents cause a unique reaction to occur based on the chemical it reacts with, allowing one to know what chemical is in the solution. An example is Heller's test where a test tube containing proteins has strong...
How was literacy in colonial America leading up to the revolutionary?	So, this really depends on where in colonial America you are talking about. It's really important to understand that there were deep geographical differences in colonial America. In New England, during the eighteenth century, the literacy rates were upward of 90%. This has a lot to do with the Puritan influence in N...	[ "Colonial America in the 1700s saw an expansion in printing industry, precipitating a culture shift from the idea that only the wealthy should have access to books and to education, to the premise of equitable access to education and books for all society. Earlier, in 1638, Harvard University established the first ...
what is white feminism?	The term is usually used when white women(mainly from higher economic classes) fight for gender equality while not being invested/interested in fights that other women face, like racism for women of color, homophobia for queer women and transphobia for trans women.	[ "White feminism is an epithet used to describe feminist theories that focus on the struggles of white women without addressing distinct forms of oppression faced by ethnic minority women and women lacking other privileges.\n", "White feminism portrays a view of feminism that can be separated from issues of class,...
Which offers a more "realistic" sound reproduction, high quality headphones or high quality speakers?	It depends on the recording. Most modern music is made by recording instruments individually and mixing them together, with plenty of effects and some electronic instruments added in. There's actually no realistic way to listen to this music since the composite sound never existed on its own to be recorded. Asking how...	[ "Most designs produce high quality sound, even though some audiophiles consider chip-based amplifiers to be inferior to their discrete counterparts. The chips have been designed to incorporate a number of desirable features, including excellent power supply rejection ratio, fast response, accurate bias current, ove...
Does exposure to bacteria increase the immune system?	Yes, that is what the adaptive immune system is all about. For many things exposure to bacteria is necessary for a proper development. Things like immune function and GI development are often used as examples (in mice and zebrafish) as sterile (no germs) raised individuals lack the development seen in ones with regula...	[ "The microbial communities residing inside the host body have now been recognized to be important for effective immune responses. Yet the molecular mechanisms underlying this protection are largely unknown. Bacteria can help the host to fight against pathogens either by directly stimulating the immune response or b...
why do featurless/emotionless faces create feelings of unease and fear?	There is a great video from Vsauce about the "uncanny valley": _URL_0_ Basically, things that don't look at all like humans don't cause any special emotions by themselves. As things begin to look more human, they become more "friendly", and "ususal". Imagine a curve in a graph going up, and up... Until it drops dras...	[ "According to psychology professor Joseph Durwin at California State University, Northridge, young children are \"very reactive to a familiar body type with an unfamiliar face\". Researchers who have studied the phobia believe there is some correlation to the uncanny valley effect. Additionally, clown behavior is o...
What are the relative efficiencies of resting if I can't fall asleep?	Psychiatrist here. No. You can rest, but you cannot substitute for sleep. In fact, if you can't sleep, just laying there after a while is countertherapeutic, as you start allowing your brain to do other activities in bed at night instead of sleeping. Good sleep hygiene involves getting up after you've tried sleeping, d...	[ "BULLET::::- Get enough rest. Rest allows body tissues and joints the time they need to repair. Sleeping is a great way to maintain health and helps both body and mind. Lack of sleep, stress levels and symptoms might get worsen. Immunity to other infections or diseases is reduced when sleep is not adequate. Rest co...
floating	It's all about density. As an object enters water, it displaces some of the water proportional to its volume. For example, a cube one meter per side will displace exactly 1 cubic meter of water when fully submerged. However, as you submerge an object, the water pushes back up on it, and it turns out that the for...	[ "The term floating island is sometimes used for accumulations of vegetation free-floating within a body of water. Due to the lack of currents and tides, these are more frequently found in lakes than in rivers or the open sea. Peaty masses of vegetable matter from shallow lake floors may rise due to the accumulation...
