[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: NATO is an outdated organization that should have disbanded days after the Warsaw Pact did.

NATO really has no reason to exist anymore, the Soviet Union doesn't exist anymore, and Russia doesn't pose an actual threat to the US or any other core NATO members. It is also more risky to invite countries bordering Russia to join, as this could cause actual Russian aggression, and countries such as the Baltic states are not worth going to nuclear war over. And the whole support of rebels in Ukraine by Russia can't really be used against them, as the US government is doing the same in Syria by funding terrorism.

[Assistant]
>Baltic states are not worth going to nuclear war over?

Well what country is worth turning the entire world into radioactive rubble? Poland? Germany? Sweden? Finland? Would you be willing to launch nukes when Poland gets invaded? When exactly would you be willing to launch nukes?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5 If there is no matter in space, what do the rockets push on to accelerate a ship?

We were talking about space vacuums and stuff and physics and the teacher danced around my question. So what do they push on? Since there is no air or land in space (duh).

[Assistant] That's not how rockets work. Rockets don't "push on" anything. They're not sneakers. By igniting a chemical reaction, they cause an action, i.e., projecting a stream of expanding gas in a particular direction. The reaction is moving the rocket in the opposite direction. Whether the surrounding environment is a vacuum or not is entirely irrelevant to that analysis. Indeed, rockets work *better* in a vacuum, as there is no atmosphere to resist the motion of the engine.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why isn't the Marvel Universe a supertech paradise?

Between Iron Man (Arc Reactor technology) and Ant Man (he could easily build a space elevator, among other things), how has humanity not turned the Earth into a supertech paradise, then conquered the Universe?

Sure, guys like Thanos might prove to be a problem... until 999999999999 Iron Man suits made out of Uru simultaneously blast him in the face.

[Assistant]
Reality intervenes. Set aside the products of this "supertech." Let's look at mundane tech. There is enough available "fresh" water, and enough available food produce, to supply every individual on the planet.

Yet people starve and suffice to drink contaminated water, or die of thirst. Why?

A question of the ages. There lacks the infrastructure to deliver these commodities to everyone on the planet. There lacks the desire. There lacks the awareness.

Why should "supertech" follow any different laws? Why should we expect these superheros to behave any differently?

Yes, we attribute to them a higher level of morality, but they are still subject to the same base emotions.

You have beings with nigh unlimited stamina that think they are bettering the world by punching people instead of, say, cranking a generator to provide free energy.

You have multiple PhD scientists developing transportation to alternate dimensions to satisify curiosity, rather than eliminate gridlock.

But the real question is, would supertech really make this a paradise? They've developed weapons capable of destroying the world. Do we want these passed out to everyone?


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How and why does the body/brain become "alcohol dependent" after continuous drinking? And what makes it possible for an alcoholic to experience seizures, hallucinations, heart failure, etc. (the "DTs") when they stop drinking?

[Assistant]
Physiological dependence occurs because alcohol (ethanol, which is the principal form of alcohol in booze) binds to receptors that normally take a molecule called GABA (gamma aminobutyric acid), which primarily works as a depressant for the central nervous system. GABA is usually produced in a way that balances out a different molecule called glutamate, which primarily works as to excite the central nervous system. When ethanol increases the activity at GABA receptors continuously, the brain becomes accustomed to that artificial influence and decreases its natural production - the balance of GABA and glutamate receptor activity, on average, "appears" balanced to the brain's normal mechanisms.

Ceasing to consume ethanol leaves the brain with a lower-than-normal amount of GABA receptor activity, and either a normal or increased amount of  glutamate production and receptor activity, resulting in over-excitement of the CNS. This can have effects ranging from unpleasant (shakes, confusion, mild anxiety) to very distressing or even life-threatening (alcoholic hallucinosis, delirium tremens, seizures) because the excess glutamate causes the nervous system to be active in ways that it should not normally be.

EDIT: It is also worth mentioning that something very similar happens with other GABAergic drugs such as benzo- and thienodiazepines (e.g. alprazolam, diazepam, etc.). This is why benzo withdrawal can be similarly dangerous.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that when you have motion sickness in a car/bus, looking outside somewhere far away makes you feel better?

I know motion sickness is the failure of your brain and eyes to sync in motion. But staring at something far away (which would seem like it's not moving), isn't that the same as not looking out at all?
However when I look at moving objects, passing trees etc, it makes me want to throw up immediately.

[Assistant]
Motion sickness is caused by your inner ear and eyes sending conflicting information to your brain. Your brain then thinks you're hallucinating, which means you might have ingested poison, and you need to expel it. So you get nauseous.
People can get motion sick on/in vehicles because they move with the vehicle. Imagine you're in a closed room on a ship in rough seas. Your inner ear perceives you going up and down on the waves, which could be huge movements, but you are barely moving at all in relation to your surroundings (the room). That confuses your brain. If you're on the deck and staring at the horizon, the tiny movements of your eyes tracking it as you move will match up more closely to your inner ear's signals, which can help you not become sick. Closing your eyes can also help, as it removes the conflict in signals, but but it has issues in movement while your eyes are closed, which can be easily perceived as danger by the brain.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Why is it that Chernobyl is uninhabitable for many years while Hiroshima and Nagasaki are thriving cities?

Did the Chernobyl meltdown just release a lot more radiation?  More than a nuclear bomb being exploded over a city?  What's the difference between a meltdown and the bomb?  Thanks for any help!

[Assistant]
The route in which a bomb delivers radiation is the opposite of a nuclear power plant.  Radiation contamination from a bomb comes largely from the neutron activation of materials around the bomb.  When the bomb goes off it makes neutrons, which temporarily make things radioactive.  These materials decay and life goes on.  Due to the low mass of radioactive material in the bomb (only 10-50 kg depending on the isotope), there's not much waste, and the waste that does exist, is scattered over a tremendous distance.

When a reactor operates, it makes neutrons, which activate material, but the bulk of the reactor's contamination comes from the waste generated from the fissing of the uranium.  Tons of uranium fuel goes into a reactor, which turns into tons of waste.  This waste is in the form of various isotopes, which all have different lifetimes.  Some waste decays to a stable product quickly, other waste decays in millions of years.  This waste contains elements from the whole perodic table, quite a few which are chemically very nasty.  Because of the form of the radiation (in waste), the amount of it (tons), concentration( around the reactor), and the lifetime (varying over a long time to a short time), reactor melt downs are much more of a problem then a bomb blast from the contamination view point.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
What fills the empty spaces in our bodies?

My question is one I've wondered about for quite a while.  Veins are, excuse the line, a series of tubes, so it's not like blood is just randomly filling in all of our cavaties.  I also imagine our organs don't just fit together like puzzle pieces, so there must be empty space in there somewhere.  What's it filled with?  I doubt some type of air, but am unsure what else it could be.  I know of nothing that  produces secretions just to "fill the gaps", but I'm not a biologist ;)  What's in there?

Thanks!

[Assistant]
In the abdomen - fat, mostly. There's a small amount of fluid that helps lubricate things as they move around.

Some organs change shape and size (e.g. bladder, stomach, intestines), whilst others stay constant (e.g. liver). They do pretty much fit together like a jigsaw puzzle, with fat filling in the gaps.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Game of Thrones][ASOIAF] How are Kingsguard men chosen? (Minor GOT S6E3 Tower of Joy spoilers)

The problem I see is trying to find the best fighters in the realm, and yet *also*  managing to find the most loyal men who would defend the king to their last breath.

Ideally whichever House was in power would only enlist the best of their own men, perhaps looking to historically allied houses for additional good fighters. But the chances of rolling out a Kingsguard line-up with men who have long worked for your House (and or in a well trusted allied House), *and* who are so skilled that the majority of Westeros's top fighters are in their ranks... Well, it's leaning towards extremely unlikely.

During times of relative peace and comradery between the main Houses, you can have a team of Kingsguard made up of the best fighters in the realm from a variety of Houses with little to no issue. But surely someone (from the House in power or perhaps a potential usurper) would realise the problem of having so many skilled fighters from other Houses given top notch equipment and access to the home of the Royal family. Heck there are two examples of this flaw in (what I understand to be) the Kingsguard hiring checklist that I can think of off the top of my head.

Firstly, Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer. He had a valid reason, sure. But still, from the side of House Targaryen he was obviously a weakness in their Kingsguard due to his lack of loyalty to the Targaryen rule, ending with him stabbing the king in the back instead of following his orders. Of course to anyone with common sense, he did the right thing. But all it takes is for one member of the Kingsguard from a powerful House to decide they don't agree with the King's decisions before plotting (and carrying out) a take-over. Jaime was one of the top fighters in Westeros, but definitely lacked loyalty to House Targaryen or any house besides House Lannister (although it could just as easily be explained as preventing a massacre).

