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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't the government calculate my taxes for me? Or better yet, why don't they just take the correct amount out of my paycheck so there's no such thing as "doing taxes"?

So first off, all the tax forms I've been getting (from my employer, bank, loans, et cetera) say that the forms are ALSO sent to the IRS.

So ... why doesn't the IRS just process all of these forms in some predefined system and have *it* do my taxes? Why make me do it where I'm prone to make errors?

OR, better yet, why not be even smarter about it and eliminate "doing taxes" by just taking the *exact* amount owed out of my paycheck rather than having me guess at a proper withholding amount and either owing money or getting money at the end of the year.

It just seems like such a stupid and inefficient system this way - and besides, the government wants my money, they should do the work to figure out what I owe or put the proper rules in place so that the correct amount is taken out of my paycheck - why is the burden on me to do all this extra stuff?

[Assistant]
That's precisely what the government does. They take the correct amount out of your paycheck.

Except it's not a perfect system. Your taxes depend on not just how much you earn in a year, but what you spend your money on that year. So the *precise* amount you owe can't be computed until after the year's over, and a full accounting of everything you made and spent is available.

Which is why you have to turn around at the end of the year and do the arithmetic and send in your forms. Because only then is the information necessary available.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why when the FBI wants someone "dead or alive", they don't have the right to the Sixth Amendment?

ELI5: Why when the FBI wants someone "dead or alive", they don't have the right to the Sixth Amendment?

For example, Osama... I'm not saying he didn't deserve what was coming, he totally did and I'm happy he got it. But basically our country has a principal where even if people see you commit a crime, you're "innocent until proven guilty". I even see it in the news. With the recent tragedy in Connecticut,  many news organizations refereed to Adam Lanza as "the suspect", even though everyone knew he killed all those innocent people.

So, essentially my question is how does the FBI legally put a death warrant out for people who haven't been put on trial? Does the 6th amendment only apply to US citizens, or are there loopholes?

[Assistant]
The FBI doesn't issue "dead or alive" warrants, as they do not exist within the borders of the United States nor do they apply to US citizens.

You may be referring to "kill or capture" orders; these are issued by the President, the CIA, or the Department of Defense. In all cases, they may only be issued for persons considered "enemy combatants". In one case, a US citizen was killed in Yemen on the order of the President; this is considered legal because he was considered an "unlawful enemy combatant" under US policy and the Geneva Conventions and thus was not guaranteed Constitutional rights. Likewise, Osama Bin Laden was considered the same, and the legality of his killing is more clear as he was not a US citizen and was directly engaged in actions against the United States.

The reason Lanza was referred to as a "suspect" is because news agencies don't want to be sued for naming someone as a criminal before they are prosecuted and found guilty. This is also why the refer to most crimes under investigation as "alleged".


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What happens when parents of very strong force-sensitive children refuse to hand it over to the Jedi?

During the Clone Wars, let's assume a jedi is on a planet with heavy Separatist activity. In fact, it's a given that the Separatists will take control of the planet soon enough.

A jedi is hanging out in a village and discovers a force-sensitive toddler with potential power that rivals Anakin Skywalker. The jedi tries to tell the parents that he/she can take the toddler, train it in the ways of the force, and turn it into a jedi. OR......the Separatists will likely discover the toddler, take it BY FORCE, hand it over to Dooku, and it will become an evil dark jedi.

No matter what the jedi says, the parents REFUSE to hand over the toddler.

If the jedi consults the Jedi Council, what would they advise the jedi to do in this scenario?

[Assistant] Most people in the core have enough respect for the Jedi that they know how much of an honor being a Jedi is. And in the outer rim most parents recognize that a child inducted into the Order will have a better life than if they stayed. But in the rare case that the parents refuse to hand the child over, than you must remember that finding force-sensitives is never a routine thing, the Force itself chooses their fates. If they are fated to become Jedi than that is exactly what will happen one way or another.


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

[User] [Superheroes] I have superpowers like superman, instead of fighting crime i want to first clean up the local river that's polluted with trashes and chemicals. How can i clean up the river using my powers and how long will it take?

[Assistant]
You're pretty fast, right? Fly to the White House, threaten the president and his (or her) family.

Tell them the environment needs saving, and strict environmental protection and clean water regulations need to be enforced by the national guard for a year until the new green-paradigm becomes the norm.

Remind them that you're invulnerable and will soon be murdering everyone who stands in your way. Topple the aristocracy, destroy the 1%, free the people, eliminate artificial scarcity, clean that God-damn river.

There, river is fixed.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do orbits tend to be on the same plane? Is there some reason that perpendicular orbits do not exist?

As far as I know, planetary orbits around our solar system and other planetary systems all tend to be along a flat plane, and Pluto's odd, highly elliptical and slanted orbit is quite an anomaly. Given that space is in 3D, what makes the orbits stay in this coplanar configuration?

EDIT: Thanks for all the great answers, especially that video. Once I figured out that angular momentum essentially defines the plane, my question sounded really silly but I guess that's why ELI5 exists!

[Assistant] Planetary systems are believed to come about from big balls of dust/gas collapsing. The center forms the star, then rest forms the planet. If the original dust/gas ball has any spin at all, that angular momentum must be conserved as everything collapses, causing the whole mess to form a disk-shape before we managed to get any planets. Once you're in the disk shape everything is basically almost in one plane, so planets that form from there will all have very similar orbital planes unless something wierd happens.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it that your facial skin is so different from the rest of your skin that products have to be made specifically for it?

(For example, hair removal lotions for your legs can't be used on your face)

[Assistant] Lots of products have chemicals which won't hurt your skin, but you don't want them in your eyes/nose/mouth. Your face contains those things, so they recommend that you not put the product on your face. Nair will remove leg hair without too much skin irritation. Get it in your eye, and you are gonna have a real bad day.


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

[User]
[DUNE] Why do people want to transmogrify into giant sand worm monsters?

Didn't a member of house Atreides turn into one? Or was slowly developing into one? What would be the motivation to become that?

[Assistant] Immortal, invincible giant worm monsters.  Human bodies aren't built to live 3000 years, and are vulnerable to all sorts of things.  He also knew it was the only way to achieve his long term goals, thanks to his gift of prescience.


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

[User] For a specific moth or butterfly Is the DNA identical in egg, larvae, pupa, and adult stages?

[Assistant]
Depends on what you mean. Generally speaking, the genetic sequence remains the same for all life stages, but what does change is the state of the DNA and levels of protein expresison in the cells.

As the insect goes through its life stages, different parts of the genome are made available for transcription and translation, allowing the animal to undergo such dramatic physiological change.

If you want to read in more depth, PMID 31438816 is a review paper that discusses metamorphosis and how/why it happens.


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

[User]
Have we been able to successfully create matter from energy?

Since we theorize that that's the basis of the big bang, have we been able to prove it experimentally, albeit in a much more controlled environment on a much smaller scale?

[Assistant] Yes, that's what happens all the time at CERN, Fermilab, etc... : particles are accelerated so that they gain an enormous amount of kinetic energy. This kinetic energy is then converted into new particles during collisions.


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

[User]
CMV People being upset about Scarlett Johansson playing a transgender man are undermining the transgender acceptance movement.

Transgender people are working towards acceptance for who they are inside, not because of their outward appearance. Being upset about a woman playing a man is defeating the entire point. If a person were truly accepting of the idea of someone being looked at by who they are inside, you would wait and give her a chance to actually act the part. Not throw a fit about "how can a woman play a man!?" To me it seems very hypocritical and I don't understand, other than it being people who are upset about anything and everything already.

[Assistant]
Is there any compelling reason for transgender acceptance to exclude transgender actors?

In a vacuum there is no problem with Scarlett Johansson playing a transgender man, or with any actor performing in any role, really. People are upset that cisgender actors get cast in transgender roles when trangender actors already have such a tough time getting work. (There's an argument to be made that this particular movie wouldn't have gotten made without ScarJo, but still, the general point stands.)


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

[User]
ELI5: how does salt/a salt water rinse help mouth ulcers or a sore throat?

I understand that it can help, but I don't understand why it helps. Could it be used for things outside of the mouth and throat?

[Assistant] Water follows salt, and bacteria need water. After they get pulled out of the infected area by the salt in the water, the salt pulls out the water inside the bacteria too, and that's how they die. To answer your second question, yes it can be used in other areas. In medical situations there's something called *normal saline*, which is water that has just a tiny bit of salt in it, and this is used most often to clean wounds and dilute liquid medicines for use in IV preparations.


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

[User]
What cause a jet engine to "flame out"?

When a jet engine is deprived of an oxidiser they shoot a flame at the back. It seems counterintuitive to me because shouldn't this prevent combustion from occurring? Could someone please explain this to me?

[Assistant] Lack of fuel or air,(oxidizer) can cause a flame out. Which essentially is when combustion ceases. A lack of air, (oxidizer), can cause a rich fuel air ratio, allowing unused fuel to exit the tail pipe which can cause a visible flame.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Was King Arthur a real person in this universe?

