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

[User] ELI5: How do we know that light from GN-z11 has traveled 13bn years? I mean what's the difference in light from GN_z11 and Andromeda?

[Assistant]
Space itself is expanding. Not just that these distant objects are moving away from each other, but that in addition to that the space between them is expanding also.

Imagine you have two ants on a balloon and start to inflate it. They might be walking away from each other, but the distance between them is increasing faster than their walking speed because the surface of the balloon is expanding due to the inflation. This isnt a perfect analogy but you get the idea.

What weve found is that the rate of expansion of space appears to be constant everywhere. So if two objects are 2 billion light years apart the space between them is expanding at twice the total rate than the space between two objects 1 billion light years apart.

When light (and any electromagnetic wave) is emitted by distant objects the effect of this expansion causes the wavelength of the light to stretch. It appears to be redder than it was when emitted - this is called Red Shift. This is somewhat similar to how a police siren sounds different if its approaching you vs driving away.

The further away an object is the bigger the effect - the more the wavelengths are red shifted, and its proportional to how far away they are.

So we can look at the spectrum of light emitted by distant galaxies and compare to what it should look like - the difference between observed vs predicted values is the redshift and tells us how far away the object is.

Andromeda is almost the opposite case. Its so close to our galaxy that the gravity between the Milky Way and it is pulling the two closer together with enough force to overcome the expansion of space, which is modest at the distance Andromeda is.


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

[User] [Jetsons] What does the button that George presses do?

[Assistant]
The Referential Universal Digital Indexer requires input from an external source, be it a Human, a Robot, or a Mechanical Mechanism, to approve a queue of automated functions. Think of it as a failsafe to prevent Artificial Intelligences from doing things we wouldn't want them to.

Largely it means that George spends most of his time hitting 'Ok' to proceed with the queue, for a few hours until the queue is empty.


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

[User]
How do vaccines work on transplant patients?

On lots of immunosuppressants? Are they effective?

[Assistant]
Depends on the vaccine

Live attenuated vaccines are generally contraindicated (BCG, yellow fever, OPV, vaccinia in particular, but also MMR and the live attenuated flu vaccine).  For live attenuated vaccines that can be transmitted person-to-person, like OPV, they are also contraindicated for the family members or roommates of an organ transplant recipient.

Vaccines should generally be given *prior* to solid-organ transplant, as response in the post-transplant period can be poor - when it's obvious a patient is headed in the direction of, e.g., end-stage liver disease requiring transplant, you try to get them fully vaccinated well in advance.

Inactivated, toxoid, and subunit vaccines like DPT, Hep B, Shingrix, and Pneumovax are generally safe.  For many vaccines given after transplant, you check titers rather than assume that they made a sufficient immune response.  For some vaccines, post-transplant patients should get higher doses or accelerated schedules (this has been studied, for example, with the HBV vaccine).  Inactivated flu vaccine should be given annually.

Even if they make *less* of an immune response to vaccines, *some* response is still better than none.  So if the vaccines are safe, they will usually be given.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does airfare go up in price the closer to the date of flight? Also, what accounts for the price dips and hikes that seemingly change hourly?

Why isn't a seat for a flight a fixed price? I don't pay more for tickets to say, the opera or a hotel the closer to the date i book my ticket.

That is my question. Thanks Reddit. I was born yesterday.

[Assistant]
the plane leaves regardless of how many passengers are on the plane.  the pilot, stewardesses, the gate, the baggage handling are all fixed costs.

now there's only 200 seats on the plane.  you're going to want to get the maximum money out of each and every passenger.  if you charge too max, you won't fill the plane to capacity.  charge too little and you'll miss out on potential revenue.

the passengers that book early are planned trips.   there's plenty of competition to sway the passenger onto another carrier.   so the price is low to begin with to lock in those.    as the flight date approaches, the passenger profile changes from the people that would LIKE to go there, to the people that NEED to go there.  last minute business trips,  family emergencies, etc.   these passengers are willing to pay more as long as you get them to the destination.    so if they're willing to pay more, why not charge them more?


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

[User]
[Marvel/MCU] Just how smart was Abraham Erskine?

In the MCU, Erskine makes the super soldier serum and then promptly gets killed and his notes are destroyed. Some of the world's best scientists spend decades trying to recreate the formula that made Captain America. They have access to Steve Rogers's blood and most of the scientists who worked on Project Rebirth are alive and well after the attack on Erskine. So why was no one able to figure it out? Does Erskine just outclass even guys like Howard Stark and Bruce Banner? What about in the comics?

[Assistant]
Howard did eventually remake the serum.

Also it's partly the fact that Erskine's serum only works with the right subject. With someone who isn't Steve Rogers, the serum would immediately go wrong. That's what happened with the Banner's serum - it brought out the worst of Banner's and Blonsky's personalities. Everyone trying to recreate the serum keeps forgetting that fact, that the only reason Captain America was such a wild success was entirely due to Steve.


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

[User]
CMV: The Ramsey Debt Snowball Method of getting out of debt hurts consumers by totally disregarding interest rates

Consider this situation:

A person has $8,000 auto loan at 2.5% through their credit union and $20,000 in credit card debt at 24%.

The Ramsey Debt Snowball method would have you put every extra dime into the car until it is paid off while paying the minimum on the credit card.  This would cost the consumer thousands of extra dollars.

Now if you called into the show he would probably tell you to sell the car, buy a "hooptie" and put the rest of the equity toward the credit card debt.

I disagree with this as well, because driving a  $1,000 car has a whole lot more risk and hidden costs than driving a $10,000 car. It is likely to cost much more per mile driven in poorer fuel economy, more frequent maintenance costs, and time spent looking for a different car every couple of years.  It could also make you lose your job if you are constantly missing work due to breakdowns.