For being one of thegreatest civilizations that this world has ever seen, how did the Indus or Harappan civilzation end?	I feel like there has been a bubble of references to the Indus Valley/Harappan civilization (just called "IVC" from here on) this week. Was there a documentary on it or something? Regardless, I'm glad you brought the question here because there is an enormous amount of disinformation on it. The IVC exists in the center...	[ "Previously, scholars believed that the decline of the Harappan civilisation led to an interruption of urban life in the Indian subcontinent. However, the Indus Valley Civilisation did not disappear suddenly, and many elements of the Indus Civilisation appear in later cultures. The Cemetery H culture may be the man...
why is gum brittle at first, then stretchy?	The elastic, chewable properties of bubble gum come from the other ingredients, such as polymers, plasticizers, and resins that act as stabilizers. These ingredients give bubble gum its texture and elasticity. When gum is made, these ingredients are in a "sleeping" state and when you start chewing your saliva and tee...	[ "A cracker is a flat, dry baked food typically made with flour. Flavorings or seasonings, such as salt, herbs, seeds, or cheese, may be added to the dough or sprinkled on top before baking. Crackers are often branded as a nutritious and convenient way to consume a staple food or cereal grain. \n", "The viscosity ...
"dolby surround sound". how it's different than normal surround sound?	[Dolby](_URL_0_) is a company which designed a system for surround sound. When something says Dolby surround sound, it simply means that it uses that companies technology.	[ "In the motion picture industry, as far as it concerns distribution prints of movies, the Dolby A and SR markings refer to Dolby Surround which is not just a method of noise reduction, but more importantly encodes two additional audio channels on the standard optical soundtrack, giving left, center, right, and surr...
Is there a lifeform which does not use DNA/RNA for its genetic code?	I’ve taken more genetics courses and read more genetics papers than I care to admit to, but I’ve never heard of such a thing. DNA/RNA is one of the basic necessities of life. Are you sure you didn’t read a paper that was extrapolating the idea of DNA-less life?	[ "Even the simplest members of the three modern domains of life use DNA to record their \"recipes\" and a complex array of RNA and protein molecules to \"read\" these instructions and use them for growth, maintenance and self-replication. The discovery that some RNA molecules can catalyze both their own replication ...
Why was the Golden Horde called like this?	According to John Man^1 it was called this as Genghis's family was known as the 'Golden Clan', and the Mongolian word ord/orde meant a palace, or for the Mongols a tent. Hence Batu's (initial leader of the khanate) apparent use of a gold coloured tent as his 'palace', and the shift of ord/orde to horde led to the khana...	[ "The name Golden Horde is said to have been inspired by the golden color of the tents the Mongols lived in during wartime, or an actual golden tent used by Batu Khan or by Uzbek Khan, or to have been bestowed by the Slavic tributaries to describe the great wealth of the khan. But the Mongolic word for the color yel...
What did people in the 1800's use as conversational fillers (i.e um, you know, like) ?	This recording of Thomas Edison from 1906 is full of "uh" as conversational filler or "verbal disfluency". It doesn't sound much different than speech today. I'll see if I can find an earlier recorded example _URL_0_	[ "Diseuse (, ), French for \"teller\", also called talkers, storytellers, dramatic-singers or dramatic-talkers, is a term, at least on the English-speaking stage, that appears to date back only to the last decade of the 19th century. The early uses of “diseuse” as a theatrical term in the American press seem to coin...
What kind of currency was in mesopotamia?	The Mesopotamians didn't really use "currency" as such, which we can define as a centrally issued object having the function of store of account, medium of exchange and measure of value. In short, they did not have coins. But they did have standardized systems of weights and measures that, in practice can fulfill one o...	[ "Korean currency dates back as far as the Goryeo dynasty (918–1392) when the first coins were minted. The coins, cast in both bronze and iron, were called \"tongbo\" and \"jungbo\". Additionally, silver vases called \"ŭnbyŏng\" were widely used and circulated as a currency among the aristocracy of Goryeo.\n", "A ...