On the other hand we have the ever-loyal Kingsguard accompanying Sir Arthur Dayne in defence of the Tower of Joy against Ned Stark, Howland Reed and their allies. This may be Sir Gerold Hightower (and or Sir Oswell Whent), but as the show leaves many of the combatants unnamed I shall be calling Dayne's fellow Kingsguard "Bob of House TBA". Now Bob TBA was certainly loyal, to the extent of accompanying Sir Arthur to the Tower of Joy and standing to fight numerous fighters (all pretty good fighters in their own right). He lacked skill though. He clearly isn't one of Westeros's legendary knights or we would have heard more about Ned facing off against Arthur Dayne *and* Sir Bob TBA. He's not mentioned in the show, and from what I understand is not expanded upon much in the books either. During the fight scene he survives for a while against Ned's band of fighters, but is dispatched rather easily and without pomp or glory once Team Ned gets back into formation. Of course, then they get deftly defeated by Dayne on his own (if not for Reed's backstab and Ned finishing him off), but my point stands. Bob was a paragon of loyalty, but clearly wasn't one of the realm's top fighters.

So what gives? What is the process? If you were in charge of Kingsguard HR and Personnel, how would you change the system?

[Assistant]
The official process is very simple.  The king offers people the job, and they take a standardised oath that involves not marrying, not inheriting, serving the king, and not retreating.  How does a king choose?  It depends on the king.

Some kings want mighty warriors.  Arthur Dayne, Barristan Selmy, Jaime Lannister, all could eventually compete to be the greatest swordsman in the realm.

Some kings want good advisors.  Barristan Selmy's honour was impeachable.  He would always have a proper course of action to suggest.

Some kings want loyal men, willing to do whatever they want.  Jorah Mormont had been with Daenerys from her wedding to Drogo.  Meryn Trant had no code of honour beyond doing what his master needed.

Some kings want to use appointment politically.  They appoint someone as a favour, or as a curse.  Jaime was the firstborn son of Tywin, appointing him deliberately slighted the man.  But to appoint a third son, or someone else seeking for glory, would be a great sign of prestige and a real chance for them to influence the king.

Most kings realise that you can do all of these things.  You don't need every kingsguard to be a great warrior so long as some of them are: they defend a throne, not a city or even a palace.  You don't want everyone to be political, since that's a valuable carrot to offer to nobles.  Loyalty is admirable, but appointing on loyalty alone can make kingsguards weak.  Advising's only really necessary for a couple of kingsguards: the lord commander and his heir apparent.  The rest can follow good ideas.  So the king thinks about who's available, listens to what his small council says, takes under consideration the advice of other noblemen, and eventually comes to a decision.  They normally start with a kingsguard mostly intact, but if they don't, they pick up a few as they go along, waiting for the right men rather than doing things too rapidly.

Daenerys is an excellent example of a ruler who has had to set up a kingsguard (queensguard, whatever, it's the same concept) from scratch.  She starts with Jorah Mormont, a decently capable warrior who she thinks is loyal and who seems to give good advice.  She adds three bloodriders, and this is mostly political: she wants some of the Dothraki Drogo led to stay with her, but they're decent fighters as well.  Barristan Selmy is, if anything, overqualified (he can do everything but sway politics), so he's an obvious pick.  Daario is a good example of a good non-loyal choice: it's political (she wants his mercenary company), he's an exceptional fighter (he kills the champion of mereen and the guardsmen at Yunkai), he can advise (he knows the local culture better than anyone she knows), but she knows he's not loyal (he gave her the heads of his previous commanders).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
When we speak of the wave length of light is that just a metaphor?

I know that light doesnt behave like a wave or like tiny marbles but it is sometimes useful to describe it in those terms. Similarly,is the term "wave length" just a helpful but not completely accurate metaphor or is it actually an accurate description?

[Assistant]
It is an accurate description for when you are dealing with many photons.  When you are dealing with one or few, photons and quantum mechanics are needed, but when you are dealing with a large number of photons, it is generally easiest to treat the light as a classical wave.

So, you'll find scientists using wavelengths and classical physics to describe light in almost every field except for some areas of physics, chemistry, and astronomy.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [WH40K] Why is Chaos inherently evil/antagonistic towards everything?

[Assistant] I think the word you're looking for is "Destructive". And that's because Chaos is philosophically aligned with the creation of entropy; i.e, the destruction of peaceful order. This behavior is defined by non-nihilists as "Evil".


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How does Garlic cause bad breath?

[Assistant] It doesn't. It causes your breath to smell of garlic. Some find that to be a bad odor, some are neutral, and some actually like it. The reason for this is that garlic has a lot of oils and other compounds that are very volatile and odorific.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why not Comic Sans?

What's wrong with it? Seriously?

[Assistant] It was misused badly back in the "the more GIFs on your homepage, the more awesome a website you have"-days. Now it's like listening to Wham! - Last Christmas. The song might not actually be bad, but people are so tired of listening to it...


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[GOTG/Marvel] How strong is Drax exactly?

Is he on par just an exceptionally tough human, or could he hold his own against Cap or even Hulk?

[Assistant] GOTG 1 had him at Cap-level, but GOTG 2 had him swinging from the back of the Milano as it crashed into a forest, and he was just laughing off getting smacked into treetops at re-entry speeds. So that puts him closer to Iron Man in durability.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Elasticity

Why does elasticity become less than 1 as we go down the demand curve? In which part of the demand curve are people more sensitive to an increase in price and why?

[Assistant] The first of something you really want is great! Youd pay a lot for it. But the more you get, the less big a difference each additional one makes. On a hot day, you might pay plenty for a water bottle, but would pay less for 2 bottles, 3 bottles etc. When youve already bought many of something, you are more sensitive to changes in price.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Bioshock Infinite] How does Booker not rip his left arm off when using the Sky-lines?

[Assistant]
The skyhook is designed based on two principles, ensuring that your wrist doesn't break, and relying on forward momentum.

The skyhook is designed with an arm brace, so that the shearing force doesn't do some damage. But the important thing is that you have to be moving in order for the thing to work. That forward momentum transfers the force that would rip his arm off into moving forward. Physics, basically.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How do people come up with new words for new inventions, like the word "film" or "movies" or "video" for when they invented video recording?

Like when they created that riding horse video that it is the first video created, using the idea of frames per second and motion image. How do people think: wow let's call this a movie, let's call this a video etc

Or when they invented the train, they just go like "look at this amazing way of transportation, let's call it a train"

[Assistant] The word movie is a shortened version of what they used to call it: moving picture. The words generally come from descriptions of what the thing is, sometimes from other languages, sometimes not. Train, for example, comes from the Latin traphere which means to pull or draw. Then it got translated to French trahiner which eventually became train.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Bobs Burgers] Why is Bobs Burgers so unsuccessful?

Bobs burger joint is in a prime location, only a block from Wonder Wharf. He makes good burgers, and has good, fun, creative ideas for the burger of the day. Bob displays significant culinary skill. The restaurant has a steady stream of customers, and regulars.

Why is Bobs Burgers not more successful? It seems like the restaurant should be bringing in more money.

[Assistant]
Bob is an excellent Chef, but he isn't a great business man. He spends a large amount of his income on premium ingredients which allows the food to be so extraordinary, but he doesn't charge prices which imply the value of the food that people are eating.

Further, he isn't very good at marketing, advertising, or any of the 'soft skills' of business ownership. What few advantages he does have, are mitigated by his wife and kids.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do ads like "single moms in the area'' or those fake download buttons exist? Who actually benefits from that, and how?

[Assistant]
You'd be surprised how many people click them. They're just adverts that don't go anywhere paid for by the companies or the individual who made them and every time somebody clicks on them, they make a bit of money.

People make a lot of money out of adverts like that.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[The Dark Knight] Other than setting up a cliffhanger, why did Batman have to be the one to take the fall for the murders Harvey Dent committed?

Why was saying Batman started randomly killing people the only option they had. I know he was still alive at the end of the movie so he could always deny it and try and tell the truth about Harvey, but they couldnt say Joker killed all those people? Hed been publicly killing people the whole movie and even if he did try and deny it and expose Harvey, would anyone believe the joker over Gothams white knight?

[Assistant] Joker was already captured when Harvey Dent died and there were too many cops there to sweep it under the rug. They needed a credible reason for Dent to be there and a for him to die and blaming the kidnapping on Batman and making him out to be a murderer takes the spotlight off Dent allowing you to sweep all the other murders under the rug blaming Batman or the joker or whoever.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What happens to the common cold during the off season, where does it reside and why/how does it come back?

[Assistant]
Colds spread more in winter because people tend to stay inside in closer contact; they don't completely die out over the summer, there's just less people infected. When it gets cold out the infection rate increases, and everyone gets a cold again.

It's also worth noting that plenty of countries are always cold, and that summer and winter are reversed between the North and South hemispheres. Even if colds did completely die out in summer there would still be people infected somewhere else.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Doom] How does that marine hold all those weapons?

Does he use a bag of holding?

[Assistant] MythBusters actually did this. Nine appropriately weighted weapons and ammo boxes, running through a course made with help of an actual iD level designer, shooting enemies. It was hellish for Jamie and Adam, but to everyone's surprise, when they got in a guy with peak marine-level strength and fitness, it came out as very plausible.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Second Amendment: what is well - regulated?

As a European, it is hard to grasp the right to bear arms. Without blaming the US for having the Second Amendment, I just want to understand it. President Obama says he wants to do something about gun violence, but his chances are not that high (I guess).