So my two points are:

1. Paying off high interest rate loans first makes more financial sense than paying off small loans first

2. Paying a reasonable interest rate on a loan for a good, used modest vehicle makes more financial sense than paying cash for a junker.

[Assistant]
I mean, you are literally correct from a mathematical standpoint. Thats not a view that can be changed. But the point of the snowball method is not to be the most mathematically efficient, its to give people the best chance of paying off all their debt eventually. From Wikipedia:

>	In situations where a debt has both a higher interest rate and higher balance than another debt, the debt-snowball method will prioritize the smaller debt even though paying the larger debt would be more cost-effective. Several writers and researchers have considered this contradiction between the method and a strictly mathematical approach. Writing in Forbes, Rob Berger noted that "humans arent really rational creatures" and stresses that research tends to support the debt snowball method in real-world scenarios. The primary benefit of the smallest-balance plan is the psychological benefit of seeing results sooner, in that the debtor sees reductions in both the number of creditors owed (and, thus, the number of bills received) and the amounts owed to each creditor. In a 2012 study by Northwesterns Kellogg School of Management, researchers found that "consumers who tackle small balances first are likelier to eliminate their overall debt" than trying to pay off high interest rate balances first. A 2016 study in Harvard Business Review came to a similar conclusion:

>> We tested a variety of hypotheses and ultimately determined that it is not the size of the repayment or how little is left on a card after a payment that has the biggest impact on peoples perception of progress; rather its what portion of the balance they succeed in paying off. Thus focusing on paying down the account with the smallest balance tends to have the most powerful effect on peoples sense of progress  and therefore their motivation to continue paying down their debts.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do tires on a car have air in them? Why not have them made out of solid rubber?

[Assistant] Rubber compresses yes, but not as much as air. Very early cars had solid rubber tyres and the ride was very bumpy (albeit combined with very primative suspension).  Also the solid rubber tires would "bounce" like a rubber ball, not ideal.  Air inside tires however acts like a shock absorber... then once the tire has returned to its original shape, the air doesn't spring back the other way like solid rubber would.


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

[User]
[Dune] Why aren't there any male Bene Gesserit?

And if for some reason Paul passed the gom jabbar (box and needle) test but wasn't the Kwisatz Haderach, what would the Bene Gesserit (BG) have done with a male that had precognition and had been taught bodily control and the Voice and was scheduled to inherit a dukehood?  Hoped he sired a daughter so they could unite House Atreides and Harkonnen?

My understanding is that a BG is basically a spice-enhanced female mentat with the added perk of the Voice, but it seems that nothing they do is outside what we see various other people do. They utilize prescience, absolute bodily and mental control, strategic thinking, and a compelling power known as "the Voice", but we see many mentats (almost all of them male) have some degree of bodily control, we see men use the spice for prescience, etc. Even though it's unknown whether Paul is the Kwisatz Haderach, he still undergoes the BG training of absolute bodily and mental control and the box-and-needle test. He still has the ability to use the Voice and this isn't treated as an unusual thing for a male to do given enough training. Navigators (male and female) use spice to see into the future to pilot ships at FTL speeds and to also see the outcome of certain events as when Paul mentions that the Emperor's Navigators are desperately trying to see into the future on how they can beat Paul and are getting frustrated that they can't see any further.

Is there something more to being a BG that only women possess or do the BG simply choose to only have female members to better control humanity's future?

[Assistant]
Reverend Mothers of the Bene Gesserit must undergo the ritual of drinking the Water of Life, converting it, and gaining access to Other Memory.

Every male that has attempted to do that has died in the process.  Only women and the Kwisatz Haderach are capable of passing the ritual, which is why Paul isn't confirmed to be the KH until after he does it.


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

[User]
why did silver moon to 120$ in 1980 and came back to 20$?

it was such a huge spike followed by a huge dump. Why did it happen?

[Assistant]
Three brothers Nelson, William, and Lamar Hunt; part of the Texas oil billionaire Hunt family, tried to corner the entire silver market. They took gigantic margin loans and managed to buy up to a third of all outstanding silver in the market. The shortage got so bad that jewelry companies like Tiffany & Co took out full page ads to condemn the Hunt brothers for blatant market manipulation.

What the Hunt brothers did wasn't illegal per se, but neither was putting in new rules to punish them. The exchange (COMEX) attempted multiple rounds of arbitration to attempt to resolve the situation peacefully, but the Hunt brothers refused, thinking they could ride this rocket to the moon.

Eventually COMEX passed two new rules designed specifically to punish them. The first rule banned making more than 500 contracts per month in silver; and the second rule temporarily banned buying any silver and only allowed selling. The second rule was announced effective for the day on each day, and would ultimately come to last two months.

This caused the brothers to lose so much money that the brokers which had lent them the money to make this trade were in danger of going bankrupt. They were eventually able to negotiate a rescue package using all their personal wealth as collateral, and still lost a billion dollars. 8 years later they were finally convicted of conspiracy charges to corner the silver market (their lawyers had been using a strategy centered around delaying the conviction as much as possible) and declared bankruptcy.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens inside a person's body whenever a lactose relief pill is taken before consuming dairy?

Is the lactose pill countering the lactose in the dairy? Is the lactose pill just coating the stomach so the lactose in the dairy doesn't irritate it as much?

All I know is those pills are wonderful, but think it would be really interesting to find out what is happening inside of a person's body after the pill is taken.

[Assistant] Lactose is a sugar. Lactase is an enzyme that digests it. People with lactose intolerance lack the lactase to digest lactose. The lactose pills and additives (such as LactAid, milk with lactase added to it) simply provide the enzyme for digestion.