Merlin, the wizard mentor in the legends of Arthur, is a central figure in the history of wizardkind, and Morgan Le Fay is also mentioned to exist. So, did King Arthur himself exist as well? Was he a wizard himself, or a muggle?

[Assistant]
Yes. The old but canonical Pottermore sitethe one that was sort of like a game where you could collect items and suchhad a Chocolate Frog Card for Melin which said:

> Merlin is the most famous wizard of all time. He is sometimes known as the Prince of Enchanters and was part of the Court of King Arthur.

Note that for this would be true it means the Potterverse and our world must have divergent histories. In our world, the first mention of Arthur in literature shows up in 9th century, but the Potterverse's Merlin was born in the 10th century.


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

[User] [Warhammer 40k] So I've been conscripted into the Imperial Guard. Assuming I live, how long do I have to serve, and will I ever be allowed to go home?

[Assistant]
CONGRATULATION'S, SOLDIER!

You have survived your first battle! Let's hope it is just the first of many!

Now you are probably just *full* of questions, as most first-time, surviving conscripts are, so let me answer a few of the most regularly asked questions.

First of all, yes, we are absolutely allowed to drag you from your bed, throw you in a uniform, hand you a gun and drop you on a battlefield. The Emperor protects.

Second, no, you will not be given shore leave. Not shooting or being shot at is your "shore leave". We know you miss your families, but the xenos scum will never stop coming and if you falter for even a second you will have no family to go home to. For the time being, your brothers in arms are your family, and the battlefield is your home.

Third, no, there is no "retirement". Does your God Emperor ever retire? Does he ever rest? Our lord is virtually dead and yet He fights the very essence of the Warp at all times. You may retire when the Emperor retires.

Fourth, no, there is no "disability" or "veteran benefits". Who told you that?

And finally, yes, you are being sent to fight again as you hear this.

SO SADDLE UP, SOLDIER! WE DROP IN FIVE!


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

[User]
CMV: If worker co-opts are really that much better at being productive and treating their employees. They will win out naturally in a capitalist economic system.

Really rather simple. There is absolutely nothing forbidding worker co-opts in a capitalist nation. If you and a bunch of other workers want to build your own factory and own it together. Even if there is 100s of you. You are free to do so. In fact your rights as owners will be protected whether there is 1 of you or several hundred.

If those co-opts really are more efficient and generally better to work for. They will easily outcompete the businesses that are owned by a smaller group of people.

If you have better worker treatment and pay you get a much better talent pool of workers to choose from. Human talent is the most valuable resource on the planet when it comes to business.

I can see the counter argument that the powers that be will not allow it to happen. I say nonsense. I am reminded of Napster the first music sharing service that came out in 1999. Boy how those record labels tried to fight free transfer of music. They eventually killed Napster and even the next iteration which I believe was Limewire. But the technology couldn't be stopped, nowadays you can listen to whatever song you want for free. Same with these worker co-opts. If they are really that fucking awesome then eventually there will be a country that will have a ton of them. It might take a while but those sort of ideas are pretty much impossible to kill once they have spread.

I don't think that will happen btw. I think worker co-opts are inherently weaker than your standard capitalist companies. Because they are far less flexible. People who would lead the co-opts would be elected. Which means you need someone who is both good at getting votes AND running a business. Most people are good at one or another.

[Assistant] Problem holding co-opts back is capitalism. Many industries are capital heavy and require major investments to start up or grow rapidly. Co-opts only source of capital is revenue that is often not enough to compete in these fields.


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

[User]
CMV: Adopting a system of universal, free college tuition in the US is a bad idea and would hurt the country rather than help it.

I believe that college degrees already don't do much anymore because of how many people have them these days. We need a master's or something else to stand out because a Bachelor's just isn't enough. Making it free, and pushing so many more people into college would just add more and more degrees and make them useless. Qualification Inflation, as I've heard it called.

I believe that free college would remove the incentive to provide quality education, and that overall education will decline and become sluggish to change.

I believe free public schooling will make specialized private schools unable to compete, and die out. People wanting highly specialized degrees that aren't offered by most public universities will no longer have that option if the private schools fall apart.

A tip: I know other countries have implemented free tuition. If someone could point out example of nations doing it successfully and seeing benefits that outweigh the costs, that could probably convince me since it's hard to argue with results and real history.

What I'm not as responsive to is speculation.

Thank you in advance to anyone who responds.

[Assistant]
>I believe free public schooling will make specialized private schools unable to compete, and die out.

Free public school has not eliminated private elementary or high schools. Why would it eliminate private university?


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

[User] ELI5 When doing the same amount of physical labor, why do some people sweat a lot while others don't?

[Assistant]
Differing homeostasis methods that only work right under some circumstances. People genetically adapted to high heat with lots of environmental water will sweat a lot, and quickly, when under stress, because that's the optimal outcome. People descended from wetter climes will sweat less but maybe reduce their metabolism to reduce heat generation.

It's also a matter of fitness, people who are fit will tend to sweat 'sooner' than people who are unfit - their bodies know that they need to cool off fast before the workout starts.

Some rare people have disorders - they sweat constantly or at the slightest provocation, or they don't sweat at all.


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

[User]
Is there any difference between mass granted by the Higg's mechanism versus mass granted by the Strong force?

Forgive my terminology, but as I understand it, the Higg's field creates mass for elementary particles, but the vast majority of mass we see is a result of the strong force holding together bundles of quarks and nucleons.  How is it that these 2 seemingly different mechanisms result in something that on our scale look like exactly the same thing?  Does mass created by the strong force interact with the Higg's field?  Does mass created by the Higg's field interact with the curvature of spacetime?

[Assistant]
> Is there any difference between mass granted by the Higg's mechanism versus mass granted by the Strong force?

No, there is no difference.

> How is it that these 2 seemingly different mechanisms result in something that on our scale look like exactly the same thing?

Because both mechanisms are doing the same thing: confining energy. The strong force confines the energy of particles with color charge into a small amount of space, and the Higgs mechanism confines the energy of particles that interact with the Higgs into a small amount of space. In both cases, mass essentially results from the relation E=mc^2 , by virtue of the respective forces confining energetic particles and thus giving them some average rest frame.

An advanced undergraduate-level exercise, which might help, is to show that a photon trapped in a massless mirror-box has an effective mass given by E=mc^2 . It doesn't matter what forces hold the mirror-box together; what matters is that energy is confined.


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

[User] Why do I, when sick, usually have one nostril relatively dry and the other clogged and runny?

[Assistant] This actually happens pretty regularly when you're not sick. Fun trick: sit up straight, cross your wrists over your chest and tuck your fingers/hands into your armpits, then try to breathe deliberately and evenly through your nose, so that your sides expand outwards at the same rate. Do this for a minute and if you find you're breathing more into one side than the other, switch the crossing of your arms and continue. You should now be breathing through both nostrils evenly, if your body allows.


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

[User]
[Dune] House Atreides is relocated to Arrakis, knows it's a trap, and yet

... their ships are on the ground in the same place, their troops all seem to sleep at the same time, it takes them minutes and minutes to mobilize, and there seem to be a few thousand troops to defend a duke at the most coveted location in the known universe.

Granted, the loss of the shields due to treason was unforeseen, but I can't imagine, knowing of the impending threat, putting all of my ships conveniently within the same few square miles, not having military on rotations, and not having adequate defenses at all times. Why not have patrols near where the Spacing Guild might drop off accursed Harkonnens? Why not have the Duke at a more secret location? Why only have only what looks like maybe a brigade or two instead of having a full field army or navy?

With the backing of the Emperor, perhaps it was a lost cause no matter what, but the loss was so absolutely devastating that it seems like there was more than just the negligence of trusting a doctor who's love for his wife superseded his loyalty.

[Assistant]
There were multiple unforeseen factors that caught the Duke completely off guard. Doctor Yueh betraying them was unprecedented and robbed them of 90% of their defenses outright, but the major x-factor was the Sardaukar getting involved so quickly in tandem with the Harkonen armies.

The Duke assumed a trap but also assumed he'd have more time to prepare and was training troops on par with the Sardaukar. The Emperor knew this and wanted him out of the great game *immediately* and the Harkonens were willing to bankrupt themselves to get the chance to win their rivalry outright, both of which are extreme moves that there was no reasonable cause for thinking was going to happen.


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

[User]
[Halloween 2018] Why did Michael spare the baby?

Sorry if this is a dumb question. So, in the halloween 2018 film, Michael is going on a killing spree and ends up breaking into a woman's house and killing her. on his way out, he sees a crying baby in a crib, but only glances at it before walking away.

My question is, why did Michael spare the baby? I know its not out of the kindness of his heart, as Michael is literally pure evil, kills indiscriminately and has shown literally no qualms in killing children and babies before. so what made him sapre this baby? was it just not worth his time?

[Assistant]
Because it didn't entertain him.  The baby didn't know to be afraid.

Michael wants people to be scared.  He likes that feeling.  That's why he doesn't just shoot folks in the back of the head without them even knowing he's there.