The Second Amendment says 'a well-regulated millitia'. What does that mean? Is it possible to impose restrictions based on this clause? For instance, prohibiting selling arms to people under the age of 21, or to people having mental illnesses or to convicted criminals?

Again, I don't want to question your constitutional right, I just want to understand it.

[Assistant] The second ammendment is a two parter and is seperated by the comma in it. The part concerning firearms and such is "... and the right to bear arms shall not be infringed." The "well-regulated" part concerns only the militias.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Bioshock] If ADAM was never discovered, what would likely happen to Rapture?

[Assistant] The same stuff, only without mutants and a bit later, probably. The whole "Science was unstoppable until science couldn't be stopped" stuff was part of it's downfall, sure, but ultimately what destroyed it at it's core were the inherent contradictions of capitalism and the utter insanity that is objectivism, and those would still exist without ADAM.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How does hypnotism work?

[Assistant]
A trained professional(hopefully a psychologist, not a performer), relaxes you and puts you in a "hypnotic state", which is really just a super comfy mood where you're "open to suggestion".

It is 100% about their words(touches and actions can help put someone into a hypnotic state, but it's generally considered bad practice because it's too intimate).  They choose words and ask things in a way where you feel compelled to answer/do what they tell you.

Even when hypnotized, you won't do something you would never do.  For example, if you told someone to do something outside of their sexual preference(the opposite/same sex, stick something in their butt, etc.) they would totally refuse, regardless of being hypnotized.

Hypnosis done in shows is about 10% hypnosis, 30% placebo, 40% social pressure, and 20% the skill of the hypnotist(these numbers are all guesstimates).

Hypnosis done in psychotherapy can have great benefits, but it entirely depends on the patient and the practitioner.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: what does an over and under mean in sports betting?

[Assistant] Whoever the bookie or house is will give a number of total combined points they think both teams will score? So they may say it's 52.5 in football which means they think if you add up both teams scores at the end will be 52.5. You bet whether you think the total will be over or under that amount. So if you bet over on 52.5 and the final score is 26-21, you lost as the total is 26+21, so 47 which is under 52.5. If the score is 35-29, you won as the final total of 64 is over 52.5.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Are cell phones constantly checking for incoming calls, or is there a more clever, battery-saving trick?

I just feel like that would drain the battery non-stop and I can't think of a better solution for this.

[Assistant]
The receiver is always on.  It receives data on a low-data-rate channel that doesn't take much power to run, and listens for a code that indicates the cell phone tower wants to talk to it - and also listens for the relative strength of signals coming from all nearby towers, so that it knows when to switch towers.  It also wakes up periodically and "pings" the cell phone tower nearby, and/or tells the network it wants to switch towers.

The trick is to operate the phone's radio receiver in a low-power standby mode most of the time, and switch it on to full power only when a certain signal is received from the tower.

Incidentally, with TDMA phones (Time ~~Domain~~Division Multiple Access) you can hear when the phone is talking because each fraction of a second is sliced up into something like eight timeslices, during only one of which your phone is allowed to talk, and the timeslices have an audio timescale -- so electrical interference from a TDMA phone (into, say, a stereo or a set of headphones) has a characteristic buzzing sound.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why can't we see well after waking up ?

[Assistant]
Rheum is the fluid that lubricates and coats your eyeballs.  When you're awake, normal blinking action keeps that stuff moving and working itself out via ducts.  When you sleep, though, it just sorta sits there and thickens up a bit, maybe gathers a little dust, etc.  In the corner of your eyes where it dries completely, that's what the crusty stuff is, too.

Anyway, once you're awake for a bit, your blinking clears it up again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: If water is made out of Hydrogen and Oxygen why isn't it the perfect fuel?

I mean its all you need for a fire so why does it put fire out instead of make it gargantuan?

[Assistant] Because water is essentially the ash of combustion of hydrogen and oxygen. It's already had the energy extracted, and to convert it back into fuel, you'd first have to add a lot of energy to separate the two elements again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] How do the massive engines used in things like cruise ships start up?

[Assistant] Most big engines are started with compressed air through an impeller, like a larger version of the air guns  you use to put the wheel of your car on. They provide a great deal of torque for a short period of time, just what is needed to get a big engine running.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Every time I have a scratchy or sore throat, I am told to gargle salt water. Why?

How does gargling salt water help your sore throat? Or does it even help?

[Assistant]
Believe it or not, this is actually a treatment commonly used for the great-great-grandaddy of all chest colds, cystic fibrosis. In CF, people get thick, sticky mucus because of a defect in their ability to secrete water into the airways.

Normally, you secrete mucins (the proteins that make snot snotty) along with signals that tell the cells lining your airway to secrete enough water to dilute the mucins to a usable viscosity and elasticity. Think flour and water; add just enough water to the flour and you have a thin gruel. Not enough water and you have bread dough. People with CF, however, lack an important bit of the machinery of that whole process, so they don't push out enough water. As a result the mucus is much thicker and, like bread dough, is much harder to pour.

One treatment is hypertonic saline; a high concentration sodium chloride solution that is put in an inhaler and breathed in as an aerosol. The aerosol particles sit on top of the mucus and this sets up an osmotic gradient that pulls water up from the epithelial cells to dilute the mucus. Bread dough becomes gruel again, for a short time.

Gargling salt water makes a poor-mans aerosol; bubbling air up through the water makes little salt water droplets that can float down into your airway. The osmotic gradient that forms when they land acts to pull water out into the airway. This water mixes with the mucus that may have solidifed somewhat around some irritant (be it bacterial, botanical, or whatever) and helps you flush it away.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Why can green, red, and blue alone be used and combined to make every visible color, like on screens? Are there other combinations of colors that can do this?

[Assistant]
It's down to the way human vision works. In your eye, you've got rods and cones. Rods are receptors that can judge intensity of light - how bright or dark something is. Cones are responsible for color, and they come in three varieties. Each type of cone is sensitive to a different range of frequencies of light, centered around red, blue, and green. The brain determines what color something is based on the relative strength of the signals coming from the different types of cones. So yellow light will activate your red-sensitive cones and your green-sensitive cones to around the same degree, and your brain with think "yellow". However, rather than shooting yellow light into your eye, you could shoot some green light and some red light, and it would end up activating the same cones. Thus it's impossible for the brain to tell the difference between "yellow" and "green + red".

edit: expanding on this, it should be noted that RGB isn't perfect. Owing, if memory serves, to the overlap in the frequencies that trigger the different cones, there actually doesn't exist three colors that on their own can perfectly replicate the response of any arbitrary wavelength in the human eye. We can do pretty well, but there would, for instance, be some vivid yellows that you might see in real life, but which couldn't be replicated on your computer monitor.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Skyrim] I've been roaming the woods trying to do good and help people but every so often a wizard in the ass-end of nowhere pops out from behind a tree and tries to murder me. Am I doing something wrong? Did I stumble upon a death cult?

[Assistant] Skyrim is in the midst of a collapse in civil order due to the ongoing Civil War, which has led to an increase in general banditry, including magical bandits. These evil wizards and necromancers always existed on the fringes of society, but with the war drawing away the focus of the guards who would normally work to keep them in check they have become emboldened to start attacking travelers. As far as why they are attacking you, most of them are necromancers, they probably want your body for experiments or as a new minion.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Doctor Who] What number regeneration is the Doctor on?

In doctor who I've heard the doctor has started his regeneration cycle over again because River Song gave him all her regeneration and I've also heard he is number 13 instead of 1. Can somebody explain this to me better?

[Assistant]
He's on 13.

And it wasn't River who did it. She sacrificed her regeneration to keep #11 alive. #13 was something given to him when he saved Gallifrey from destruction - *how* it was down is unknown.

EDIT: Changed #12 to #11, since the War Doctor is unnumbered. Damn timey wimey crap.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Please ELI5: I know the military has access to tanker trucks, Why haven't the National Guard convoyed in Fuel from out of state to hurricane affected areas?

I was an 88M, basically a truck driver for the Army. I've been on convoys with 20 tanker trucks filled with disel, JP8, and gasoline running up and down Iraqi highways. I've driven from Ft. AP Hill, Virginia to Ft. Sill, Ok in two days. I can't for the life of me understand why it is so hard to get fuel from one place to another.

[Assistant]
The department of defense was deploying fuel trucks yesterday (Saturday) all over NYC (not sure about other places) with a 10 gal. limit on each vehicle.

I am not sure what the plans are for expanding the program, but Obama is already on this and receiving great advice and is acting "too quickly" according to some.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Dragon Age] Help, I keep ending up in the Fade

Not literally, but every night my dreams take me into the fade. Is this normal? Im afraid to tell anyone because the Templars in my town tend to stab first and ask questions never. I havent seen any demons yet, but lots of dead relatives and an elf that keeps asking me to visit nearby ruins. Is there any way to go back to having normal dreams?

[Assistant]
You're probably a dreamer, someone who has the natural ability to enter the fade and control your actions there.  You have the potential to be a *tremendously* powerful mage.  Unfortunately, you need training to harness that, and the circles cannot provide it.  There are a very small number of self tribes with Keepers who might be able to train you, but they will refuse to do so.  The other option is Tevinter, where Magisters will be falling over each other for the chance to have you as their apprentice, but you'll also end up learning blood magic.