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

[User]
[Daredevil MCU] What if Matt Murdock's father Jack Murdock took the fall?

In the show he was supposed to have took the fall against a boxer named Crusher Creel, leaving Matt a big inheritance to carry him through law school . His death had set up the path for Matt to be in the orphanage, and meet Stick.

But what if Jack took the fall? I believe that Stick mightve still found his way to Matt, since hes the only one that couldve helped Matts senses getting stronger. Their dynamic would be different since Matt wouldnt get so attached to him due to having his father there, not seeking a fatherly attachment to Stick.

But what do you guys think? How does this affect his life?

[Assistant] Whether or not Jack took the fall or not had nothing to do with how Matt saw him as a father. Times were tough, he provided for the family, he was even a dotting father. What could Matt complain about? The real reason why Matt encouraged his dad not to take the fall was because it was bothering Jack. Matt didn't want his father to be ashamed of himself. Jack Murdock could always take a beating, why couldn't he have his way just this once? If Jack had taken the fall and stayed alive, Matt would have understood. He would have realized that his dad saw his  son's wellbeing as more important than his ego. Matt would have lived his life knowing this and he'd never become a vigilante because it's not what his dad would have wanted. He would probably still be a lawyer and he'd probably still help the helpless. He just won't do so as a vigilante.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are you not hungry when you're sick?

I'm almost certain this has been asked before but I couldn't find it no matter how I searched, so I apologize for that.

Why do you stop feeling hungry when you're sick, with the flu for example? Shouldn't you want more food than usual since your body is fighting off an illness?

[Assistant] When you get sick, your body is trying to fight off whatever made you sick in the first place. The fighter cells need energy, so they fire off cytokines, signals that tell other cells in the immune system what to do. This causes you to be tired and want to rest, and rest gives the fighter cells more energy. The tiredness is what causes you to not want to eat as much.


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

[User]
[Friday the 13th] Would a nuke kill Jason for good? What could kill him for good?

Drowning him in acid? Throwing him in an electrolysis machine and letting it break him down to his base atoms?

[Assistant]
Assuming we're talking about Jason X, those sound like the methods needed, assuming the nano machines that constantly regenerate his body are shielded against EMP.

But even that's not a guarantee.

While Jsson appeared to just be a sturdy mortal when he first started killing, and later an undead resurrected by lightning, but really he was constantly brought back by the dark magic he mother used, years ago. So he could only be killed "for good" by someone of Voorhees blood. Which did happen.

The problem arises that in between getting killed by his niece Jessica, and becoming Jason X, he was brought back from Hell by Freddy Kreuger.

So, inspite of all hoops you'd have to jump through to drop him for good on the mortal plane, it looks like there will always be a way for him to come back from hell.


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

[User]
If planets were all formed from the same molecular clouds, why do some planets have different atmospheres and elemental make-ups?

Title says it all.

[Assistant]
Broadly speaking, the planets of the solar system are divided into two major groups: the terrestrial planets (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars), and the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). The terrestrial planets formed closer to the sun where temperatures are too high for appreciable amounts of volatiles (like methane and water) to condense and accumulate. Therefore, the terrestrial planets are primarily composed of metals and materials with relatively high melting points (Ni, Fe, Al, and silicates).

Farther from the sun, beyond what's called the "frost line," temperatures are cool enough for solid methane and water to accumulate, providing the outer solar system with more raw material for planet formation. The outer planets were therefore able to grow much larger, causing them to gravitationally attract light gases, such as hydrogen and helium, which the smaller terrestrial planets were unable to capture.

The differences between the atmospheres of Venus, Earth, and Mars are further explained by their different distances from the sun, as well as their different masses.


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

[User]
Eli5 what is birthmark?

80% of my body is covered in strawberry birthmark. I've had it since I was born. My mum thought that as I grew it would become smaller on me, but it grew with me. It turns blue when I'm cold. No doctor can explain what causes it? It looks and feels like normal skin and could be removed with laser treatment, by bursting the blood vessels apparently...similar to how tattoos are removed.

[Assistant]
Sounds like a vascular birthmark. Basically your blood vessels formed a bit weirdly and you have more blood flowing in that area. Very rarely associated with various health risks but if you've consulted a doctor they probably already screened for those. They can be removed with laser treatments (like you said), or medicine that works to reduce blood flow in the area.

The other type of birthmark is a pigmented birthmark, where parts of the skin end up with more color. That's actually how moles form. They mostly tend to be darker though, like a tan.

The cause is unknown, since we can't really get a good look at a fetus as it's developing, but we have a pretty solid grasp on what they are.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Does it count as achieving "warp capabilities" if for the most part the society hasn't achieved the corresponding socioeconomics of warp tech?

 For example, would first contact be made with a planet that all resources are funneled to .1% while everyone else lives at subsistence level farming?

[Assistant]
Keep in mind that First Contact =/= joining the Federation.

For the former, warp or FTL is used as a benchmark because the Federation equates that to "well if they got FTL they are gonna meet us soon or later, may as well make a peaceful introduction with an expert rather than leave then to the chance of a random deep space encounter"

If you want to actually join the Federation, that's when you have to start worrying about socio-economic equality and other progressive values among other things (I think a unified or near-unified world government was also a requirement)


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

[User] ELI5: Why do some water bottles 'hiss' when you open them similar to soda, even though they arent carbonated?

[Assistant] Some are still pressurized with a neutral gas, like nitrogen, to help preserve freshness. Others may have simply pressurized from the air and water warming, causing the air to expand and the water to let off some water vapor which expands as well. This creates pressure, and so, the hiss.