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

[User]
Does 'bracing for impact' actually help during minor impacts?

Even mentally?

[Assistant]
Many people here talk about grabbing onto stuff etc. but there's a much simpler view.

Bracing for impact does help. You basically do this by contracting mucles and breathing out, anything else is optional or rather situational.
contracting muscles prevents impact from deforming your organs and helps muscles absorb the shock. breathing out prevents compression of your diaphragm/lungs during impact, thereby prevents getting the "wind knocked out of you" and more serious lung damage.

while you probably refer to accidents and such, this can also be observed in martial arts, where an impact is absorbed with less damage by contracting mucles and exhaling.


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

[User] ELI5: If the Universe is about 13.7 billion years old, and the diameter of the observable universe is 93 billion light years, how can it be that wide if the universe isn't even old enough to let light travel that far that quickly?

[Assistant]
Imagine the universe is a balloon that is slowly inflating, now imagine your beam of light is an ant crawling along it's surface.

Lets say the ant moves 10 inches in some frame of time, and the balloon also expands to twice its size in that same time, the ant will be more than 10 inches away from where it started from.

If you ignore the expansion of the universe - the ant appears to be moving faster than it should be able to move.
If you consider that expansion though, the ant isn't moving any faster or slower... the space around the ant is moving away from it.

It's the same deal with light in space, the space between us and that light has expanded, which makes the distance between us and that light farther than the light itself has actually travelled.


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

[User]
what makes you interested in academia?

I'm a developer and I always hate academia. that was the feeling that I had since I listened to some lectures in Youtube, then I deleted all my social media apps , spent all my time listening to lectures. but now I seem really stupid to myself. it's not a materialistic world. it makes me feel lonelier and disconnected from the world around me. I don't understand what people saying. It seems people can't understand my world and I can't understand their logic. I really like academia and I'm trying hard to be admitted to a good university. but I fear my life will become more miserable after I go to university ( I will become more disconnected from the world).

I have two questions.

One, What makes you interested in academia?

Two, Do you have the same feeling? Will it get better after going university finding people like yourself?

[Assistant] everyday life is too easy and boring, id rather tackle societies largest problems and go on an adventure in which i wont know how it will end. novelty and constantly learning new things is another big one. seems way more fun.


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

[User] ELI5: When they say that human body is made of 73% water, does they mean actual "H2O" aka water, or just liquid in general?

[Assistant]
They mean actual water. Think of soda; it's predominantly water, right? However, it's got plenty of stuff dissolved in it.

Cells are (and this is simplifying a lot) basically water balloons filled with soda. You've got a membrane which keeps all of the soda in. This soda is mostly water with the proteins and stuff your body needs dissolved into it.


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

[User]
[MCU] Who does Thor actually prefer, Banner or Hulk?

On Sakaar Thor tries to befriend each of them by trash talking the other, but neither seem very persuaded.  But say Thor had a Gun~~gnir~~ to his head and was forced to give an honest answer, who does he like better?

[Assistant]
I'd say it's right down the middle.

Hulk tends to hit him and is a huge green jerk, but they've also taken joy in battle together several times, which is a huge thing for Thor. And Thor gives as good as he gets, so Hulk is a great sparring partner when no other Asgardians are around.

Banner is physically weak and not much help in combat. (or any stressful situation really) But he's nicer than Hulk, and he's WAY smarter so he can come up with solutions to all sorts of problems. Also they can have actual conversations instead of sharing badly worded one-liners. Too bad Banner would rather talk about nerdy or depressing things that Thor really doesn't care for.


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

[User]
Why aren't there any logical atomists around anymore?

This is something that struck me recently, but I have no idea why it's true.  If you ask me to name any logical atomists, I would have to start naming people from a hundred years ago  (Russell, early Wittgenstein, arguably Moore etc.).  But I could name you several German idealists just in my department.

Now that I think about it, one of the first things I remember learning about logical atomists was that there weren't really any around today (at least, that's what my professor said).

I may have missed the metaphysical bandwagen here, but was there some devastating critique of logical atomism that blew it to smithereens?  Was it because of something in the *Investigations*?  What happened?

[Assistant]
One issue was the color exclusion problem (or any other synthetic inconsistency). For instance, a is red all over and a is blue all over are both logically atomic sentences. However, they both cannot be true at the same time, and the falsity of one can seemingly be inferred from the other. (And the relationship isnt purely logical, but appears metaphysical.)

This represented a major problem with the logical atomists independence thesis: i.e. that all logical atoms are logically independent of each other.


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

[User]
CMV: Abrahamic Religions are generally evil

Most of the time I can't stop myself from feeling/believing that, even though I strongly want to believe otherwise.

I strongly believe in mankind and I believe that people are generally good. I also believe that ideas by themselves can't be evil. It's what we do with them and how we take them, is what makes them good or not.

On the other hand, I keep seeing lots of wrongdoings being done under the name of those religions, in history and modern life. So what I see keeps contradicting with what I would like to believe in.

Most of the time I would even argue with my friends that religion in itself is not the reason those people are doing those "evil" things. It's what the people themselves are like that makes them act that way. That they would have done the same if they were following any other ideology. Yet again, why do those religions happen to be the ideology used the most in those cases?

I can understand that those religions had a social rule in the past and might have been useful at some point. But what good do they bring now to any society?

I have to stress that I am not saying that the "followers of those religions are evil". Many people can manage to have their own faith without causing any harm to others or limit their freedom and I definitely respect that.

I come from a Muslim family but I self identify as Agnostic. I was raised and lived most of my life in the middle east and currently live in North America.

[Assistant]
> Yet again, why do those religions happen to be the ideology used the most in those cases?

This requires just two points:

1. Most (or at least close to half) of the world belongs to an Abrahamic religion.
2. People generally feel the need to justify how their actions match their religion, and people are *really good* at justifying basically anything.

Most of the evil actions in the world get tied to Abrahamic religions simply because most of the *actions* in the world get tied to Abrahamic religions. The connections between Abrahamic religions and evil actions is more noticed because it is more surprising (and therefore news-worthy) than, for example, a group of Nuns helping the homeless.


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

[User] ELI5: Do people actually have "bad circulation" when their extremities are susceptible to being cold or is there another explanation?

[Assistant]
Depends.

Individuals with bad circulation really do have numbness or coldness in the extremities faster than people with healthy circulation.

The reason is pretty straightforward. Your blood (and veins) act like a radiator system. They're brought to the same temperature as the surrounding area, and then sent off to a different part of the body.

Is it's cold out, your blood is brought up to your core temperature then sent out to the extremities.  It then radiates (transmits) that heat to the fingers, toes, etc.

Typically, they lose heat (especially in cold weather).  People with circulatory issues just supply less blood to their extremities than those without.

It's worth noting that in cold weather your body constricts the blood vessels in your extremities to prevent hypothermia (less blood gets to the skin/fingers, less heat gets lost), and in people with circulatory issues this effect has a greater effect of restriction on overall blood flow than  in otherwise healthy individuals.


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

[User] Are forests and jungles growing more rapidly now that there is an increase of CO2 in the air?

[Assistant]
In photosynthesis there are 3 metabolic pathways for carbon fixation from CO2. In forests and jungles we are concerned with the C3 and C4 pathway (the CAM pathway is only found in arid plants). These pathways impact how a plant responds to elevated CO2 levels.

In the C3 path oxygen competes with CO2 in the presence of the first enzyme, RuBisCO. Meaning that the enzyme can't distinguish between oxygen and CO2.  Incorporating oxygen ultimately results in a toxic compound later on that must be disposed of through photorespiration which uses energy. So the ratio of the gases in contact with RuBisCO matters. More CO2  successfully being bound means less energy lost to photorespirstion.  Increased CO2 can benefit these plants. 85% of plants use this C3 pathway including rice, wheat and trees.

The C4 pathway evolved next and it removes the energy lost to photorespirstion by only allowing RuBisCO to bind CO2. This is accomplished by putting the enzyme in a newly evolved chamber and selectively exposing it to only CO2. These plants are pretty much already maxed out at what they can handle at current CO2 levels. They don't get any benefit from rising CO2 levels. These include plants like corn and grasses.

Forests and jungles contain both C3 and C4 plants. C3 plants have the capability to grow more in the rising levels but climate change also bring along big temperature and rainfall shifts which can negatively impact the health of the C3 and C4 plants alike.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that pretty much no matter what goes into it, garbage always ends up smelling the same "garbage" smell?

Is there a specific reason for this? Sometimes I'll have a lot of potato peels or cardboard from TV dinners, sometimes just an empty milk carton and some banana peels, but no matter what, once that bin is almost full, it always has that same pungent garbage smell. Why doesn't garbage smell specifically like the things that make it up instead of just one specific garbage smell?

[Assistant]
When you smell garbage you're not smelling banana peels or potato, you're smelling the rotting remains of those things.

In general the products (gasses, etc) of rotting are the same, no matter what leads to it.

Garbage made up of *clean* plastic, glass and dry paper is likely not to smell at all.