who decides if art is 'good' and what it's worth?	Usually it's based on the body of work of the artist. For example, by the end of his work life Joan Miró was placing a single stripe of paint on a canvas and these are very prized even though anybody could place a stripe of paint on a canvas. Like he'd stare at the canvas for a while and then in one fluid movement ...	[ "Components of a work of art, like raw stone, tubes of paint or unpainted canvas, in general have a value much lower than the finished products, such as a sculpture or a finished painting. Also, the amount of labour needed to produce an item does not explain the big price differences between works of art. It seems ...
how can amazon prime carry / get any item anywhere in the world within 24 hours?	It can't and it doesn't Amazon prime provides free two day delivery for many items in many locations. There are a fair number of locations where Amazon Prime gets you free three to five day shipping rather than two day Amazon does not proclaim that you can get any item anywhere in the world within 24 hours.	[ "In 2005, Amazon announced the creation of Amazon Prime, a membership service offering free two-day shipping within the contiguous United States on all eligible purchases for a flat annual fee of $79 (), and discounted one-day shipping rates. Amazon launched the program in Germany, Japan, and the United Kingdom in ...
Why do historians reject moral presentism?	Presentism does not facilitate or encourage an answer to (one of) the main historical question(s): "Why did these people do what they did?... what led them to that train of thought and chain of actions?" History seeks understanding and comprehension, and that is best achieved in many cases by viewing the world not t...	[ "Presentism is also a factor in the problematic question of history and moral judgments. Among historians, the orthodox view may be that reading modern notions of morality into the past is to commit the error of presentism. To avoid this, historians restrict themselves to describing what happened and attempt to ref...
What are the consequences of missing a full night of sleep, if you make up for it by sleeping more the next night?	During sleep, the brain clears away toxic waste products which accumulate during the day. One of these products is beta-amyloid, the protein involved in Alzheimer's disease. It's been found that a single night of sleep deprivation greatly increases beta-amyloid ([source](_URL_0_)). In the long run, it could potentially...	[ "There is a small amount of evidence that skipping a night's sleep may improve depressive symptoms, with the effects usually showing up within a day. This effect is usually temporary. Besides sleepiness, this method can cause a side effect of mania or hypomania.\n", "Sleep is known to be cumulative. This means th...
How was Hitler able to build such a massive and powerful army during the great depression? And why didn't France and England stop him?	The post-WW1 Reichswehr did not generally agree with the bounds of the treaty of Versailles, but its commanders (like Hans von Seeckt) did their best to abide by the letter of the law while maintaining the basic structure of a capable army. For one thing, the General Staff was officially abolished, but went undergroun...	[ "Hitler followed an autarky economic policy, creating a network of client states and economic allies in central Europe and Latin America. By cutting wages and taking control of labor unions, plus public works spending, unemployment fell significantly by 1935. Large-scale military spending played a major role in the...
Do black holes have a "surface"?	The answer to your question lies somewhere between "no" and "we can't know". If the [no-hair conjecture](_URL_0_) holds, there's nothing you can know about a black hole except for its mass, angular momentum and charge. You're not allowed to know anything about the mass distribution within the black hole, and hence if...	[ "A widely used model of a black surface is a small hole in a cavity with walls that are opaque to radiation. Radiation incident on the hole will pass into the cavity, and is very unlikely to be re-emitted if the cavity is large. The hole is not quite a perfect black surface — in particular, if the wavelength of the...
The Roman Architecture was heavily influenced by the Greeks, but were the Greeks themselves influenced in this area by other civilizations?	As far as Classical Greece goes, much of it was an indigenous development within the confines of that historical period, but it does build upon earlier foundations, which are also Greek, but not considered part of Classical Greece, namely Mycenaean and Kretan architecture. Mycenaen architecture largely seems to have be...	[ "The architecture and urbanism of the Classical civilizations such as the Greek and the Roman evolved from civic ideals rather than religious or empirical ones and new building types emerged. Architectural \"style\" developed in the form of the Classical orders. Roman architecture was influenced by Greek architectu...