Finally, you can look into getting made tranquil.  This will make the dreams go away, along with everything else that makes you *you*.  Also not a popular option.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
If we should use antibiotics sparingly, why is daily antiseptic mouthwash OK?

We've been hearing for a while now that overuse of antibiotics leads to proliferation of antibiotic-resistant strains.  Why doesn't the same apply to dental mouthwashes/rinses, which are recommended for daily use?

I understand that "old school" mouthwashes are not really antibiotic; that they work by making it harder for plaque to settle on tooth surfaces.  However, newer "burn-free" mouthwashes without alcohol, e.g. those that contain cetylpyridinium - does the same concern apply?

[Assistant]
It is typically much harder to develop resistance to disinfectants applied externally. This is because disinfectants and topically applied antibiotics can be much more toxic to both the human and the bacterial target without negatively impacting the human. Things like bleach and alcohol are very toxic to microorganisms due to broad damaging effects, damaging effects that would occur in humans if we tried to use them internally. Consequently, bacteria cannot evolve total resistance since the disinfectant hits so many targets.

For internal antibiotics, we must damage only bacterial proteins or processes without damaging host proteins or processes. Thus the antibiotics used internally tend to have much more specific targets like cell wall synthesis or ribosomal function. As a result, bacteria are able to more readily evolve resistance since only one or two proteins are inhibited.

However, that is not to say externally applied antimicrobials are fine to use prolifically as we are beginning to discover bacteria resistant to triclosan, found in numerous products like soap and toothpaste.

So the tl;dr version is that topically applied disinfectants like alcohol are able to damage numerous targets within the bacteria making resistance almost impossible. Think of it like a weed growing in a lawn. A weed can evolve to resist a pesticide that only targets the weed but allows the grass to grow but likely won't evolve resistance to napalm which would kill everything including the grass.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Marvel] How powerful is Magneto and what exactly are his powers?

[Assistant]
He can control the electromagnetic spectrum. This allows him to fly, create force fields, and other things. He *was* ridiculously powerful.

However, currently, his powers are weakened. He can barely levitate, and he can't lift very heavy objects with his telekinesis.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Independence Day. War of the Worlds] is it plausible that these alien races with advanced shielding are susceptible to bacteria and computer viruses?

[Assistant]
Well, in ID we discovered that the aliens worked with some hind of hive mentality - it wouldnt be suprising in they had no interpersonal conflict within their own race, so never developed security for their own systems.  Our own microprcessors were based on the technology from the downed roswell aircraft, so effectivly out computers were related to theirs - they never anticipated their own computers being used against them as they would never use their own computers against themselves.

The Martians on the other hand probably made one fatal assumption - that life on Earth emerged indipendantly to themselves, so their biology would be too different to be succeptible to out pathogens.  But the truth is that panspermia occured, and we both had a universal common ancestor, meaning our pathogens could thrive in them and vice-versa.  Now, we either got very lucky and none of the more 'interesting' strains of bacteria or virus from mars survived the trip over, or their extreme mastery of industry meant they completely sterelized all their peoples native microbiomes, so there were none to deliver to Earth.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Party Rock Anthem] How did the song turn into a mind-affecting virus?

Also, how are people alive if all they've been doing is "party rocking" for a month straight? Not sleeping for that long has got to do a number to your system, doesn't it? Wouldn't everybody be dehydrated?

EDIT: Some more questions. Is there a cure, or are you done for once you've heard the song for a certain length of time? Does it only affect humans? People who are affected only seem to attack those who aren't dancing, but how little can you do and still call it dancing? Would it affect wheelchair-bound people differently? How do "infected" people infect the deaf? Would it affect sentient AI if they had mobile limbs? Where is the music coming from in the first place?

[Assistant]
it's simply another musical virus of the kingdom "rhythm" similar to the "Funk" that was first spread by Parliment. patient zero is rumored to be Bootsy Collins. Most people are Carriers of some "Rhythm" virus although curiously African Americans seem to have a higher carrier rate than almost any other ethnic group. the thing about the kingdom of Rhythm viruses is that we actually have a symbiotic relationship with them. they are important to our mating rituals. though not essential.

how one contracts "The Funk" is simple. once enough carriers band together in a band and then become popular enough. the disease hits critical mass and becomes airborne. generally Rhythm Viruses are mostly harmless. usually only resulting in extended dancing and joviality. for most the symptoms only last a weekend and they wake up fine on monday morning, though sore legs and hangover's are not uncommon. and Rhythm Viruses shape culture in more ways than almost any other microorganism. for example India has been in the grip of the "Bollywood" virus for years. and they function fine. after a while the virus mutates and changes "genres" as a effect of evolution. for example the Black Metal and Death metal Rhythm viruses(which show as excessive Headbanging as the primary symptom) come from the same "Metal" parent virus.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Trek]Both the Romulans and (before they joined the federation) the Andorians didn't use disruptors with stun setting. Even if you don't care about morality or ethics, wouldn't it be wise to have a stun setting so you can take prisoners?

[Assistant] Sure. That's why you violently and painfully disintegrate the guy standing next to the person you want to take as a prisoner. Keep doing that and eventually you'll find someone willing to be taken prisoner.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
How do websites store videos and images? Can this be done using databases?

I'm reading a book about HTTP and it talks about "web resources", which are sources of web content such as HTML documents and images. If we want to persist these images, are they then stored on the server along with other web resources, or are they stored in a database?

In short, where are videos and images stored on websites such as YouTube or even Reddit? Is this done on the database, and if so, in what form?

Apologies if this question is trivial or not properly worded, I'm new to this field and I'm curious. If someone could point me in the right direction I would appreciate it. There is a lot that I don't quite understand yet, but I am taking steps to learn.

[Assistant]
More than likely they're stored in something like AWS S3 and the database would just have links to them. It is possible to store an image straight up in a database though but it would be as a blob/buffer data that is then turned back into an image on the client. The blob/base64 string way can be slower/probably not recommended.

For fast load/performance they'd use caching/cdn.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] What's the probability that in n vectors, each with n elements where each element is a random integer, that the set is linearly independent?

[Assistant]
You are asking the question:  "Given an N x N matrix *A* with random entries from some commutative ring *R* (e.g., integers), what is the probability that *A* has non-zero determinant?" The word "random" in this particular context means that we have assigned some probability distribution to the ring *R* and the matrix entries are chosen according to that distribution. (In particular, there is no uniform distribution on the integers, so your question doesn't make sense as stated since an unqualified "random" is usually taken to mean "uniform".)

This question is pretty tough and there are entire branches of mathematics that describe random matrixes. One easy-ish result is the following. Suppose the ring *R* is just the real numbers. The condition that the matrix *A* has zero determinant is equivalent to some equation of the form p(a*_ij_*) = 0, where *p* is some polynomial and the a*_ij_* are the entries of the matrix. This equation describes some set in R^(N^2). All non-zero polynomials on R^(m) are non-zero (Lebesgue) almost everywhere, whence the set of points that satisfies p(a*_ij_*) = 0 has Lebesgue measure zero. Now suppose we give the real numbers *any* probability measure. That measure is absolutely continuous with respect to Lebesgue measure, and so the zero set of *p* has zero probability. In other words, the probability that a random matrix is *singular* is zero, no matter what the probability distribution on the reals is.

For other rings, the answer may be different. For instance, if *R* = **Z***_2_* and we give *R* the uniform distribution, the probability that *A* is singular is actually positive for all *N*. (In fact, the probability remains positive as *N* --> infinity.)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] Why do babies say double-syllable words like "mama" and "dada" when one syllable would seemingly be easier?

[Assistant]
It depends on what stage of language development the kid is at.

As children age, they go through distinct stages of learning, and they acquire the ability to recognize, and later produce, words of increasing phonetic complexity.

For example, it's easier for a child to say a 'd' sound than it is to say a 'th' sound. It's easier for a child to say something like 'see' than it is for a child to say 'spree', or 'seat' or 'street'. Often, a child can easily HEAR the difference between a word like 'see' and 'seat' but the child can only say 'see' for both cases.

Invariably, the ability to comprehend words of a given complexity exceeds the ability to pronounce them. Repeating a syllable 'like mama' is often a way for the child to approximate a word that has more than one syllable, like 'mother'-- They can get the first part down pat, but saying the whole thing is often a bit too tricky, so they say the first part twice-- this is called 'reduplication', and it shows that the child has awareness of the syllable structure of a word, but doesn't yet have the ability to properly articulate it yet. (it's also easier to say 'mama' than it is to say 'mommy' (two different vowel sounds in the second word))

Kids can also reduplicate because adults find it cute and give them attention when they do it. Search for 'child language acquisition' for more info!.

Hope this helps! Back to thesis writing.

EDIT: a bit late on this one, but it seems some people are getting hung up on the example 'mama' for 'mother'-- It's kind of a bad example, 'mother' isn't a common form in infants' input. A better example would be something like 'wawa' for 'water'.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5:Why w is double-u instead of double-v?