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

[User]
[Mortal Engines] What is daily life like?

Assuming I'm a normal human living on one of the "Mortal Engines" like London. What will I do as a daily routine.

[Assistant] Work to keep the city running, same as any industrial-era citizen. Only differences are in the nature of the work (built around preying on other cities) and the decor. At the higher levels, "city planning" becomes less of an exercise in things like traffic control and more in route planning and risk management. Oh, and you may be called to battle stations if another city decides to duke it out--intercity combat is a core tenet of municipal Darwinism and the responsibility of the entire community.


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

[User]
ELI5: Where did American Chinese food come from and why is it so drastically different from traditional Chinese food?

Every other type of food bares some similarities, Chinese food does not.

[Assistant] it came from California.  where chinese immigrants sought to sell food to the American palate.   real chinese food didn't appeal to Americans.   so things like chop suey and egg foo young and beef brocolli and crab rangoons and fortune cookies were born.


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

[User] Do the ants I'm flicking off of my backyard table feel pain?

[Assistant]
No, they do not feel pain. Whilst invertebrates do possess nociceptive ability (the detection of noxious stimuli), they do not experience pain as we, mammals, do. Pain is a multifactorial experience in response to potential or actual tissue damage which has a sensory and affective components. This relies on the integration and summation of multiple different neuronal pathways. Simply put, insects do not possess the neuronal capability to experience pain which includes key aspects of the pain aspect - notably the feeling of discomfort and displeasure.
Whilst they may withdraw from noxious stimuli (such as heat), this does not equate to the experience of pain.


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

[User]
Unions and shareholders

What prevents unions (or other groups of employees) from pooling resources in order to buy enough stock to make board members vote to increase wages and other labor requests?

[Assistant]
>What prevents unions (or other groups of employees) from pooling resources in order to buy enough stock to make board members vote to increase wages and other labor requests?

You woukd need to own a lot of of the voting shares which could involve needing to purchase a huge proportion of the company.

If you're unionising for better pay you probably don't have those kinds of resources.


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

[User]
[WH40K/Marvel] Would the God Emperor of Mankind be deemed worthy enough to wield Mjllnir?

If not, I don't see who else would be!

[Assistant]
Yes.  The Emperor is the embodiment of Humanity, all that is good in the entire galaxy and universe.  He is literally against everything that Mjolnir is against - Chaos, death, destruction, wrong doing.  He did not wish for the Imperium that exists now, he aimed to create a paradise of Humanity where Chaos was dead.  In fact, most of the Loyal Primarchs could wield it, as would Horus.

Russ probably not, but Vulkan is pretty much the second choice for wielding the Hammer.

But none would wield it - their weapons an armor greater than anything a Xenos could produce.


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

[User] Why does our brains tend to recall bad memories and make us in a bad mood rather than recall good memories and make us in a good mood more often?

[Assistant]
This phenomenon called *Negativity Bias* has an evolutionary hypothesis behind it: Negative experiences and traumas often carry a much higher survival cost (like death) that typicially far outwieghs the potential benefits we might gain from positive experiences.  And so our brains, the hypothesis goes, are wired to be more sensitive to negative experiences, such as through vivid memories and rumination.

In short: on the whole, the wisdom to be learned from negative events tends to be more valuable to our breeding chances than the wisdom that might be learned from positive experiences.

Unfortunately, in our modern society we have largely conquered our hostile environment and so this negativity instinct no longer serves us so well as it once did.  In fact, it can cause us a lot more harm today than good.  It tends to leave us with a lot of emotional baggage later in life that can really weigh us down and can even provoke self-defeating behavior patterns.

Our natural tendency to obsessively ruminate over past traumas and mistakes can cause depression, insecurity, addictive escapism, anger problems, sociability disfunction, career problems, etc.  It takes a lot of counter-instinctual emotional maturity and mental discipline to stop ourselves from dwelling too much on mistakes and regrets and instead to focus on positive aspirations, optimism, and hope.


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

[User] Why don't waterfalls get worn down to gradual inclines?

[Assistant] Waterfalls form where a layer of hard rock lies on top of a layer of soft rock. The soft rock below erodes faster, creating a steep drop, sheltered by a ledge of hard rock above. Eventually, the soft rock starts to erode beneath the hard rock, creating an overhang, which breaks off when it gets too long, creating a new vertical face, so the waterfall gradually moves upstream.


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

[User]
Where does new wealth come from?

I've been reading "The Commanding Heights" by Daniel Yergin and  Joseph Stanislaw which is really my attempt at learning anything about anything in economics. Anyway, while I was reading it and considering the keynesian vs hayek arguments and the author said something about how to have to generate wealth before you can share it around, or something like that. Hearing that I realized that I don't actually know where wealth comes from. How does a society create new wealth out of nothing? I've always thought of an economy as something that trades around wealth, but obviously new wealth is integrated all the time. I guess I'm heaving trouble divorcing the idea of wealth as something separate than money. Could someone help clear this up for me?

[Assistant]
Human labor.

People make stuff and provide services. That's wealth.

Imagine two guys on an island who happen to have one $100 bill, call them Amos and Bill. Amos, who started with the $100 bill pays Bill to build him a shelter. Bill builds a shelter for himself too and pays Amos to build a bed. Amos builds his own bed and pays Bill to build a fireplace.

And so on and on. They trade the $100 back and forth, each paying the other for something and making things themselves as well. In the end there is only ever $100 of money in anyone's hands, but there is much more than $100 worth of wealth created.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't the windchill affect my thermometer?

My friend and I were talking about this yesterday and again this morning. It's -31oC with a -15oC Windchill. Why wouldn't the windchill change the temperature in a vehicle thermometer or on a house or somewhere that it would be in the wind?

[Assistant]
Wind chill is a made up number; it has nothing to do with the actual temperature.  It indicates (sort of) what it would feel like to stand in a room with non-moving air at a given temperature.  So if it's 30 out and there's a 20 knot wind blowing, your body would lose heat as though it was 20 out and there was no wind blowing.

So, why does it feel colder to a human but not to a thermometer?  Fairly simple - a thermometer becomes the temperature around it.  When the wind blows, the thermometer doesn't lose any more heat - in our example above, it's already at 30 degrees just like the air around it and moving the air around doesn't change the temperature.

However, as a human, you're trying to keep your temperature around 98 degrees; this is quite a bit warmer than the 30 degree air around you.  You lose heat at a certain rate when the temp is 30.  If the wind blows on you, you lose heat even faster - as though the temperature were lower.


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

[User]
Since Temperature is a measurement of how fast molecules vibrate, would it be possible to heat molecules to a point where their vibration approaches the speed of light?

This may be a stupid question or passed on a lot of false assumptions. But if the high the temperature of of an object the higher the rate of molecular vibration, could theoretically something be heated to a point where its molecules vibrate at a rate approaching C? Would this have implications with time dilation?

[Assistant]
Well it's not just the vibration, it's the rotational and translational kinetic energy, and in fact _all_ forms of energy in a solid contribute to their temperature, but it doesn't really matter to the question.

Anyway, while there's nothing stopping you from adding more energy, and more vibrational energy does mean faster vibrational motion (and that motion certainly obeys special relativity), there's a limit to how much vibrational energy a pair of atoms can have, namely the energy of their chemical bond. If they vibrate with more energy than that, they'll simply fly apart.

After that point, they don't have vibrational energy any more, as there are no bound atoms to vibrate, just a gas of atoms. But they still have kinetic energy. So if you keep heating them, they'll move faster translationally.

I don't know what kind of implications with time dilation (or relativity) that you were thinking of, though.


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

[User] [Predator/Lord of the Rings] My dropship just discovered this world the locals call Middle Earth. What's the best site for hunting here?

[Assistant] The mines of Moria, go deep you'll find some good prey down there. Since you stated Lord of Rings I'll assume around the time of the book. But if you hit it earlier around the time of Silmarilion you are in for a real treat.


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

[User] [LOTR] What's the tentacle creature that attacks the group outside the Mines Of Moria?

[Assistant]
No idea.  Gandalf mentions "the world is gnawed by nameless
things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he."  It is *possibly* one of those come to the surface, but really we just know very little about the Watcher.


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

[User]
What happens if an uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction were to continue uninterrupted? Specifically in the examples of criticality accidents.

For example, in Louis Slotin's criticality accident. Viewers present saw a flash of blue light and Slotin disassembled the experiment.

What would happen if say Slotin ran away instead of disassembling it?

[Assistant]
When your mass goes supercritical, its neutron flux will multiply continuously until something returns it to subcritical.

In a nuclear power reactor, the fuel heating up (doppler effect) initially returns the fuel to a critical condition for smaller excursions or reactor startup. Moderator/core heatup and/or voiding is used for stabilizing reactivity changes at higher power levels. For example, in a boiling water reactor at power conditions, when reactivity increases and the core goes into a super critical state, there will be an increase in boiling which will return it to a purely critical state. The final reactor power level will be higher than the initial power level, but the core will have returned to critical.