Why would an individual phospholipid switch sides in a phospholipid bilayer?	The two surfaces of a typical cell membrane have very different lipid compositions because they need to have different physical properties. For example the outer surface of a mammalian cell's plasma membrane has mostly charge-neutral lipids, and thus presents am inert surface to the outside world. Good for preventing...	[ "The phospholipid bilayer is formed due to the aggregation of membrane lipids in aqueous solutions. Aggregation is caused by the hydrophobic effect, where hydrophobic ends come into contact with each other and are sequestered away from water. This arrangement maximises hydrogen bonding between hydrophilic heads and...
Are humans, by preserving the weaker members of our species, hurting our evolution?	Evolution selects the individuals who are most fit for their environment. This is not always the most physically imposing specimen (ask the T-Rex how that worked out) but rather one who is able to survive under the given circumstances. Since humans are a highly social species our "circumstance" consists largely of ot...	[ "Opponents also cite that the genetic health and social behaviors of species is adversely affected because hunters often kill the largest or most significant male of a species. The removal the most significant animals (because of the size of their horns or mane for example) can severely affect the health of a speci...
how is power generated in antarctica during polar night?	same way it's generated during the rest o the year. big ass diesel generators and wind turbines. _URL_0_	[ "Each station uses diesel fuel to generate electricity. At McMurdo Station, wind turbines installed by Antarctic New Zealand in 2010 supply about a third of the station’s electricity in a cooperative agreement with ANZ. Field camps have been increasingly using solar power, taking advantage of the 24 hours of daylig...
Are there groups of animals where "A and B can have fertile offspring", "B and C can can have fertile offspring", but "A and C cannot"?	[Ring Species](_URL_0_) sounds like what you're asking about. From the page: > a ring species is a connected series of neighbouring populations, each of which can interbreed with closely sited related populations, but for which there exist at least two "end" populations in the series, which are too distantly related ...	[ "The sister species \"Drosophila subquinaria\" and \"Drosophila recens\" overlap in geographic range and are capable of hybridization, meaning they can successfully reproduce with each other; however the offspring are very sickly. Thus, these two species are almost fully reproductively isolated, despite overlapping...
Are artificial satellite's orbits disrupted by the moon?	Yes, absolutely. When planning the orbit of a spacecraft, the gravitational fields of the Moon, the Sun and even the other planets can be taken into consideration. For an Earth orbiter, the non-spherical shape of the Earth also significantly affects the orbit. Solar radiation pressure is another major component of t...	[ "Lunar mascons alter the local gravity above and around them sufficiently that low and uncorrected satellite orbits around the Moon are unstable on a timescale of months or years. The small perturbations in the orbits accumulate and eventually distort the orbit enough that the satellite impacts the surface.\n", "...
in movies, how do they film in governmental areas (ex. the capitol and the white house)?	I'm not sure, but I think it's either with a green screen or a custom built movie set Edit: here's an example of what amazing things you can achieve with a chroma key (green or blue screen) and some talented artists: _URL_0_	[ "In many cases a second unit is dispatched to film on location, with a second unit director and sometimes with stand-in actors. These shots can then be edited into the final film or TV program alongside studio-shot sequences, to give an authentic flavor, without the expense or trouble of a full-scale location shoot...
What was the Egyptian military like in World War 2 and after?	Hate to be needy, but Ill ping some of the relevantly flaired users: /u/JoelWiklund /u/BeondTheGrave /u/British-Empire	[ "In 1914 the Egyptian Army was a largely native home-defence force. It comprised 17 battalions of infantry (8 Sudanese and 9 Egyptian), 3 companies of mounted infantry, a Camel Corps, support services and various local militia groups. It was organised, expanded and equipped by the British during the prewar years, a...
How did they discover that Europa had liquid oceans underneath its ice?	The short answer is that geologists sat down and created models to show how the surface features could be created by tidal movement. A person I've had the pleasure of working with over the years is, quite literally, the top authority in the world on this specific subject. He was the one who discovered this. I was ...	[ "It is estimated that Europa has an outer layer of water around thick; a part frozen as its crust, and a part as a liquid ocean underneath the ice. Recent magnetic-field data from the \"Galileo\" orbiter showed that Europa has an induced magnetic field through interaction with Jupiter's, which suggests the presence...