[Assistant] In Latin V and U were the same letter. Since the English alphabet is based on the Latin one VV and UU are the same thing. When English got around to combining Latin and German they'd use VV (two Vs) to write the German /w/ sound because in Latin V is almost pronounced the same a /w/; ie. "veni, vidi, vici" is pronounced "weni, widi, wiki."


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Last Airbender] Even an average bender is capable of pretty mammoth acts of destruction. Why, then, do any major cities still stand? A motivated Earthbender vandal or Firebender terrorist could do very extensive damage in only just a few minutes. What prevents this?

[Assistant]
For the problem of vandals: Mastering the art of bending is one that involves self-discipline and spiritual enlightenment. It rewards those with patience and will more than impulse. Though there are numerous bending triads in Republic City, there is a difference between organized crime (where the main goal is profit, usually, over mayhem that can be traced back to you) and destructive terrorism.

Now, during the 100 Year War, the Water Tribes were protected by their remote location, and the Earth Kingdom is heavily fortified at it's edges to prevent invasion. A spy would need to be well-trained indeed to infiltrate into the Earth Kingdom far enough to find a truly valuable target that would merit his giving up any disguise to set it ablaze. Not to mention Earth Kingdom settlements are, naturally, composed primarily of earth and stone, not materials that tend to catch fire easily.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why are older Jurassic Park movies more realistic than the newer ones like Jurassic World, do they not have the budget to get animatronics?

Recent movies seem so cheesy now with all that CGI. How come movies with huge budgets not invest in animatronics to enhance the "realness" of the films?

[Assistant]
One of the main reasons why the original Jurassic Park looked so good is because various camera tricks were used to account for the limited technology. Even then, the CGI sucked and the animatronics--while they were definitely beneficial to the film--weren't enough to carry the weight of the special effects throughout the entire movie.

So what was the solution? Using shadows, night scenes, and backgrounds that had similar colors to the CGI dinos being used. All of that contributed to making the blemishes of the dated technology far less noticeable than they would've been in brighter and/or more dynamic environments.

Today, CGI is undeniably better than it used to be but generally, directing techniques don't utilize it to its full potential like Spielberg did with JP (mainly because it's easier, cheaper, and less time consuming).

That said, current CGI may look cheesy, but if 90s movie directors used the same tactics that directors today use (and some certainly tried), it wouldn't just look bad, it would look offensively terrible.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[MCU] If pym particles were used to expand a solid steel ball within a hollow steel sphere of equal composition and strength, what would happen?

The main question being...do pym particles being used give the ball the ability to destroy the sphere on expansion, or would the equal strength cause them to reach some sort of equilibrious state where the size change would halt or they would forcibly weld together somehow?

Obviously, if the outer sphere was weaker, it would be destroyed, buy, what if the outer sphere was stronger?

What if there was a hole in the stronger outer sphere? Would the ball extrude through the hole?

[Assistant] Pym Particles are more magic than science.  They might blow up the outer sphere, or they might leak-out into the outer sphere and make that expand too.  Hank may know, but he doesn't seem too keen to reveal his secrets.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5Why does it take so long for a sunburn to hurt/ appear after the burn is inflicted?

[Assistant]
Ok, so...

Sunburn isn't like a burn from, say, grabbing a hot piece of metal--it's an ionizing radiation burn, caused by ultraviolet radiation.

Like other forms of ionizing radiation, UV radiation doesn't directly stimulate or damage pain nerves like heat does.  As one other commenter stated, it damages RNA, which later causes inflammation.  It's the inflammation that eventually causes the pain.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Dungeons and Dragons] I'm Evil, but I don't want to be tortured for eternity in the Lower Planes. What are my options?

I'm glad that people are tortured in general, but I'm selfish. I'm worried more about my wellbeing than about advancing the cause of Evil. Here's what I've come up with so far:

####Getting into the upper planes:

I could just try doing good acts, like killing goblins. I'd hate that they won't go on to have children who will be tortured for eternity, but it would be worth it. But I've heard that it doesn't count if you're just doing it for selfish reasons. Then again, I'm certainly not doing it for Evil reasons either. Maybe it would at least get me into the Outlands with all the True Neutral people.

I could use a Helm of Opposite Alignment. Again, this will probably result in me killing goblins and saving their children and children's children from damnation, but that's worth it. I am concerned that I won't be able to afford it. Last I heard they went for 4,000 gp, and I'm not sure they even exist anymore. Also, will it actually change where I go when I die, or just mess with me while I'm alive?

I've also wondered about becoming a warlock. I've heard it described as selling your soul. Can I sell my soul to a good being and go to heaven? Or if that's not how it works, can the bargain I make be that if I do whatever they want I go to the upper planes?

####Not dying:

Becoming a lich would be nice, but it sounds really difficult and I'm not sure I'll be successful.

I could try for another form of undead. Apparently undead can't be resurrected, which makes me think their souls are stuck in the animated body.

Maybe having Reincarnation cast on me each time I die would reset my lifespan. I'm not clear on that.

I could use Clone. That one specifically says I can make it a younger version of myself.

I could use Magic Jar, which seems like basically discount lichdom.

I could have Imprisonment cast on me. Hedged Prison might be okay. There doesn't seem to be any rule against sending multiple people to the same prison, so that should prevent isolation from being a problem. And if it is, still better than hell. Alternately there's an option where I spend my time asleep. And one where I'm in a gem but people can still see me and I can see them, so I can interact with the outside world. But interacting with the outside world is dangerous. Someone might decide to end the spell at some point.

I could die while wearing a Ring of Mind Shielding, as long as nobody else dies while wearing it.

####Destroying my soul:

I've heard there are creatures and/or rituals that can consume your soul. Are there any I can do safely? I've heard demiliches can consume souls, but I'm not sure if they're still around in 5e. Also, I can't find anything about them needing to consume souls, and I suspect I'd have to brave traps to find them and have them consume my soul. Apparently night hags have a soul bag that carries evil creatures, but I'm not sure that works indefinitely.

####Conclusion:

Ideally I want to go to the upper planes, but short of that I feel like my best option is destroying my soul, or at least hiding it really well. Even if I don't age, I'm bound to get killed eventually. Most of them seem pretty difficult though, and I don't want to die as a murderhobo before I have enough money for one of these. What are your thoughts? Is there anything I missed? What option is best?

[Assistant]
First up, you don't want to destroy your soul.  That's a worse option than all the other options combined.  Trust me on this.

Now then, the easiest way to escape eternal torture is to just worship a God who ain't too picky about their followers. The loophole here is devout followers get to skip the whole alignment based plane thing and go straight to their god's realm when they die.

I would pick a God of commerce or fortune.  Most of them are neutral (neutral is boring, but boring is better than torture!), and you show devotion by being a good businessman.  That means haggling over every penny, always getting the best deal, and all around being a greedy bastard.  You can channel your evil impulses into that, right?  It's for your soul after all.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Man of Steel] Why does Zod want to terraform Earth to be like Krypton anyway?

On Earth he and his troops all have super-powers. They already have a vast supply of food (assuming they still need to eat) and they've got an entire population to do stuff for them if they feel like being lazy... why turn it into Krypton? Why not just conquer it and remain powerful and just rename it "New Krypton" or something?

[Assistant] Conquered populations tend to resist.  Powerful as the Kryptonians may be, having to quell regular uprisings would still get old after a while.  Furthermore, Kryptonians can adapt to Earth's environment with time, but Zod doesn't want to spend the time having his people adapt, he wants to have a suitable environment for Kryptonians so he can start rebuilding his race as quickly and effectively as possible.  Thus, terraforming Earth into something resembling Krypton was the most logical choice, for the long term.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
is it the same time everywhere in the universe?

When we look at stars we see them as they were when the light first left, but is it really the past?

[Assistant] There is no way to define a universal present. Observers moving relative to each other or even at different gravitational locations will disagree on what constitutes "the present" (and by extension, the past and future as well).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5 : What changed that allowed SpaceX to go from crashing rockets on barges to a 3 for 3 success rate?

[Assistant]
Every crash is a learning opportunity.

They weren't crashing because they didn't know WTF. There's a ton of very complicated stuff to work out to land a rocket, and getting it even a tiny bit wrong usually results in an explosion. Rockets don't really do rough landings. It's either perfect, or kaboom.

So every time they crashed one, they tweaked the next one a little, until eventually they found the winning setup.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Death Note] If I were to get the Death Note in this reality, would anyone really be able to stop me i.e. discover me?

If I maintained my normal life as a high school student and followed a similar method of killing like the bees in Black Mirror which had someone tweet #DeathTo ... and I wrote that name.

PS. Would placing Donald Trump on the Death Note be that suspicious.

[Assistant]
I think a lot of Lights issues were due to his personality. Yeah, hes incredibly intelligent and that helped him get as far as he did, but he didnt just want to kill a few criminals. He wanted to be a god. He enjoyed the worship and the fame.

Plus his dad was the chief cop on the case. Light was too close to the investigation.

I think if you were a normal person and just went on living your normal life, it would be incredibly difficult to be discovered in the real world.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5 What is rolling thunder?