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

[User]
If birds have hollow bones, and bone marrow produces red blood cells, how do birds make red blood cells?

I'm sure there's a simple answer to this but I've been wondering it for years.

[Assistant] Birds have bone marrow it just doesn't intersperse through the central region of bones like in humans.   Avian bones aren't hollow in the sense that they're like straws with absolutely nothing inside them.  There are networks of structural fibers that help give their bones strength. Bone marrow is likewise interspersed and around the hollow cavities in a bird's bones.


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

[User] ELI5 why do flies constantly choose to fly near and bother humans?

[Assistant]
They don't. Flies don't consciously choose to do anything, as far as we know. They're running on pure hard-wired instinct.

Flies are attracted to any strong meat-ish smell. And you, being mostly meat, smell meat-ish. They're hoping they'll find some dead flesh to lay their eggs in. You're not dead, so you're not a good option for this, but flies are far too stupid to know that and will keep circling your meat smell until something better comes along.


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

[User] ELI5 : Why does a little bit of water provide grip, while a lot of water provides lubrication.

[Assistant]
Water has a surface tension to it that can lightly adhere to irregular surfaces. It increases the surface area of the contact which has an adhesive force.

A lot of water acts like a lubricant by getting between two surfaces and resisting their coming together.

Think of it like many microscopic ball bearings rolling around between two surfaces.

With just a few ball bearings, they get caught in the nooks and crannies, and increase adhesive force, but with a lot, they roll around in between and reduce friction.


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

[User] ELI5 How do wings generate lift when flying upside down?

[Assistant]
The force from the wings depends on the direction that they deflect air. Angle em up, they deflect air down. Angle em down, they deflect air up. You can adjust the wing angle by adjusting the orientation of the whole plane.

To keep lift when the plane is upside down, it just needs to be angled up slightly.


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

[User]
Eugenics from a purely scientific viewpoint.

I am interested in the cons and pros(if any) of eugenics from a purely scientific viewpoint, rather than historic, political, or moral perspective.  It is my understanding that eugenics fails to be a scientifically valid model for creating the "supreme race" of humans, but I have yet to read any detailed explanation as to why.

I am in no way a supporter of eugenics, but if we can breed a horse specifically for speed, or a dog to have a short nose, why can't we do the same with humans, or if we can, what BIOLOGICAL (not social/moral) effects will it have (either in the short term or the long term)?

Again to make it clear, this is posted in askscience because I would like to avoid any moral/political discussion.

[Assistant]
Of course we could breed humans for whatever we would like, just like any other mammal. Humans however are slower at reproducing than cats, dogs or pigs, so it would take more time.

Biologically, well, we would probably see some of the same side effects we see in other artificially selected breeds of mammals: susceptibility to diseases and higher incidence of genetic defects due to inbreeding, and we would also select probably for not necessarily desirable but genetically linked traits (either by linkage or pleiotropy).


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

[User] Would human society within the Matrix continue to progress if allowed to? Would it ever reach the point in which humanity ended and go full circle? How do the machines prevent this from happening?

[Assistant]
Keep in mind that none of the humans in the Matrix are in any kind of control over their timeline, their technological advancement, their futures. There is no Bill Gates there to spearhead Microsoft. There is no Elon Musk to privatize spaceflight.

The Matrix is one big city-size simulation, and none of the humans can help the city progress in a meaningful way. They would never even get close to inventing AI.

Also, the mathematical foundation of the Matrix statistically *guarantees* an eventual break down in the source code and the resurgence of The One, the person who balances the needs between slavery and choice. At that time, the Matrix is reset.

Now, an interesting point here is that Morpheus claims that his version of Zion had been fighting for, what, 300 years? That's a *long* time between Ones, which makes things kind of weird: you could live in the Matrix, and your great-grandmother could tell you how the city hasn't changed a *bit* in 80 years.

Which would break the program, because the human mind would realize that something is wrong. So the machines probably don't let anybody reach old age.


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

[User]
[Stranger Things] Upside Down, natural resources, and colonization.

Why doesnt the American or Soviet government strip-mine oil, rare earth minerals, metals, crystals, lumber, and etc from The Upside Down? Its is known to both governments that the creatures (demogorgons, demobats, and Vecnuts) can be killed with bullets and explosives.

[Assistant] Because the upside down is difficult to access and heavily defended besides being outright hostile to our world. It'd be a massive undertaking to even reliably get access to it and a constant war just to survive more than a few hours. The native population has already shown a remarkably effective invader and can turn your own forces against you faster than you can kill them. At best you'll spend more resources than you could ever exploit and at worst you'd risk the entire world for minimal profit.


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

[User]
[The Goonies]Why were they losing their homes?

OK, so the rich SOB's were going to tear down the homes for a golf course.

But how could they get the all of the properties? Wouldn't each family have a mortgage with the bank? If they are making payments there is no way someone can swoop in and buy it out from under them.

Were they all rental properties and the owner was offered a huge amount?

If the families were bought out then what is the point of the movie? The movie made it sound like it was a shady deal and they were LOSING their homes. But if their parents sold out to a generous offer then it would not be that bad of a thing.

[Assistant]
There is the concept of buying debt.

The various families of the Goon Docks all have mortgages on their homes. The Astoria Country Club somehow bought the debt of those mortgages from the bank making them the organization that the families owe their debt to. They then offer the families to forgive the debt if they sign over the deed to their property, maybe even offer them a small cash settlement. Everyone except the Walshs have done so. All that remains is to get his property so that they can bulldoze the land and expand their golf course/resort. Mr Walsh was offered the same deal as everyone else but was holding out, but he couldn't last for long.