For any critical mass, if sufficient reactivity is injected such that the neutron flux will multiply faster than the doppler effect and other reactivity feedback mechanisms can stop it, then the flux will increase (increasing radiation dose, and also increasing heat), until something stops it. For a slow flux increase, this could be stopped by melting of the fuel (geometry change). For a rapid flux increase, this could be stopped by the fuel breaking apart (also a geometry change).

Nuclear power reactors have built in neutron flux monitoring systems which will scram the reactor to halt any flux increases which have the potential to damage the reactor core. This is in addition to the limitations that the reactor is operated under to ensure core damage does not occur, along with the specific design and placement of nuclear fuel in the vessel to preclude an uncontrollable reactivity excursion.

Hope this helps. Also good question!


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

[User]
[My Hero Academia] All Might tells Midoriya he can't be a hero without a Quirk, but some time later the Support Class gets introduced.

Even without a Quirk, couldn't Izuku, an expert on heros, try for the Support Class and become an Iron Man -style hero? Did this not cross his mind at all?

[Assistant] The point of the Support Class is to build gadgets to enhance others' quirks. Izuku could have built gadgets for himself and become an Iron Man-style hero, but it would have been strictly less effective than having a hero with Iron Man armor, a quirk, and who can spend all their time practicing their quirk instead of building and maintaining their armor. And if you follow a less effective strategy just so you can get more glory, is that really heroic?


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

[User] [ELI5] What the hell is VEVO and why does it "own" all of the music industry on YouTube?

[Assistant] VEVO is basically the Hulu of music videos. Music publishers don't like when music videos are shared for free on YouTube, because it means someone else is earning tons of ad revenue off of their content. VEVO solves this problem by signing contracts with various music publishers, so that the publishers get a cut of the ad profits. It's similar to how Spotify can offer free music legally, by making money through ads and paying some of that revenue to music publishers.


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

[User]
Am I Being Realistic in My Reasons for Pursing a PhD?

I am a librarian in the U.S. with a Masters of Library and Info Science. I love everything about librarianship, and with ten years of experience in the field, I am thinking seriously about pursuing my PhD. I want to pursue it in library science (technically communications and information science with  a focus on library and information science) not to work as an academic. I want to go for it because I love this field and I want to learn more about it and share what I've learned through publishing. I'm not doing it because I think I will make more money. I want to hone my research skills - I work with researchers, and I would enjoy knowing more about the high-level research they do that leads to publishing, which I hope I would get in my grad classes.

Am I being realistic or am I looking at a doctoral degree and the years of crazy work through rose-colored glasses?

[Assistant] Great reasons, clearly it means a lot to you. The reality of doing a PhD will not be as rosy since it's a long grueling process and you won't make much money. But if you enjoy digging into unexplored topics and writing about your findings you'll fare just fine.


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

[User] [Harry Potter/Star Trek] If we assume that Wizards remained clandestine even into the 24th century how might they and their culture have changed over time to remain so?

[Assistant]
[](/vsspace) Contrary to popular belief, wizards *do* adapt to Muggle technology; they simply advance at a multi-decades lag. For instance, there were radios at Hogwarts and wizarding households in the 1990s, even though most wizards would have been clueless if faced with a computer.

So a few decades after a technology is invented, the constant flow of Muggle-borns will start allowing said tech to trickle into society. Wizards will either figure out how to make the gadget work around magic, or else bewitch it to be powered by magic. In addition, after the Second Wizarding War radical pureblood thinking began to wain in popularity, and more and more wizards began to be fascinated by the increasingly impressive starships Muggles were launching off their planet.

I doubt a full integration would ever be made, but you'd definitely find wizards on starships who have a basic idea what phasers, replicators, and holosuites are. (Replicators in particular would be remarkable, as a technological innovation that actually surpasses what magic is capable of.)

I'd be far more interested in seeking out other magical communities hidden amongst the other races of the Milky Way. All the humanoid races share a genetic profile, so there's no reason why there shouldn't be a secret society of Klingon sorcerers or a reclusive sect of Bajoran miracle workers. And of course, let us not forget Q, perhaps the magical being of all.


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

[User] ELI5 How does a flash bang work?

[Assistant] Sensory overload. Creates a very bright light to temporarily blind people, and a loud bang that gives tinnitus (ringing in the ears) and disables a person's ability to both see and hear opponents, which totally disorientates them until they're recovered.


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

[User]
CMV: The electoral college is undemocratic in the sense that certain citizens votes are "worth" more than others depending on what state they live in.

Unless I misunderstand, an individual New Yorker's vote is worth less than the vote of someone living in North Dakota because of electoral vote distribution for the state. Even though the state of New York (31) gets more votes than North Dakota (3), the individual Dakotan has more influence over what the state decides because it has a much smaller population. Additionally, the state votes for whoever the majority votes for in their state. This means (again, unless I misunderstand) that someone in Texas who voted for Hillary Clinton had their vote disregarded when Texas voted Trump, and the opposite is obviously true for a Trump-supporting Californian, for example. I do understand the point of the electoral college, but I believe that the electoral college should be second to the popular vote, and not the other way around.

Also, I'm not here because I like arguing, but because I would like to have a little more faith in the system that we have, and I know I could just be misinformed.
Well, go ahead, change my view.

Edit: To everyone saying that the US isn't a democracy but a republic: I know. That argument doesn't explain or fix anything.

Edit 2: To everyone posting new comments - I'm not ignoring you and I'm not afraid of a good debate, I've just been pretty busy and there's so many of them that it's sort of hard to manage. I'll try to read every comment when I can, though. I'm really enjoying the discussions other people are having, too.

[Assistant]
First I'd like to address that winning a state means winning all the electoral votes from that state. The electoral votes are up to the individual states as to how they wish to appropriate those votes. Most states have chosen a "winner takes all" model, but certainly not all of them.

Second is that no one's vote in presidential elections (per the US Constitution) actually matters. It's entirely symbolic. The only votes that matter are the votes of the electoral college delegates. US citizens vote for their delegates, the delegates vote for the president. Most states have chosen to bind their delegates' votes to the popular vote.

Third, the fact that different people in different states have more or less say in the overall vote is entirely the point. This is an equalization effort to make sure that states such as Wyoming can have a voice in politics to defend its interests when going up against California. In a pure democracy, the will of California would win out hundreds of times over, but with the way things are set up in the US Constitution this doesn't happen. This does create a bit of a negative to be sure, but the Constitution was amended to have a representative cap in Congress, and this has caused the difference in voter power to become as wide as it is.


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

[User] Does pregnancy really last a set amount of time? For humans it's 9 months, but how much leeway is there? Does nutrition, lifestyle and environment not have influence on the duration of pregnancy?

[Assistant]
There is a little leeway, but it's really constrained by biology. If the baby comes out too early, the lungs aren't developed enough to oxygenate their blood. They are often weak and can't latch onto their mom's breast and suck. They don't have much body fat, they have higher surface-area to mass ratio and have a hard time staying warm enough.

If the baby is born too late, the placenta starts to degrade, decreasing the baby's supply of nutrients and oxygen. The baby is also more likely to pass its first poo (meconium) into the amniotic fluid and aspirate it, causing huge pulmonary problems. There's also the problem of the baby simply getting too big to pass through the pelvis. And mom's getting gestational diabetes and high blood pressure.
C-sections haven't been around nearly long enough to remove those selective pressures.

Before modern obstetrics, death rates for human moms and babies was astonishingly
 high compared to other primates, due in part to our pelvis being tipped for walking upright.

We also have huge brains vs other primates. Humans are the result of an evolutionary balance between hips that can walk upright and intelligence. We are born relatively immature so our skulls can pass through our mothers' pelvises and finish maturing outside the womb. Intelligence is such an asset that it's worth having helpless, weak babies that need ~3 years to walk, talk and kind of fend for themselves.

Natural selection narrowed down the length of the perfect pregnancy to 38-41 weeks.

The window is actually probably smaller than 3 weeks, because we don't usually know the exact date of ovulation. We estimate it on last menstrual cycle, which can vary a lot.


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

[User] Are all the planets in the solar system (and others for that matter) on the same plane or simply orbiting the sun all over the place? And if so, why?

[Assistant]
Most things in the system (not just the planets) within the Oort Cloud orbit near the same plane.

When clouds of gas collapse to form protostars, the excess material forms a disk around it. This material aggregates into planetesimals after a few million years, which then combine to form planets. So most things tend to remain near the plane that the disk was present.

However, things aren't perfectly aligned. Celestial bodies tend to have "inclinations" which is the angle of their orbital plane compared to earth's. They're usually pretty small, but they can grow pretty large the further from the Sun you go. For example, for Pluto i ~ 17 degrees. Large inclinations like this are likely due to some sort of event during the systems evolution that gravitaionally pertubed the bodies enough to send them out of wack, although we aren't sure exaclty what.


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

[User] Would it be possible to 'carbonate' a beverage with a gas much heavier or lighter than air, and then when the consumer drinks it, the gas density changes their voice pich? Such as with the helium trick?