As I understand thunder is the sound of the air collapsing as lightning creates the vacuum. But what is rolling thunder, that deep long continuous thunder that happens when you might not see lightning?

[Assistant]
Lightning creates thunder by super heating the air it passes through, which expands rapidly. If you're close to it, it's one sharp CRACK.

When it's further away, though, it usually can't travel directly to you. It bounces off surfaces, echos, and comes to you through multiple routes. That spreads the sound out, so you are hearing the one crack many times.

The same thing happens with a gunshot. Nearby its louder but also more distinct. Further away quieter and more rumbly and spread out.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Can the Hubble telescope take a picture of the Webb telescope?

Do their relative positions let them see each other?

[Assistant]
Hubble is in Low Earth Orbit, and spins around the Earth about once every hour and a half. So it quickly gets a view of almost everywhere in the sky.

But JWST is too small to be seen as more than a dot, even by Hubble. The sunshield is 22 metres across, but it's 1.5 million km away. This gives it an apparent angular size of 0.0027 arcseconds, but Hubble's best resolution is 0.04 arcseconds - anything smaller than that is a blur. An arcsecond is 1/60th of an arcminute, and an arcminute is 1/60th of a degree. The Full Moon is about 30 arcminutes (2160 arcseconds) across - half a degree. Jupiter at its closest is about 50 arcseconds across.

So yeah, you could hypothetically point Hubble at JWST and detect a point of light there, but it couldn't see it as anything other than a dot.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Metal Gear] John (Naked Snake) was apparently so incredible a soldier that a whole research program was made to mass-produce his abilities. But why is he so great? Is he a genetic prodigy (incredible reflexes, eyesight, etc) or is it a product of his focus, determination, sheer f*ckin will?

[Assistant]
The point of the first game is to show you that genes are not important - solid beats liquid despite having the "inferior soldier genes", although both were tricked into thinking it was the other way round.

The second game shows that "memes" (genuinely) are part of the reason - raiden/player trains and is tricked into reliving the events of mgs1 and becoming another snake despite sharing no genes with the others. They created another super soldier just through simulation and control of information.

3 shows that BB is the best because he was trained by the boss and managed to defeat her, both in terms of skills and soldier - ability and willingness to shoot her for his country, despite his feelings of disenfranchisement. He becomes big boss both because he's the most capable and because he follows orders, like a soldier. (Although that doesn't last long)


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Does the moon's effect on tides consume energy and does it mean the moon is decelerating? If so, how fast?

Hopefully the title requires no further clarification.

[Assistant]
Yes, kinetic energy in the earth-moon system is being lost through tidal friction.  The system's angular momentum must be conserved and this happens by slowing the rotation of the earth and orbital speed of the moon.  In other words, both the day and the month are gradually increasing.  The longer month also means that the moon is moving away from the earth.

Another way to think of it is that some of the earth's spin is being used to push the moon into a higher orbit.  The end-game would be when the length of the day and the month become equal and the earth always keeps the same side facing the moon in the same way that the moon already keeps the same side facing the earth.  Once this happened there would be no more changing tides on earth due to the moon, though there would still be tides (about half as strong) due to the sun.

From memory, this end-game is not predicted to happen until the earth is at least twice as old as it already is and, by that time, the sun will have expanded massively and possibly consumed both the earth and the moon.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What's the significance of the letters associated with vitamins, and why does Vitamin B have all the subnumbers?

[Assistant]
Vitamins were originally name by biochemist Casimir Funk in 1912. It's short for "Vital Amines" but we now know none of the vitamins are actually Amines. So it is already a bit of a misnomer.

Funk went about to determine which molecules couldn't be made by humans themselves and had to be consumed. The first one he discovered became Vitamin A. The next Vitamin B, and so on.

Each Vitamin has drastically different chemical structures and different functions in your body, they are just essential to consume in your diet as your body doesn't make them from scratch.

Several scientists later revisited Vitamin B and found that it was more than one thing. So more B vitamins were named. They all tend to do something with cell metabolism though.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Marvel/DC/Other Superheroes] What are some really clever or unexpected uses of powers?

Skitter (Worm) has used spiders to make body armor, 90s Superman (with his energy powers) converted explosive energy into "sound energy" (whatever that is). Wonder Woman used her lasso to figure out Superman is Clark Kent and Batman is Batman. Fox Magneto escaped prison by pulling iron out of his guard's blood. What about Beast Boy, Quicksilver, or Thing? What's the coolest thing Batman has done with his wealth?

edit: Not mundane uses of powers, but surprising uses of powers. Less "Flash can clean his house quickly" and more the Storm example Bussy used below.

[Assistant]
Don't challenge Scott Summers to a game of pool. Or darts. Or bowling. Or any activity that involves trick shots. One of Cyclops' required Secondary Powers is an *innate* understanding of geometry. He uses it to bounce his optic blasts around corners and stuff.

Wolverine challenged him to a game of pool once because of that petty pissing contest that goes on between them. Logan thought he had the upper hand because he is older and has spent a massive amount of time in bars and pool halls. Scott was up first. He called 8 ball in right corner pocket. He then broke, and all the balls went into the pockets, in numerical order, with the 8 going in the right corner last. Logan was speechless.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DBZ] Has Master Roshi ever gotten laid?

He seems brought to near climax by pretty much anything and women seem to despise him. Could he even go all the way?

[Assistant]
He was a handsome devil back in the day, but in the end in his youth he was far more focused on his martial arts.

Be advised, he was still a pervert, but only an average pervert by Japanese standards. He really didn't become so Pervy until his old age.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How is it that inflation can affect everything EXCEPT wages?

[Assistant] Wages aren't unaffected by inflation, they just tend to be slower to increase, primarily because employers tend to avoid raising wages for as long as they can get away with it (especially in low-wage sectors).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[MCU] Why isnt Interstellar travel being worked on?

I have hard time believing that this wouldnt be #1 on the governments list of priorities.

[Assistant]
It is, the guardians of the galaxy already have it.

Joke answer out of the way, it probably still is being worked on, but the first problem to be sussed out is getting out of the solar system in the first place. The wheels of science grind slow, with the exception of those Tony Stark types (shaking fist at sky).


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Austin Powers] What's the deal with Vanessa?

It's revealed in The Spy Who Shagged Me that Vanessa Kensington-Powers is actually a fembot designed by Dr. Evil, complete with machine gun jugglies. However, in International Man Of Mystery, she's explicitly shown to be speaking on the phone to her mother, Mrs. Kensington, whom Austin had worked with 30 years prior. Not only that, it's established that the fembots short-circuit when exposed to Austin's raw shagadelic mojo, so Vanessa definitely should have been compromised at some point during their wedding night consummation. So the question is, was she always a fembot, or was she replaced at some point, and if so, what happened to the real Vanessa?

[Assistant]
The Vanessa fembot was a custom build with hardened defenses, whereas the others were just assembly line productions.  She did start malfunctioning after sex with Austin, though, so she wasn't completely immune to his wiles.

The real Vanessa probably died in Dr. Evil's lair when she and Powers were captured and placed over the tank with ill-tempered sea bass.  Evil swapped her out with his cunning decoy then.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Marvel/DC] Who are some ultra powerful heroes or villains that don't use their powers to their potential and are considered not as strong as they really are?

[Assistant]
Iceman.  He has been known as a omega mutant for many years, and was said by all others he is really underachieving in using his powers.

Emma Frost once possessed his body for a few moments and managed to do things he never even tried.  And his response to seeing mutants all around him getting depowered in M-Day was to subconsciously shut down his own powers in assumption that he was also depowered.  Turns out he wasn't but it's his own mind tripping him up again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: How does leverage not defy conservation of energy?

I can't get my head around how applying force at the end of a longer lever makes that force greater. Where is that extra force coming from?

It just seems impossible that a small force can lift a heavy boulder, and I don't see why *length* is a relevant consideration.

[Assistant]
You, a human being, most likely cannot move 1,000 pounds of dirt all at once. However, you can probably move five pounds of dirt two hundred times. You therefore could move 1,000 pounds of dirt (but not all at once) because you spread the work over a longer period by moving five pounds of dirt at a time.

That's all that a lever does. It allows you to do less work at any one given time to accomplish the same goal over a longer time frame/distance.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
CMV: Russell Crowe's performance as Javert in the 2012 Les Miserables movie was remarkable.

I have heard far too many people bashing Crowe's singing in this performance, calling it monotonous and unimpressive. I am not an expert in theater, but I thought Russell Crowe's style was very intentional. As a character Javert is robotic and one-dimensional. That is what he adds to the story. He understands the world a certain way and is so rigid in his perspective that he would rather die than wrestle with the possibility that he is not completely correct. The world is black and white for Javert. So when Crowe sings with a monotone and carries himself so stiffly and stoically, he is being as true to his character as one could be. I know Javert may have been played differently by great stage performers, but I believe Crowe's performance was perfect. People talk about how great Hugh Jackman was in this film, and how his voice was so full of passion that his entire body trembled with the weight of his character's emotion--but remember, Jackman's character is the antithesis of Crowe's. They represent two extremes. Crowe had to embody the rigidity of the old guard and law. Jackman had to embody romanticism, grace, and passion.