Mikey finding the jewels means that his family can now hold out indefinitely.

Now that doesn't mean that the Goon Docks will go back to the way it was, remember, the other families have already settled, preparing to move. Walsh was the last hold out. But now that he can keep the property, all the negotiating power is in his hands. Astoria can't build their golf course if there is a house in the middle of it. So maybe now Mr Walsh can negotiate a better deal for himself and maybe even get more money for the other families.

However the more salient point was that the kids were more upset that they were losing their way of life, that they were all going to go their separate ways. But in the end, Mikey at least has come to terms with that. As he said...

>The next time you see sky, it'll be over another town. The next time you take a test, it'll be in some other school. Our parents, they want the bestest stuff for us. But right now they gotta do what's right for them, 'cause it's their time. Their time, up there. Down here it's our time. It's our time down here.

Maybe they will never live in the Goon Docks again, but with one last adventure, the spirit of the place will live on forever where ever they go. As they say... Goonies never say die.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do old ladies cut their hair short?

[Assistant] Most women's hair tends to thin out as they get older. (Just like lots of men lose theirs.) The thinning is actually more noticeable with long hair so they tend to cut it shorter.  Hair is also more fragile the older you get and can break more easily so they tend to cut it to minimize the damage. Lots of older women would love to keep their long hair but the stressed hair doesn't make it possible. Plus the texture of the hair changes as it goes grey it can be wirey and coarse also making it harder to manage.


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

[User] [Jurassic Park]InGen has started selling micro Raptors with Peacock tails as pets. 1 kills a Dog & seriously injures a 4 year old. You've been tasked with drafting a press statement that both expresses sympathy for, and blames the family simultaneously, well denying InGen's culpability. Any ideas?

[Assistant] This kind of tragedy is what happens when people underestimate a micro raptor. As weve made it abundantly clear, these animals *can* inflict harm. A home with small children and other animals are often incompatible with certain species of dogs. By adopting one of these micro raptors, youre responsible for another creatures life. Please, be a responsible pet owner.


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

[User]
CMV: Pee sitting is better than Pee standing

**Urinals and public toilets don't apply.**

My male friends, pissing while sitting is superior to pissing while standing. Here is why:

\- Pressure does not build up in your dick, and anything under its flight path will be hit, so you will very likely hit the front edge of your toilet if you piss while standing. Sitting negates this problem.

\- If you have held it for long enough, it can become difficult to control, so piss inconsistency and going too high is very likely.

\- If you suffer from bad aim, you know what happens :d

\- Dispersion: When you piss while standing, your piss will likely still hit outside of the toilet even if you aim perfectly, due to splash damage and your piss is anything but a laser, you might have hits from anywhere within the area of 1ft from the centre of the main piss stream.

\- When you get a boner, good luck aiming down.

\*Public toilets are a lot of times kind of disgusting, so I don't suggest you let your butt to be in contact with it.

[Assistant]
Peeing standing up is fun. It's loud, and you can wiggle your dick around to hear the different sounds it makes depending on where the water lands.

There are times when sitting in preferable, but there's are occasions where peeing standing at home is preferable.

You can't claim that it's ALWAYS better to pee sitting down.


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

[User]
Antitrust/competition/regulatory economists: What theories of harm would you develop if you were working for a competition authority looking to investigate the recent shenanigans in European soccer.

Is UEFA a cartel already? Sports leagues are interesting in general because they are monopolies. How can the proposed Super League be any different then existing structures?

[Assistant]
> Is UEFA a cartel already

All major sports associations are cartels, and all the minor ones are trying to become cartels. Cartelization is is a fairly predominant strategy in entertainment in general.


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

[User]
[X-men] I attended Xaviers school for the gifted and now I've left, can I go to Harvard and continue my studies?

I have a pretty boring mutation (my skin can change colours) even if I had a cool mutation I wouldn't become a hero. I do however wish to continue my academia studies and Harvard looks like a great place to do that! Will my attendance at the school for the gifted allow me to do so? Or does the school not hold any real merits?

[Assistant] Many members of the X-Men have gone on to traditional universities after graduating Xavier Institute, including Iceman (UCLA), Beast (Bard), and Karma (University of Chicago). Presumably being a mutant would qualify you as an underrepresented minority - yay affirmative action! - and your essay on how you learned the importance of resilience from having your school destroyed by Magneto every other year will undoubtedly endear you to any admissions office.


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

[User] ELI5: Did we tap into green energy at the earliest possible opportunity? Or did we delay it, and there was actually a possibility to start exploiting it much earlier?

[Assistant] Technically, we started out using green energy, since we didn't have the means to do anything else! We were using renewable sources like, well, Human labour, then animal labour, and we've been using wind and water to power stuff for ages and ages, before we discovered other means.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does Darth Vader care about names such as Shmi Skywalker or Padme Amidala? As in, can you mock them in front of him without any consequences?

Let's say for whatever reason you start going on a tirade about that horrible Queen of Naboo Padme Amidala. Or about some random Tatooine slave Shmi Skywalker. Of course, without knowing a thing about their connection to Anakin Skywalker and the fact that Vader is him.

Now, I'm curious, would "Vader" give a damn? Does any part of his new persona after falling into the dark side have any attachment to the only two women he loved?

Because it'd be very much out of character for Lord Vader to react violently at the mention of these ladies.

[Assistant] Darth Vader Force-Choked a Moff for mocking him in Episode IV, likely because, in addition to insubordination, the latter unintentionally made some trauma resurface.  If that scene is any indication, he DEEPLY cares.


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

[User]
[General] Why are extremely powerful, supernatural individuals so commonly bound to something so meager as their word? Why can't they lie or back out of agreements?