[Assistant]
CO2 is used for fizz because it dissolves in water extremely well and mostly safe. Speed of sound in CO2 is almost 20% lower than air's, if would be noticeable if it worked.

Having gas in your stomach will only change the tone of your burps. When talking, the voice box and resonating cavities almost immediately filled with gas from the lungs, replacing what was there.

Tl;dr: not possible, foreign gas needs to be in the lungs to affect tone of voice.


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

[User]
ELI5: NASA announced Juno's arrival as the hardest thing they've ever done...

yet they also put men on the moon using less computing power than you can find in a modern calculator.  Not to mention multiple previous exploratory missions to Jupiter. So what is it about Juno's mission that makes it the hardest?
Edit: let me clarify, I'm not asking because I doubt the claims, but because I'd like to know the technical reasons for the difficulty if anyone knows them.

[Assistant]
Used a relatively small launch rocket so less fuel and mass to work with.

No Fuel for a nuclear RTG forced Juno to have the largest Solar panel area of any deep-space probe ever launched

Using only a single Earth gravity slingshot to Jupiter requiring more fuel than past missions. Other probes used Venus, Earth, Earth slingshots

They wanted it to orbit close to Jupiter so it had to survive the intense radiation without frying all the electronics.


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

[User] [Startrek] In "First Contact" how does the crew hide the Enterprise from the Vulcans when they come to Earth?

[Assistant] They don't.  In fact, it's well-documented in Vulcan Science History that the Vulcan contact vessel DID detect the Enterprise, and were able to correctly extrapolate what had happened.  Since even at that point in history, time travel was known to be theoretically possible, the head science officer of the Vulcan contact ship correctly assumed that the first contact with the human race would likely be a popular event for observation by future time travelers.  He then behaved appropriately - by continuing as if no "future vessels" were there.  In fact, it has been theorized that due to the historic nature of the event, that there were MULTIPLE vessels from various points in the future present at that time, but most had superior cloaking technology to make them invisible to the Enterprise's sensors.


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

[User] ELI5: Do slow-growing plants, such as cacti, produce less oxygen and clean up CO2 slower than a fast-growing plant, such as grass?

[Assistant] Yes, all plants with a slower metabolic rate will consume less carbon-dioxide and will produce less oxygen. It should also be noted that roughly 80% of atmospheric oxygen is made from ocean algae and plankton, not land plants as is often assumed.


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

[User] [Dragon Ball] Are Saiyans a subspecies of primate or are they just very similar?

[Assistant]
Saiyans are an extra-terrestrial mammalian species who bear significant biological similarity to terrestrial humanoids, to the point of being able to cross-breed with them. They are a case of substantial convergent evolution most likely, however the saiyan's ancestors at the point they diverged from monkeys seem to have not lost their tails. Other primary differences Saiyans share with human primates outside of their tails are: slower aging(post-adult), enhanced natural capacity to control ki, greater natural combat capability, lycanthropic gigantism, and the so named "Super Saiyan" transformation.

^(edit: spelling)


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

[User]
What makes good code good?

Assume that you've just become part of a team that manages a large code base for an interesting and fulfilling project. What most important aspects of the way the code is written will make the code **good**? What specific things are going to make your journey a **complete breeze** in terms of reading and understanding the code, adding new features, improving and patching it?

I'd highly appreciate it if you also indicated your experience and included an example from your past experience of encountering really good code (or bad), and what made it good (or why it wasn't).

[Assistant]
Hard question to answer.

A few things come to mind:

- easy to read and understand
- easy to change
- easy to test

How to get the above qualities in code is a matter of great debate though.

Abiding by SOLID, KISS, DRY, etc principles helps but is not by any means sufficient.

It takes experience tbh to get a feel for what is gonna come back and bite you later. It is our job to be fortune tellers and predict the most likely areas of the code to change given the problem domain, and then code such that those areas are both robust and resilient to bugs while at the same time easy to augment and modify. There's no silver bullet.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] I come from a very progressive and rich Pureblood family, and I was recently sorted into Slytherin. How am I going to be treated?

I am in my first year at Hogwarts. My family is mostly Ravenclaws, but I was sorted into Slytherin.

My family is super old nobility, and we're extremely wealthy (I once overheard my father saying that the entire Malfoy fortune was a mere single Knut compared to a quarter of our wealth, so we're likely doing alright), so I think that I'll fit in on that front.

However, I'm a still a little nervous about meeting my fellow Slytherins.

I am from a Pureblood lineage, but my family has more progressive beliefs than the average Slytherin: My parents taught me to not be prejudiced against Half-Bloods and Muggleborns, to be friendly and helpful to Muggles if I ever encounter them and to treat non-human creatures with respect.

Will I be treated badly by my housemates for not being a Pureblood supremacist, or will my family's wealth and influence protect me from overt bullying? Do Slytherins place more value on wealth/power or Pureblood superiority?

[Assistant] You'll make plenty of friends, just not Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle. There are more Slytherins than just those three, and Slytherins tend to be nice to each other (just not necessarily so much to "outsiders").


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

[User]
ELI5: If fat is for energy storage, then why is it so hard to get rid of?

Shouldn't it be easy to deplete your fat since its an energy storage? I get so confused because people say for weight loss its actually all about diet not exercise. Wouldn't you want to basically just consistently exercise and deplete your energy (fat storage)?

[Assistant]
Fat is an extremely effective form of energy storage. It's hard to get rid of because it stores sooo much energy. You'd have to completely stop eating for a day or two to burn off a pound of fat. The common number is a pound of fat is 3500-4000 calories, but that's complicated.

If you want to do the excercise route, you'd have to walk a mile to burn 100 calories (running doesn't burn a whole lot more, but you get it done faster :P ). For comparison, that's half a Snickers bar.

Edit: to add to this a bit, there's very good reason to excercise beyond short term calorie burning. There's health benefits beyond just calorie usage.

Edit 2: electric boogaloo: since people keep bringing this up, running burns maybe 50% more than walking depending on what speeds you categorize as running and walking. This is *per mile*. If you run twice as fast as you walk, you're at least doubling your calories burned per hour.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel] What if Wolverine got Nth metal grafted onto his bones instead?

Could he be stopped?

[Assistant]
As an aside, the adamantium was molecularly bonded *into* Wolverine's bones. The bones aren't in a sheath, they're paired at a microscopic level.

That's why his bones can still function. It's technically a new material entirely, called Adamantium Beta.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] There are cats, rats, owls, and toads at Hogwarts. Why no dogs?

Hagrid has a dog, but he isn't allowed to use magic. What gives?

[Assistant] Dogs aren't dramatic enough, they would also get bad vibes about the blatantly evil wizards and tip off their owners to solve major issues in way to short amount of time. Although it may be because a dog decided chew on someones wand one time and caused a whole mess of shenanigans.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are some shows edited when shown on Netflix?

I'm watching the third Family Guy Star Wars episode, and notice that some little pieces are missing.

The first is at the beginning when Stewie and Roger are talking. Roger says there's still a hole, but no trench on the second Death Star.

In the original, Stewie reprimands and cautions him that he'd better fix it. On Netflix that line is cut.

Why? It doesn't seem like it's a line that would need cut for copyright infringement, and netflix shouldn't need to cut for time.

[Assistant] Netflix doesn't edit the content, they just get whatever they get sent. Very rarely, the version is slightly different than the original version that aired on TV. Each one would be a unique case, and almost never would the network that owns the material say why changes were made.


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

[User]
CMV - I believe human civilization is doomed. *PLEASE* change my view.

Well, I hate to be a downer, guys, but I don't think humanity has another 100 years left (give or take a few years). I want to believe that things will be alright, but when you keep hearing worse and worse news about the environmental degradation of the planet (even if you are still somehow a climate-change denier, you have to admit the oceans are massively polluted and huge amounts of fish are dying, the air in some parts of the world like China is almost unbreathable and getting worse, etc.), it's hard to see humans coming out of this ok. I hate to say it, but I don't think we have another century left. Please tell me why I'm wrong.

Edit: Just to be clear, I'm not talking about human extinction. We'll probably survive whatever happens to some degree. I mean I think that society will likely collapse. Humans may still be around, but in a Mad Max/The Road/Book of Eli type of existence.

[Assistant] Because humans are unbelievably adaptable and inventive. We have adapted ourselves and our civilization to every land environment on earth, and we're well on our way to adapted to the ocean floor, the skies, and other planets. Yes, we have caused massive changes in the climate and the world, and we need to grapple meaningfully with a lot of problems. But solving problems is just as much a part of our nature as causing them.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why dont automatic cars stall at traffic lights?

I understand they use a clutch, but how come the power is instant and there is no lag/its smooth to accelerate?

[Assistant] They don't use a clutch. Instead they use a fluid coupling called a torque converter which works kind of like one turbine spinning another with transmission fluid, or think of one fan blowing another fan to make it spin. The torque converter is designed to allow the input and output shafts to spin at different speeds, including one being stopped completely. When power is applied the u get smooth acceleration because the fluid absorbs a lot of it.