[Assistant] All of what you said would be perfectly agreeable if it weren't for the pinnacle moments of Javert's character. Stars and Javert's Suicide are two of the most important moments in Javert's performance, which is why they're solos. Take Javert's Suicide. The entire song is incredibly emotionally complex. Javert has been shown mercy and saved by a man who is impure and flawed based on everything he has ever known. His life is now indebted to a former prisoner of his, and he has absolutely no idea how to handle that. As an actor who has been in and seen a production of Les Miserables, I've seen what experienced musical theatre performers can do with that song, and it completely defines Javert in the show. Russel Crowe isn't able to bring any of the depth and conflict that scene rides on to the table through the most important aspect in the song: his voice. There is no manipulation of dynamics, rhythm, or diction to make the music come alive and feel like a man losing his mind as his world crumbles around him. Instead, he's using the 'law abiding Inspector' voice that he did for the entire movie. In Stars, there are no attempt to make long, eloquent musical phrases that the style of show and song desperately call for to feel full and uncharacteristically passionate as it was written to be. Russell Crowe can make the notes, but for an operetta, if you cannot act with your singing, you're not doing justice to the part.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How do memory products such as an SD card or flash drive store memory and keep it saved when it doesn't have a power source?

[Assistant]
The controller causes a physical change in the memory module. In floppy disks it was a magnetic change.

SD cards use flash memory which has a set of gates that trap electrons. When electrons are trapped in the gate it changes the resistance of the gate. A new higher voltage is required to discharge the electrons from the gate. By using a voltage greater than the initial charge voltage, but less than the new higher voltage the device can check if a gate was previously charged or not.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [The Witcher] Why do the witchers of Kaer Morhen have "American" accents and everyone else sounds British?

[Assistant]
Regional dialects. Most of the people you interact with are from a few select regions. parts of Tamaria, Redania, Skellige and Nilfgaard. Tamaria and Redania have very similar spoken prose, while Skellige and Nilfgaard have their own accents.

Well, Kaer Morhen is waaaay up in North-east Kaedwen, in the middle of nowhere. Like most real-world instances, dialect can and accent can shift rather quickly as you move from region to region, sometimes quite dramatically. The peoples in and around Kaer Morhen (i think the're 1 town within a few days travel... its literally the middle of fucking nowhere) have a particular accent, and those raised at the Keep tend to pick it up.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Are there any universities in Asia that compete with Harvard, Oxford, MIT, etc, for engineering?

Looking for some lengthly answers hopefully. Thanks!

[Assistant]
MIT is regarded as the world's best engineering school.  Stanford is pretty close and then there are some R1 state universities (Berkeley, Michigan, Illinois, Georgia Tech, etc.) before it starts declining from there.  Most people would rank American universities for 9 out of the top 10 engineering schools in the world (and possibly all 10).

Harvard and Oxford both *teach* engineering, but they're not particularly well-regarded.

In terms of Asian universities, it's a mixed bag.

In American universities - at least at level we're talking about - emphasis is placed on understanding the material over rote learning.  Professors don't want you to just repeat their words back to them - they want you to be able to creatively apply what you've learned.  In contrast, most Asian education is very much by rote.  Innovation and creativity are discouraged in favor of simply regurgitating exactly what the professor said.

However, if you've got enough students (which you do with billions of people) and you stack all the best ones in a very small number of designated 'elite' schools, you'll end up with exceptional student bodies - the kind of students where you can hand them a library card, walk away and they'll be able to master the material even without your help.

But there's not much value add to that sort of educational approach.  You start with exceptional students and you're going to graduate some exceptional students.  However, those students would have likely been better served by a different approach.

You also end up losing what might be termed the 'misfit toys' - the people who have exceptional talents shackled to various limitations (autism spectrum would probably be the most obvious one, but there are all sorts of other problems students can have that conceal their brilliance in a purely rote learning structure).

So:

Are there any universities in Asia that compete with MIT?  No - because there are no universities *anywhere* that compete with MIT (note: there are universities that are better in specific niches than MIT, but MIT is probably in the top 3 for any niche you care to name).

Are there any universities in Asia that compete with other elite American universities?  Singapore is probably your best bet here.  It's not up to the elite U.S. state universities, but it's pretty close.  But even in Singapore, the output of the universities tends to overstate the quality of the university because the students they're admitting are so strong.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[The Matrix] How is Neo able to perform certain actions or see machine code in the real world?

Ive heard the theory about the real world just being another level of control, but Im not entirely convinced. So if thats not the case, how is he able to see Smith inside of Bane, or shut down the attack drones with his mind in the tunnels?

[Assistant] Neo is a cyborg, just like anyone who was in the matrix. There must some kind of planet wide wireless network, for controlling and communicating with the sentinels. Neo just has the ability to tap into this network. Smith when he was possessing Bane's body was actually just occupying latent implants that Bane had from his time plugged in.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What is the actual difference between different blood groups?

[Assistant]
Proteins on the surface of the blood cells. There are loads, but for the "normal" blood groups you think of, there are three different ones that are important: A, B, and one called "rhesus D".

If your blood has A proteins on the cell surface, your blood is type A. If B, type B. If it has both, type AB, and if it has neither, type O.

Separate to this, if your blood has the Rhesus D protein on its surface, you're a positive (+) blood group, and if it doesn't then you're a negative (-) blood group.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [Star Wars] Why didn't the Rebels just load a ship with explosives, and then use a hyperdrive to send it flying directly into the Death Star at FTL speed?

[Assistant] As a self-propelled unit, the Death Star doesn't have a fixed astrological pattern to accurately predict a destination for the hyperspace jump. Additionally, because the Death Star is normally in proximity to a moon or planet, there is a great likelihood that the mass of the nearby planetary object would activate the emergency shutoff on the hyperdrive, pulling the ship out of hyperspace prematurely.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[Star Wars: Legends] How could the Yuuzhan Vong be entirely disconnected from the Force if the Force exists in all living things? Shouldn't they be dead?

My understanding is that the Force is essentially the life-force of everything living in the universe, which certain people are able to draw on and exploit for power. Are the Yuuzhan Vong somehow alive without any life-force, or are they just unable to produce force-sensitives?

[Assistant] The Yuuzhan Vong lived on, and were connected to, a sentient planet -   Yuuzhan'tar. In the war that spanned their home galaxy,  Yuuzhan'tar was destroyed. Because they lived in symbiosis with the planet, the 'pain' of its destruction stripped them of the Force.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Is the barycenter of the Sun and Jupiter also the center of their mutual orbit?

I know that the calculated barycenter of the Jupiter and the Sun places it just outside the Sun's surface. The calculation I've seen is just a mass x distance calculation and is exactly the same one that we use to balance an aircraft (find the CG). All the points on an aircraft are rigidly connected and so gravitational attraction of the various parts to each other, even it was substantial, doesn't change the center of mass. That's not true of the Sun and Jupiter in a mutual orbit. They are not rigidly connected together and their mutual gravitation attraction attenuates substantially with distance. Wouldn't this mean the center of mutual orbit would not be the same as the calculated barycenter?

[Assistant]
With only the Sun and Jupiter they would orbit the barycenter, this is a direct consequence of conservation of momentum. With the other planets involved they don't move on perfect ellipses.

The position of the barycenter of the Solar System (relative to the Sun) largely depends on the relative position of Jupiter and Saturn. Currently they are close (and will come extremely close in our night sky in December), so the barycenter is outside the Sun. In a few years they are farther away and the barycenter will be inside the Sun again.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If something is airtight is it also watertight? And vice versa?

[Assistant]
Airtight will always be watertight, but watertight does not also mean airtight.  If something that is watertight is airtight, it will just be called airtight since that term encompasses both.

I always thought of balloons as an example.  If you tie a balloon off with some air in it,  it will deflate gradually over a few days.  However, you can try as much as you want to pour some water on it and see if any gets inside.  You won't have any luck.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
[DC] How high in the Justice League do I need to get before they tell me Batman's secret identity

I hear like half of the big seven have normal alter egos and half don't, but they call each other by their first names in private and don't act like the secret identity is a big deal.

How far up in the League do I have to be before I can get to that level?

[Assistant] "They" won't ever tell you.  If you manage to gain Batman's trust, *he* might tell you his secret identity, but none of the others ever will.  The only people Batman tells are people he trusts with more than his life.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
Does atom exists inside of a blackhole?

I'm trying to imagine what it would look like if I somehow could take a spoon of things from inside blackhole (I know, not ever possible?). Is it possible to separate them (whatever I've found inside) from their collapsed state? Let me rephrase that, suppose we could run experiments with blackhole material with some super fictional machine. What sort of experiments we could run with this machine?

[Assistant] Atoms don't exist in black holes - in fact, they don't really exist in neutron stars, either. You might want to start with those - which are extreme scenarios but do not crash quite as hard into yet-unknown physics and singularities.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: Why do humans take so long to fully develop?

Humans take over 20 years to grow and mentally develop completely, which is longer than most animals lives. Why does it take so long? What in nature causes this and has it always been this way for humans?