Its a fairly common occurrence that some spunky little meatbag will summon an ancient powerful figure, like a demon or something, who clearly does not *want* to do anything but destroy humans, and then resolves the conflict by finding a loophole or something in their contract or whatever. No matter how bad the figure wants to smash the little hero into a little pancake, they can't because they're bound to their word and promises and all that.

This effect has applied to a number of powerful figures, from lesser demons and devils, all the way to gods, deities, and other cosmic entities. So, what gives? Why is an all-powerful god bound to the agreement they made with some lowly, carbon-based monkey?

[Assistant]
That's the nature of magic, it's based on words. It's why we call magic spells, because once you spell out what you're doing with words, you are bound by it.

Its the price you pay for magical power, the rules you have to follow.


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

[User]
[Dragon Ball Z] What exactly happens to Goku's body when they go Super Saiyan?

On a cellular level and what actually causes the changes in his body.

[Assistant]
Saiyan biology is fairly complex.  Compared to most species, they need to drink very little, and tend to eat in massive meals that last them a long time compared to smaller meals throughout the day.

A transformation in any creature represents their bodies and cells restructuring into different shapes.  With a Saiyan body, this is much less obvious - the only external difference is hair color and shape, and a bit of muscle mass.  What's actually going on is that their cells are changing how they output the energy in the body, multiplying its potency several times over.  All creatures have a cell structure that manipulates the Ki coming into their bodies in different ways, and Saiyans are no exception.  Their default state absorbs and then outputs Ki similar to a human.

This is visible in the way that Ki flows around their body.  Ki, when focused to a certain degree, enters the visible light spectrum, but in a way that isn't fully understood.  At lower energy levels, this usually becomes a white aura around the user, or sometimes blue of focused differently.

The "Kaio-ken" technique, perfected by King Kai, alters the cells of the user to multiply the output similar to a Super Saiyan transformation.  This is very stressful, as it is an unnatural transformation, but it can be seen by how it changes the visible aura to a red glow.  The Super Saiyan transformation does the same thing, but on a "perfect" level, bringing the aura to a vibrant yellow, that seems to grow in intensity with each "level" of Super Saiyan.  Past Super Saiyan 2, the cells allow energy throughput with such potency that bio-electric surges may emanate from the user.

Worth noting is how other unique entities show this power.  Dr. Gero's androids appear to have modulators that allow them to change what kind of energy they output, from weaker white and blue blasts to potent yellow and pink.  The creature known as Perfect Cell attained a deep purple aura constantly, which seems to be a higher rank of Ki than Super-Saiyan yellow, although Gohan was able to draw more total energy and thus overpower him (before he was injured).

Majin Buu's unique cellular structure created a bright pink aura that was more potent than anything seen before.  The Kais seem to manipulate energy in a similar way.  Additionally, when Gohan's potential was fully unlocked, he created a white glow again, signifying that his Ki was not being magnified in any way, but he simply had a massive amount to use and focus.


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

[User] [Star wars] Are Proton Torpedos nuclear weapons?

[Assistant] No. They basically function as a matter disruption explosive. They have a warhead that scatters protons (thus the name), causing atoms within the blast radius to basically tear themselves apart. Where a nuclear weapon uses that to fuel an explosion, here it's just a consequence of the explosion. It doesn't appear to generate nuclear-level explosions, from what we see when Wedge's torpedoes impact the Death Star.


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

[User]
When an object's color is due to absorbing only certain photons, how can it continuously absorb those photons? Why don't the electrons in their excited state remain there, and stop absorbing the light?

A red shirt is red because it absorbs all visible light other than red. How can the shirt continuously absorb all of the other photons? Is the continuous stream of input energy given off through other parts of the EM spectrum?

[Assistant] Generally those excited electrons have lots of other things to interact with. Vibrations of the atomic nucleii nearby, other electrons of other nearby atoms, etc. This will tend to result in the excited atom losing its excitation energy and transferring it to something else. Eventually, some of this energy may turn back into light, but in the form of thermal radiation, which would be mainly in the IR wavelengths if the shirt is kept at a reasonable temperature for human use.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do we nod our head to strangers on the street but raise our chin to acquaintances?

[Assistant] A lot of this is going to be innate reactions. These days, we don't see people, even every day strangers, as a threat, however our forefathers would have. An upward chin raise can give off a sign of superiority, possibly challenging someone else. All fine and dandy if you know the person, less so if you don't. Perhaps more importantly, for long term survival, is that fact that by lifting your head up, you're exposing your neck to someone you don't know, while a downward nod protects your neck more, while still acknowledging the pressence of the other person.


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

[User] Could there be organisms made out of dark matter?

[Assistant] It's possible. The most generic dark matter candidate is a WIMP (weakly interacting massive particle), and it is pretty unlikely an organism could be made out of WIMPs, since that are so weakly interacting that they just pass through each other. However there are other dark matter candidates, such as CHAMPS (charged massive particles) that maybe organisms could be made out of, and more generally there could be whole "dark sectors" with dark "atoms" and many dark particles with complex dynamics between them that could support life. This kind of dark matter probably doesn't make up very much of dark matter though, since there are various pieces of evidence (such as the shape of the galactic dark matter halo, or the shape of collisions between galaxy clusters) that seem to indicate that dark matter doesn't strongly self-interact.


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

[User]
[The Incredibles] Why does Mr. Incredible get tired from running around Syndrome's island looking for the Omnidroid? Wouldn't having Super Strength make the muscular effort for running trivial for him?

Mr. Incredible is shown in the movie to be able to lift cars as if they're made of cardboard, leap above the height of the Omnidroid 9.0, and sprint fast enough to avoid the Omnidroid 9.0's rolling movement.