What were the Germanic "Tribes" really like? Were they nomads without cities? Or were they more sedentary like Rome?	Romans wrote a lot of BS about 'the Germanic tribes', mostly because they defined 'Germans' as 'those who are not like us and who live outside the borders of the empire'. This definition lumps quite a lot of people together, while still throwing in loads of cultural bias as well. It is much more interesting to look at...	[ "Ultimately, the Germanic groups in the Western Roman Empire were accommodated without \"dispossessing or overturning indigenous society\", and they maintained a structured and hierarchical (but attenuated) form of Roman administration.\n", "Early Roman sources, such as Tacitus and Pliny the Elder, knew little co...
Why are camera lenses the size they are, and why can't they be scaled down to phone-size?	Miniaturizing the fancy lenses on SLR cameras would be a lot of work—they require extremely precise optical glasswork and tons of fiddly mechanical gizmos for focusing and such. The really insurmountable difference between big cameras and small ones, though, is sensor size. The sensors used in digital cameras have tin...	[ "Larger lenses may block a portion of the view seen through the viewfinder, potentially a significant proportion. A side effect of this is that lens designers are forced to use smaller designs. Lens hoods used for rangefinder camera may have a different shape to those with other cameras, with openings cut out of th...
how are games "ported" to mac or linux?	Rewriting any code that's locked to a particular system to work for the other ones. The OS has 'toolboxes' for things, but each OS's is a different. You have to rewrite to use the other tools.	[ "However, there are many ports of games from other platforms, mostly Linux, to the GP2X. Popular ports include \"SuperTux\" and \"Frozen Bubble\" as well as the \"Duke Nukem 3D\", \"Quake\", and \"Doom\" engines (which can run the original games if the user owns a copy with the correct data files). There are also h...
How do you weigh a blue whale in the ocean? Some kind of device or math?	By the Archimedes' principle, a buoyant body (that is, stationary without expending energy to remain that way) submerged in water, is equal in mass to water of equal volume to the part of the body submerged underwater. For fully submerged bodies, that means it's mass is equal to the mass of the water of equivalent volu...	[ "The craft weights 2,100 kilograms out of water and is 7 or 8 meters long according to type. It resembles a torpedo but has two cockpits for the crew. Many some models have a roof with sliding doors for the cockpits. In some models the rear cockpit is long and can seat two divers for a total crew of three. Its batt...
truecrypt full disk encryption/decryption	Hi there! I use this at work. I'll give it a super ELI5 shot: Imagine your friend wrote a paper in Swahili and gave it to you. Cool, but you don't speak Swahili. So what he did was also send you the phone number to a guy who does speak Swahili. You call him up, he comes over, and he reads the paper aloud to you...	[ "Expressions \"full disk encryption (FDE)\" or \"whole disk encryption\" signify that everything on disk is encrypted, but the master boot record (MBR), or similar area of a bootable disk, with code that starts the operating system loading sequence, is not encrypted. Some hardware-based full disk encryption systems...
If one HotPocket takes two minutes to cook in a standard microwave, will two HotPockets take more time, less time, or the same amount of time?	For microwave you will have an increased time. The food will have to absorb twice the energy. Some energy will be lost in the oven itself. Also microwaves are not good at penetrating water and will only be good at heating the top layers. So that can case some water to evaporate. (Lost heat) But in general you will ...	[ "In addition, hot food must be held at a minimum interval of 135°F (57°C) if it is not immediately consumed. The temperature must be checked every 4 hours or else labeled with a discard time. Although monitored hot food can be held indefinitely in this way without a food safety concern, the nutritional value, flavo...
Can you trap a beam of light inside a box?	Optical cavities exist but you have to keep in mind that no mirror is perfect and even if, say, a mirror reflected 99.9% of light, given a 1 meter cubed box, light would reflect 300 million times a second. So that means that after 10 microseconds there'll only be about 1% of that light left. However, generally when we...	[ "Almost any item can be booby-trapped in some way. For example, booby trapping a flashlight is a classic tactic: a flashlight already contains most of the required components. First of all, the flashlight acts as bait, tempting the victim to pick it up. More importantly, it is easy to conceal a detonator, some expl...

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