[Assistant]
The body is ready for reproduction around 13-14 years (and in some populations even earlier than that). This isn't that much longer than many other large-ish mammals.

It takes a long time for our brains to develop and learn properly (~18-25 years) because our brains are just so big and complex. And we have to go through a lot of cultural learning, with our culture being very complex because of language. No other animal has this.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Why do your muscles and joints ache so bad when you get the flu?

[Assistant]
A few reasons. Your immune system uses white blood cells to fight off infections, and to repair your muscle fibers.  When you have the flu, the white blood cells that had been repairing muscles are diverted to fighting the flu. So some muscle fibers are not being repaired as usual, so they're sore.

More importantly, your immune system releases some chemicals and hormones to help fight the flu, but which also cause inflammation - which also causes soreness.

Dehydration can also cause soreness, one of the many reasons to stay hydrated when you have the flu.

You can take an anti-inflammatory like naproxen to help with the soreness, but pay attention to the dosage, they are harmful if you take too much.  The most important things are to get plenty of rest and to stay hydrated.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What happens when someone, like say a homeless person, gets arrested on the streets but has no form of ID on them? How do they get processed? And say the person has a mental illness and doesn't even know his/her own name?

[Assistant] I work as a psych nurse and can answer part of your question. If the person has mental illness and meets criteria for detainment (they pose a danger to themselves or others or are so psychotic they can't make decisions for themselves), then a mental health officer could be called and place the person under an emergency detention. A psych hospital can accept the person as a patient and keep them up to 72 hours for treatment. A lot of homeless people brought in on EDs don't have IDs. We just take their word for it as to what their name is. We had a psychotic person come in once under one name, got treated, discharged, stopped taking her meds, became psychotic again, and came back under a different name. Admissions didn't catch it, but we did once she got to the unit, so we changed it back to her original name just to keep all her records congruent. But honestly, we had no way of knowing which name was the correct one. She came in with nothing but the clothes on her back and 35 cents. That's living free, no ties to anything.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: What causes white/grey products to turn yellow over time?

I have an iPhone 6 silicone case that was white but is now leaning towards a very faint yellow color (or at least less white than it used to be). Similarly, my friend busted out his SNES the other day and instead of the grey I've seen on other models, the plastics on his were pretty much yellowing. What gives? How can you prevent this from happening?

[Assistant] Plastics include chemicals that are there to make the plastic harder to burn. These chemicals include the element Bromine. Sunlight, specifically ultra-violet light, breaks down these chemicals and exposes the bromine, which has a yellow color.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If the fetal position is such a natural sleeping position, why does slouching while sitting down negatively affect the spine over time?

[Assistant]
The fetal position (recovery) is on ones side and is a laying posture. Gravity is effecting all of your body equally.

Where as slouching the chair is taking the force of gravity off the shoulders and pelvis and your legs are being supported by the ground...

That leaves all 9.807 m/s of gravity to affect your middle and lower spine in a way it was not designed for. Your spine being designed for pulling along the vertical rather than longitudinal axis.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: Is the solar system rotating on the same horizontal level or are they rotating in different positions in a 3D sphere around the sun?

[Assistant]
Most of the stuff is rotating in roughly the same plane around the sun. Though there are a ton of small objects, principally in very long orbits, that rotate at other angles as well.

The stuff that all rotates in the same plane does so because of conservation of angular momentum. Basically, they all started off from the same big, rotating cloud of dust that formed the solar system. They were all rotating in different directions. However, as objects traveling around the center of mass of the cloud (where the sun is now) in different directions collided, some of this rotational motion was cancelled out. If you were to "average out" the direction of rotation about the center of the cloud, that's the direction most things revolve around the sun travel. Since motion orthogonal (at a right angle to) this direction all got "canceled out," most of the solar system rests on a plane.

The objects that don't rotate on that plane are mostly objects the solar system has pulled in after it formed or are just a portion of the few, small objects that didn't collide with much stuff in the early days of the solar system and happened to retain their odd angle of rotation about the sun.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: What causes mercury to be so toxic while gallium is safe and shares simular properties?

[Assistant]
Gallium is not safe nor is it similar to mercury except that both are liquid at relatively low temperatures. Gallium is in group 13 and is similar to aluminum and indium.

Mercury can also be easily absorbed and gallium is very difficult to absorb.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: why do we find the sound of the rain soothing but can't sleep if there's a tap dripping?

[Assistant]
rainfall is randomized, and produces whats called a broadband sound: a sound which has lots of different frequencies, or pitches, in it.

a dripping faucet is generally pretty regular, like a ticking clock, and each drop creates a sound that is more narrowband: it has fewer frequencies, sometimes even to the point of being a discernible musical note. it also has a single discernible moment when the sound happens.

put all that together and what you get is that the dripping faucet grabs your attention several different ways, and when your attention is focused on something, you cant sleep because your brain is like im working on something here! cant sleep until were done with it!

the rain has no features to latch onto, and in fact its broadband nature means it masks other intermittent sounds which might otherwise catch your attention. by giving you nothing to pay attention to, the rain allows your brain to relax and drift off.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How can a speaker play multiple sounds at once?

[Assistant] The same way that your ear can *hear* multiple sounds at once.  Combing multiple sound waves together results in a single new sound  wave that can be created by a single speaker, and detected by a single eardrum.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] [MCU] Given the recent actions of Iron Man, the long and storied career of Captain Marvel, and to a lesser extent the exploits of Star Lord, how are humans seen by the wider galaxy? How did the galaxy react to half of the universe being saved by a planet that hasn't even cracked FTL yet?

[Assistant]
Star lord.... is not usually seen as a positive role model.

Captain Marvel wears Kree gear, looks like a pink Kree or someone from Xandar, and is so powerful she may get her own category in people's heads - you know, the Godlike Power category. Maybe they think she's an Asgardian? She looks a bit like Bifrost if you squint.

Iron Man... is probably unknown. His time in space was mostly spent either in Thanos' ships, on Thanos' dead homeworld, or stranded in space. No one knows about him, except maybe the Guardians or Captain Marvel telling the tale of Thanos' defeat.

The Kree know earth. The Xandarians probably do too, so the Nova Corps has enough record of them to identify what Peter Quill is (half of him, at least). They see it as a backwater, a forgotten, primitive world, like so many out there. It's not important, or won't be, until the story of how Thanos Died there spreads far and wide.

When the story does spread, several things will happen.

People will believe that Captain Marvel did all the work, because that makes more sense than some pack of rubes on planet podunk took out one of the galaxy's biggest threats.

Scavengers will come to see what's left of thanos' forces, and to pick clean the battlefield, only to find earth defended by what appears to be a nick-fury run S.W.O.R.D.

A few will try to extend peaceful hands towards earth. A few will try to attack. A few will build cults around thanos. A few will try to find out HOW thanos was beaten, if only to steal that power for themselves.  In general, it'll be confusion and madness until someone others recognize can step in and give a story (maybe not the truth) the weight it needs to be believed.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If keeping your heart rate up is good for you during exercise, is the same true of watching scary movies, playing video games, or other passive heart rate boosters?

[Assistant] Heart rate increases due to exercise are healthier than heart rate increases due to terror (eg. watching a scary movie). Terror-based heart rate increases are accompanied by a spike in adrenaline, which can be damaging to your heart over time.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User]
ELI5: what happens to a muscle when you pull it.

Pulled a muscle in my back yesterday and was curious what is actually happening when you feel that initial pain and the soreness after.

[Assistant]
When you  strain a muscle you are actually stretching it beyond its normal limits.  There are different grades of strains. You can pull the muscle and not  damage it in some cases and in others the muscle fibers actually tear. A  grade 3 sprain is when you pull the muscle so hard that it tears  completely and may require surgery.

Picture walking and turning you ankle. It may be mild or a grade 3.

A sprain is basically the same thing but involves the tendons and ligaments. Again there are three grades.

Each can be as painful of the other and you can get a strain and sprain at the same time.

The pain remains as the muscles, tendons or ligaments need time to heal.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: How do humans know that we've only discovered a fraction of the species on Earth? And how is that possible given we're 8 billion strong?

[Assistant] There's an awful lot of species that are too small to really see, or live at the bottom of the ocean (which is a huge percentage of the surface of the Earth).   We've documented the surface pretty well for things big enough to hold in our hand or larger (and even of those, new species pop up quite often), but when you get to figuring out microscopic mites that live on things deep in the jungle, and worms that live in mud three miles below the surface of the ocean, we're probably a long ways away from finding all examples.


[System] Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:

[User] ELI5: If your brain uses 20% of your calorie intake, and your brain uses more energy when used intensely, does this mean you can lose weight from using your brain more intensely on a regular basis?

[Assistant] Most of what your brain does has nothing to do with "thinking hard".  Rather, the energy is primarily going towards just keeping all the systems operational.  While it would no doubt be possible to measure some small difference in energy consumption based on use, this difference probably wouldn't favor the sort of thinking you're considering.  It's a much more difficult computational chore for your brain to play a game of racquetball than it is for your to lie dead still and philosophize about how much energy you can burn with pure thought.