Shouldn't an activity like jogging be trivial in effort for his physiology? He is stated to weigh 350 lbs after losing weight, so his pre-weight loss weight can probably be estimated at 400-450 lbs. Moving that much mass for extended periods would make any normal human tired, but Mr. Incredible is shown in the movie having to lift entire train cars (which can weigh several dozen tons) just to get a workout. Can his exhaustion from jogging just be explained away as a gag for the audience?

[Assistant]
He hadn't used those muscle in that way for quite a while, and his super strength doesn't seem to give him super-endurance.

As an equation, it's as if his effort is multiplied - he puts out more energy than he puts in, so where a normal man of his musculature is *strong*, he can lift a train car. But it would still take him effort to do so, and make him more tired the longer that effort is maintained, even if he gets much more out of said effort than we would.

With some dedicated training, he could definitely push that limit much further, but he had been behind a desk for a long time.


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

[User]
What does it mean if a wave function equals 1, independent of position (x)?

I have been looking at wave functions on MIT's YouTube channel (I'm not studying a course, or anything) and there's one thing that seems so weird. If you take the rootnorm of a wave function e^ikx you get the probability which is in this case 1. I've gotten that through my own calculations and they confirm it in the MIT lecture. However, my interpretation is that, whatever position (x-value) you enter you get 1, and therefore all the positions in the universe have probability of finding the particle with 100% success rate. It doesn't matter where you look, because the probability is suddenly independent of the position, and even stranger, is always 1. But that doesn't make sense!! In the lecture they just say that there's an even probability everywhere and therefore no position has a favor, but they're not mentioning that the probability is 1 everywhere and that the particle should therefore certainly be everywhere (for real, not like the uncertainty principle).

I'm guessing it's safe to assume that the professor in the lecture is right and my amateur interpretation is incorrect, but could anyone explain how I have misunderstood this 100% probability of finding the particle everywhere?

[Assistant]
You are correct. The problem is that the distribution is not normalized. If you place this particle in an imaginary box of volume V, the normalized wavefunction is:

e^(ikx)/sqrt(V).

Now the probability density is 1/V. This is a properly normalized uniform distribution. It means that you're equally likely to find the particle at any position inside the box.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do baking soda and vinegar make my towels really clean?

[Assistant] baking soda makes water all cuddly, vinegar acts as a mild bleaching agent and also makes water slightly acidic.  Dirt loves a cuddle in acidic water, so together, they make the dirt leave the towel and go into the water.


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

[User]
ELI5: When a precious mineral like jade gets carved, what happens to the leftover shavings?

I know that for diamonds, they get used as diamond dust because of diamonds natural sparkling quality, but what about for minerals that arent naturally as brilliant (Ex. Jade)? Do they just dispose of the shavings and pieces too small for use, or is there something else that gets done with them?

[Assistant] That depends on what type of material you are working with and how large the piece is when you start working. If you have a large piece, you may be able to get many pieces cut and polished into cabachons or faceted for jewelry before you are down to scrap. In that case, the scrap may be large enough that you can cut a slab or make something else out of the material. If you are working with a smaller piece, there may only be scrap left after you use what is the best part of the stone. These may just be shards or tiny particles which would not be used for much, or they may be large enough to be cut and polished into a small piece for a repair. Again, depending on the material itself, you can end up with chunks, shards or just tiny fractured pieces. In the case of turquoise, vendors will often take the tiny shards and scraps and pack them in pound or kilo sized bags and sell the small chips and pieces for those who make inlaid furniture to use in the inlay.


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

[User] Are incandescent lamps still a waste of energy in the winter when the heat can be used to warm up the room?

[Assistant]
Your point is reasonable.

But if you're going to analyze the overall energy wasted by the lamp this way, then you also have to consider that in the summer, it gets worse because we first generate heat in the lamp, then use additional energy to pump that heat out of the room through the air conditioning.


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

[User]
Advice sought on job application

Hi all. About 12 months ago I interviewed for a mid-career position (and my dream job) at a UK university. Although the interviews went well, I wasnt offered the role. Obviously disappointing, but the head of school was kind enough to give me some very useful feedback on my interview performance.

Recently the same university advertised a similar role: a role for which Id be equally qualified. Given how far I got last time, and given that Ive had some pretty significant additions to my CV over the last 12 months (additions that should offset at least some of the shortcomings in my previous application), Im intending to again submit an application.

However, Im not sure what the norms are in a case like this: whether my previous application will prove a problem (formally or otherwise), or the extent to which I should highlight that this application differs from the last one, or whatever else. Given that, Im wondering if anyone has any experience applying to a job under these circumstances.

Id really appreciate your thoughts; thanks!

[Assistant] Ive been on several search committees where our second or third choice has been a great catch, and weve thought wish we had a second opening to offer #2 or hope they see that ad we will post next year.  Apply!


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

[User]
ELI5 why certain isotopes of chemical elements become radioactive, and why they have varying half-lives

I know the number of protons makes a spot in the periodic table, but I don't understand how neutrons work or why. I was going to name this "ELI5 Radioactivity" but it'd probably be too vague for what I ask.

[Assistant]
So inside the nucleus of atoms there are protons and neutrons.

There is a certain ratio of neutrons:protons which is stable. It's close to 1:1, though as elements get heavier the ratio shifts in favor of neutrons.

This stable configuration minimizes potential energy of the nucleus.

Anything outside this stable configuration has higher potential energy than the minimum necessary to hold the atom together.

Whenever something has higher potential energy than the minimum, it's unstable. This is simply a fact of our universe.

So this means that the unstable nuclei "want" to reconfigure themselves to be more stable.