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

[User] [MCU] Why did Captain America use firearms during his tenure in WWII, but doesn't use them in the present?

[Assistant]
Mostly because in the 1940s there was a war on. There's no room for mercy or empathy in war, so Cap had to forgo his distaste for killing out of simple necessity. In the present however, he's mostly working for SHIELD. While he may deal with terrorist threats and super criminals on a daily basis, he doesn't want to kill them. Capture them and ensure they get a fair trial, that's the goal.

Now, during the Chitauri invasion and the Sokovia incidents, Cap obviously didn't have to worry about that too much. So why didn't he grab a gun and go to town? Simple, he didn't really have the time to check out a rifle from a quartermaster and there weren't any he could reliably use once he was on the ground. He has to clue how to use a Chitauri rifle after all.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does time slow down when you're about to be in a car accident?

[Assistant]
Under normal conditions, your brain effectively discards large amounts of sensory information - input from your eyes, ears etc. - because it's just not useful. When you're in danger, particularly something extreme like a car crash, less of this information is thrown away and you start forming short-term memories at a drastically increased rate. This helps you become more acutely aware of your surroundings and better able to protect yourself, because you're processing more of the input given to you by your senses.

After the fact, when you remember the traumatic event, it seems like it took far longer than it actually did - it feels like time slowed down during the event. This is because you have far more memory of it than you normally would - the memories aren't necessarily more *vivid* (though they may be), but you have more of them.

It's entirely an illusion, of course, but a very compelling one.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does hold music sound so terrible? In this age of UHD sound how come hold music sounds like it's being played through sock in a wind tunnel?

[Assistant] Phone lines are designed to carry voice and not music. Humans can hear sounds from 30Hz to 22kHz but can only make sound from 300Hz to 3000Hz with out voice. So you need very different sample rates for the voice and music. This means that phone lines works terribly for music as it cuts out most of the high pitches and you are left with just the bass. Secondly as phone lines gets more and more digital we find even more ways to save on bandwidth by compressing the sounds so they take up less space. However this process uses very different compression algorithms for voice then for music. So the compression algorithms will add a lot of noise to the music as it is not designed for music. Adding to this you can have different compression for different sections of the lines as the line passes through different phone operators. So you get different types of distortions each time.


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

[User]
ELI5 what "bubbles" are (in regards to economics)

I've always had a hard time understanding what "bubbles" are. I hear people discuss housing bubbles, stock market bubbles, economic bubbles, etc. but I've never grasped a strong or definite understanding of what they are.

Can someone please help me understand? Thank you I appreciate your time!

[Assistant]
A bubble occurs when people artificially place value on something.

For example, people thought that they could make money by buying a house, fixing it up, and selling it.  People were also willing to spend a little more on their purchase, thinking that their improvements would increase the value of the house whenever they sold it.  Some people did make money on this, as did banks.  Banks make money off of the loans people use to buy houses, so they were more than happy to give out loans to almost anyone who wanted one.

However, as more and more people bought houses, something dawned on them: no one wanted to buy their fixed up house.  Not only could they not sell at their fixed up house at the new higher price, but the value of houses dropped so far that they couldn't even sell them at the price they bought it.  This loss of value is the "popping" of the bubble.

This de-valuation effected those who weren't even out to make money.  An elderly couple who bought their house way back when for $130,000 may have been expecting to sell their house for roughly that much (and retire on that), but found it was now only worth $80,000.

This happened in housing and Tech Companies in the 90's.  Possible future bubbles include Facebook Stocks and College Education (if you spend $70,000 on a degree only to have no job to pay for it, then that degree isn't really worth $70,000).


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

[User] ELI5: why do women tennis players scream as if they were having an orgasm when they play? is that suppose to give them more power or is it just a way to fuck with the opponent?

[Assistant]
It's mostly derived from a tenet of many Asian martial arts.  A vocal exclamation adds force to a physical action.

It happens a lot in Karate and other martial arts competitions.

A vocal "Hayyaahh!" is used to reinforce the physical action being performed.  It's a psychological idea that actually works quite well.


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

[User] ELI5 how do stores like Poundland manage to maintain a consistent price even through recession or currency changing in value?

[Assistant]
They have a profit margin built into their items, and they are willing to decrease the profit margin in order to keep customers. They'd rather make less money on each sale, than annoy customers and stop selling anything at all.

Sometimes stores also have loss leaders. For example, supermarkets will often have very cheap milk, and lose money on every liter of milk they sell - but people who come in to buy milk will usually also buy other things. So the store's profit margin is not calculated on each item, but on each customer's total shopping basket, or the average shopping basket across every time that customer comes into the shop. (It's worth losing money a couple of times to generate a habit in the customer of shopping at your store, not your competitor's.)

Of course, eventually they do have to raise their prices.


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

[User]
[Terminator] How much better off would the resistance have been if Kyle Reese survived and helped Sarah Connor?

There's a lot of talk about how the future can only be delayed, but would anything have changed if Kyle survived to help guide the future?

[Assistant] It depends on the model of time travel you're thinking of, which changes from one movie to the next. In the first Terminator, time travel is cyclical, meaning if Kyle Reese survived he would have always survived, so anything he would contribute would have gone that way already, leaving the resistance with the same ups and downs as they already had. However, the plot of Terminator also only happened because the resistance was on the verge of winning anyway, so it's a bit of a moot point.


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

[User] ELI5, why do WWE wrestlers die so young?

[Assistant] Many 'pro' wrestlers live a hard life on the road which can make them prone to depression and lead them to abusing intoxicants, a lot of them take steroids and/or other performance enhancers, it's a freaking hard job that takes a massive toll on a persons body which often leads to heavy duty painkillers and then there's the plain fact that it's risky. You throw yourself from heights, land on hard and/or breakable objects, perform stunts and have other 300 pound people drop you on or land on top of your head.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some words in English have two or more very different meanings?

Some examples:

Run - running, blocked nose.
Wave - moving your hand, water ripple like movements.
Cool - Justin Bieber, cold.
Duck - A creature, bend down.
Ring - A circle, a onomatopoeia .
Tear - Water droplets that leak from your eyes, ripping apart things.
Bat - A flying nope mammal, a wooden stick.
Bass - Instrument, fish.
Yard - A unit of retard measurement, a garden in your house.
Dove - A bird, diving in.

The list goes on and on.

[Assistant]
Sometimes it's the same word that evolved into having two or more different (but related) meanings. For example a "wave" is a repeated fluctuations, just like when you wave your hand (you move it side to side) or ocean waves (the water moves back and forth). Sometimes the two meanings are far enough from each other so that it doesn't seem like they have the same origin, but they do - for example "duck" means "to plunge into" something, which is why the bird is called duck - because it plunges into the water.

Sometimes they're two entirely different words, usually from different languages, which evolved into being written the same or even sounding the same. These are known as homographs or homophones. For example the fish "bass" comes from Middle English *baers* while the musical instrument "bass", which comes from the word for a low note, comes from the latin *bassus* which means low (similar to the English word "base").


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What did Obi-wan mean when he said "I will become more powerful than you can possibly imagine"?

As far as I know, that line has never been paid off. There is no sequel where we see Obi-wan use those unimaginable powers.

[Assistant] Being part of the Force and being allowed to guide it makes you pretty op. Of course, his victory wasn't immediately apparent as it's little things that culminate into larger victories. Luke may not have even blown up the first Death Star if Obi Wan hadn't reminded him to use the Force. Sure it seems like a small thing, but just those four words:"use the Force, Luke" blew up a spaceship the size of a small moon.


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

[User] Why is it that in groups humans are so naturally passive(Bystander effect), yet individually humans are usually very aggressive?(If you see a homeless man you want to give him a dollar)

[Assistant]
In the instance that something terrible is happening in public (say, an assault), individuals tend to diffuse their personal responsibility for the situation to those around them; the bigger the crowd, the more culpability is dispersed. That being said, groups are constructs which can and often do facilitate violence far beyond what individuals are naturally inclined to engage in.

The same abstraction that allows individuals to shirk responsibility for intervening in the bystander effect also facilitates violence in groups. By identifying with and contributing to the collective, individuals can ascribe culpability to the institution and its members; ergo, the individual achieves a degree of anonymity (Grossman, 1996). This makes it much easier to rationalize ones actions and absolve one's self of guilt.

Moreover, within groups individuals feel compelled to support their comrades, particularly when their failure to do so would identify them as the weak link. This is a cornerstone of military strategy; artillery units, for example, are much more likely to fire at the enemy in earnest because the individuals must work together (Grossman, 1996). Knowing that others depend on you and are watching is often enough to override our natural (and strong) disposition to avoid killing.

Additionally, when we do experience situations that we don't understand and feel as if our lives have spun out of control, groups provide an opportunity to regain potency, order, and meaning. They are much more manageable, provide a sense of identity, and serve as a catalyst through which an individual member can exert power. Naturally, groupthink begins to creep up and overcome reason, posing a threat to peaceful resolutions to conflict (Fuji, 2009).

TL;DR: Groups  can act as a catalyst for violence by natural tendency to construct a framework which focuses, galvanizes and reifies aggression by way of cyclical reinforcement.


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

[User] ELI5: How is "To Catch A Predator" legally allowed to expose the predators on National Television before they are convicted of their crimes?

[Assistant] It is journalism. Disclaimers indicate to viewers that the predators caught are not convicted of crimes. What the program shows is the process of baiting predators, who are always given the opportunity to explain their presence at the sting house. The journalistic fact that the program uncovers, most of the time, is that these dudes are trolling for jail bait.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do tv shows need people to sign a release form to show people on tv, but you can post videos and pictures of strangers on the Internet?

[Assistant]
You need consent from people when you have images/videos of them taken in public places, and you're using them *for commercial purposes*.

If the image isn't being sold or used to generate revenue, then you're free to use it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does meningitis always seem to kill people who are college aged and otherwise healthy?

I just read another news story about a college student who died from meningitis. I personally have known a couple of kids who have succumbed to it. Is bacterial meningitis more dangerous than viral meningitis? How come it doesn't kill the elderly and infants as often, or do we just not hear about it?

[Assistant] Bacterial meningitis is *extremely* deadly, able to kill in less than a day, often under 3 days. You often hear of it in college students simply because they are more exposed to the infection, as bacterial meningitis is usually transferred through saliva. Any age group can contract and die from it.


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

[User]
A simple factorial phenomenon ive discovered

Anything above factorial of 6 adding all the numbers will end up at 9, example: 6!=720. 7+2+0=9.

17!=3+5+5+6+8+7+4+2+8+0+9+6
+0+0+0
=27
2+7=9.

8!=40320
4+0+3+2+0=9.

What is this issue of all factorials ending uo at 9 are there any other people whove recognize this pattern?

[Assistant] Any number that is a multiple of 9 will have this phenomenon. Any factorial starting with 6! is a multiple of 9, because it has a two factors of 3 (because both 3 and 6 are factors of any factorial starting with 6!).


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

[User]
ELI5: Do other countries have the equivalent of a Hollywood? For example, does Germany have blockbuster films and movie stars? Why don't we hear about them? Are they aware of our films and stars?

I'm aware of India and Bollywood, but what about other countries?

[Assistant]
Germans are very much aware of Hollywood films and stars. Almost all Hollywood movies are dubbed and shown in German movie theatres.

There are, of course, German movies and stars, but they are mostly unknown in America because Americans in general aren't interested in foreign movies. If a foreign movie looks interesting American directors often decide to just re-shoot the whole thing to create an Americanized version that will appeal to American audiences.


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

[User]
ELI5: What keeps other countries from "bringing the war" to US soil?

It seems like so many other countries have had wars on their land. The US hasn't been in that situation since the Civil War. I couldn't imagine what it would be like to live in the US as it was being invaded by another country.

[Assistant]
"Force projection", or being able to attack targets a long way from your own country, is not easy.

If you want to attack by air military aircraft don't tend to have very long range, especially fighters. The options are to have a conveniently located airbase, have an aircraft carrier, or run a complicated air-to-air refuelling operation. Most countries can't do any of those. Oh, and you also have to get past the US Air Force.

If you want to attack with missiles, most missiles don't have long enough range, and the ones that do are considered reserved for nukes and ALSO not many countries have them. You don't want the USA thinking you're launching a nuke when you aren't.

If you want to attack by sea, you need a warship or a submarine capable of crossing oceans and operating for a long time. It's yet another thing a lot of countries don't have - such warships are more expensive and harder to make than a ship that just stays close to your own shoreline. Oh, and you also have to get past the US Navy.

And if you want to attack by land, you've got to be Canada or Mexico. Most countries aren't Canada or Mexico.


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

[User] ELI5: How is it that charcoal burns with a hotter flame than the wood the charcoal is made from?

[Assistant] That is because charcoal is produced in a low oxygen environment under heat. The water in the wood is cooked out and a lot of extra compounds that would rob the carbon of oxygen for CO2 formation have been burned off, too. You're left with essentially pure carbon that is ready to consume all the available oxygen for itself.


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

[User] Why exactly does water put out fire so effectively? Both oxygen and hydrogen merrily burn, so why is the combination of the two such a great anti-fire agent, from a physics standpoint?

[Assistant]
Because when they are combined to form water, they are _have already_ undergone _all_ the combustion they are capable of undergoing. Water _is the product_ of the _absolutely complete combustion_ of hydrogen & oxygen. There is _no further combustion_ for it to undergo.

All this stresses _very forcefully_ the essential difference between a _chemical compound_ & a _mixture_.

And water happens to be particularly good at putting fires out because for one, it _wets_ things, cutting-off the oxygen; & for another it has a fairly high thermal conductivity and an _extraordinarily_ high heat capacity - _all_ of its heat capacities being extraordinarily large -  which means that it draws an extraordinarily large amount of heat from the fire.


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

[User]
Why are Neanderthals classified as a different species from Homo Sapiens?

If they can mate and form viable genetic offspring, what makes them a separate species? Please feel free to apply this same line of logic to all the other separate species that can mate and form viable offspring.

[Assistant]
I dont believe they are always considered a separate species anymore. IIRC they are often classified as *Homo sapiens neanderthalensis* (with anatomically modern humans being *Homo sapiens sapiens*).

Part of the confusion stems from how species work. Weve applied a relatively rigid system of classification to something a lot more fluid. For instance, one of the more common definitions of a species is a population of organisms which can breed together to produce fertile offspring. Therefore, if the offspring of two animals arent able to reproduce the parents would be considered separate species. However, hybrids sometimes are fertile, which further muddies the waters.

Species and subspecies are more approximate classifications that solid categories. Its also worth noting that it was once assumed modern humans and Neanderthals couldnt interbreed, which is why they were originally classified as a separate species.

Also, looking through the literature, youll often see both *H. neanderthalensis* and *H. s. neanderthalensis* referred to, occasionally within the same paper, so it appears theyre quite commonly used interchangeably as a result of the ambiguity over whether theyre a separate species or not.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do sugary solutions get sticky as they dry but salty solutions don't

Source: Have dropped a variety of IV solutions.

[Assistant]
Sugar will form hydrogen bonds with all sorts of compounds. This means it can be "sticky" and hold lightly to things while still being in solution.

Salt, however, will simply dry as a crystal and just be either in solution or out of solution, and can't interact very strongly with ions already in solution. Thus, it is not terribly sticky and will just make your hands a little salty.


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

[User]
If Cacti are known for growing in the harshest of environments, Why don't we see them in non-harsh environments?

They protect themselves from predators, don't need a lot of water. So why don't they dominate vegetation in other places?

[Assistant] Cacti are incredibly competitive in their environment, meaning they have adaptations to make efficient use of resources in a resource poor environment. However, other species that evolved in higher resource environments are similarly adapted to use more resources effectively, allowing them to out compete cacti which may uptake nutrients more slowly due to their adaptation to extreme environments.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is dry-firing a weapon bad for it?

[Assistant] I can only answer for bow and arrow. But when you fire a bow, the arrow takes a lot of kinetic energy out of the string so that it can fly. Without the arrow, that kinetic energy reverberates through the bow, and can damage it.


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

[User] ELI5: What is that pressure sensation we feel in our chest when we get a spike of anxiety?

[Assistant] I believe it is adrenaline, the fight or flight reflex. But modern man doesnt necessarily have the same fight or flight reflex as our ancestors - its more fight, flight or freeze. Most people freeze but the body still release the adrenaline used from the original fight or flight.


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

[User] What are some examples of human traits that developed which were key to our survival at the time, but now are hindrances in modern society?

[Assistant] How our body reacts to psychological stress. If you are worried about an upcoming deadline for a project due next week your body reacts the same way it would if a lion jumped into your cubicle and tried to eat you. Increasing your blood pressure and heart rate and shutting down digestion will definitely help you in fight or flight situations, but leads too all kinds of diseases if done chronically in response to psychological stress.


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

[User]
ELI5: What ultimately causes batteries to completely die?

Some batteries that sit in unused electronics for an extended amount of time dont hold charges anymore.

So is it better to periodically charge electronics that arent used regularly just to keep the battery from losing its useable life? Or is it reasonably just a matter of time before batteries arent reasonably usable?

[Assistant]
Batteries are basically a little block of material rusting in order to make electrons move. One that little block of material rusts completely, or at least enough that no more if it can rust, it can't make electrons move anymore. As long as there is any connection between the two ends of the battery, even a bit through the inside of the battery, it's rusting in order to make electrons move along the connection.

Rechargable batteries are different because we can reverse the flow of electrical to reverse the rusting, restoring some of the material to it's original condition. This always it to rust again in the future to supply electricity. But the reversing process isn't perfect, so the amount of material that gets restored decreases with each charging cycle, if only a little bit. If the amount of material available gets small enough it won't be able to push as many electrons as hard as it used to when it rusts, and possibly not enough or hard enough to make the device it's attached to run anymore.