This process of reconfiguring nuclei means that they have to get rid of excess potential energy, and the way that happens is through radiation.

There are a number of ways this can happen; alpha, beta and gamma decay are the most common.

Beta decay is the big driving factor for decay. Protons can turn into neutrons, and neutrons can turn into protons through the two forms of beta decay.

This means that an unstable element can either decrease its atomic number by turning a proton into a neutron, or increases its atomic number by turning a neutron into a proton.

In addition to changing the nucleon (neutrons and protons are collectively called nucleons), it results in the release of either electrons and electron anti-neutrinos, or positrons and electron neutrinos depending on which form of beta decay happened. These highly energetic electrons are the beta radiation.

Alpha decay is the release of 2 protons and 2 neutrons - which is basically a helium nucleus. These helium nuclei emerge with a lot of energy and are the alpha radiation.

Gamma radiation is a bit different than the other two. If you've taken high school chemistry you should be familiar with the idea that electrons have energy levels, and can be excited into higher energy levels and decay into lower ones in a structured form.

Well inside the atomic nucleus, nucleons *also* have energy levels in much the same way (although the precise form of it is a little different.)

Things happening inside a nucleus can excite nucleons into higher energy levels, then they decay down to the ground state by emitting photons - the same way that electrons do. However, the much higher energy inside a nucleus means those photons have much higher frequency, and come out as x-rays and gamma rays.

The half-life of an element is simply a measurement of how radioactive it is - how frequently decay events are going to happen. This depends largely on how far away from "stable" it is and how much energy it has. So heavier elements tend to be more unstable.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are we able to find dinosaur bones from millions of years ago when there have been millions of other animals dying and leaving their bones behind?

Shouldn't there just be so many bones that we couldn't even find any dinosaur bones left? I feel like there should be soooo many bones everywhere.

[Assistant]
Your question has kind of an incorrect premise because it sounds like you're assuming all of the bones should be mixed together.  The age of the fossils you find depends on the rock that they're embedded in.  The reason we know fossils that we dig up are dinosaur fossils, or pre-dinosaur fossils, or post-dinosaur fossils is because we know the ages of the rocks that we're pulling them out of.  Something that comes out of a rock that is 5 million years old is not a dinosaur fossil.  Something that comes out of a rock that 90 million years old probably is.

Edit:  Also, the reason there aren't soooooo many bones everywhere is because fossilization is actually very rare, most animals just rot and decompose when they die, they only fossilize under very particular conditions.


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

[User] What are you actually feeling when you feel like you have to pee?

[Assistant] You are feeling the stretch of the bladder. As the bladder fills, it becomes distended. As the stretch increases, nerves in the lining of the bladder send the urge to urinate to the brain. More distention increases the frequency of the signal, resulting in a stronger sensation.


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

[User]
Is it epistemologically or epistemically?

Or are they just fungible synonyms, like the fungible spelling of zeros and zeroes? When I brought up the epistemically/epistemologically thing to my professor, she didnt correct me and was just really nice about it, so, from that point onward, Ive been using them interchangeably, as I really dont know why both words exist and what the linguistic difference is between the two of them. I dont want to appropriate and/or misuse technical terms; which is correct and what are the words exact uses, as individual entities?

[Assistant]
Sometimes people use epistemic/epistemically to refer to things that have to do with knowledge, its justification, and so on, and epistemological(ly) to refer to things that have to do with the academic study thereof - the discipline of epistemology.

We might reflect on what epistemic and non-epistemic factors play into the development of a theory in some other discipline, maybe science, meaning factors that primarily have to do with knowledge about something, and others that don't (e.g. sociological factors, funding, ...).

By comparison, someone might tell us something about knowledge, e.g. 'knowledge comes in degrees', and we might say something like 'epistemologically, that's difficult to make precise...' basically meaning when doing epistemology (or reflecting on knowledge etc), it's difficult to make this precise in the sense of developing a theory and writing a precise paper about it or something like that.

But I've also seen many people use it more or less interchangeably, and of course the two uses above are closely related anyway.


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

[User] ELI5: What do the people who go in person to the New York stock exchange actually do? Especially with online trading and information everywhere?

[Assistant]
Extremely large trades.  Like institutional stuff that requires verbal negotiation and work to secure the nescessary quantities.

You cant pop onto etrade and buy 50million dollars without moving the price.


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

[User] Does it make a difference to hygiene whether you shower with hot or cold water?

[Assistant] If you're talking about killing bacteria, then no, there isn't much benefit to using hot water.  However, warmer water and steam from a shower can help open the pores on your skin and make it easier to remove dirt and excess oils.


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

[User] Do bailouts incentivize risk taking, or other bad behavior in banks?

[Assistant]
I think the phenomena you're referring to is called "Moral Hazard". The idea is basically that if an actor (in your case a bank) does not have to deal with the consequences of their actions, then they will engage behavior they would not have otherwise. It's commonly talked about in relation to insurance, where an individual consumes more than they otherwise would have because insurance lowers the cost of their consumption.

As it relates to the 2008 crisis, institutions that gave out bad mortgages would package them together and sell them away as  sound investments to other economic actors, thus insulating themselves from the fallout of when those bad mortgages would inevitably go unpaid.

You might argue that if a bank that engages in practices like this knows that they will be bailed out, they will take (or be more likely to take) risky investments because they wont have to deal with the repercussions of the market going sour.


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

[User]
What is the inside of the The Large Hadron Collider made of? and why that material particles doesn't gets accelerated as well?

[Title]

[Assistant]
The machines themselves are made of many materials. For example you've got beam pipes which can be made of metals like aluminum. Then you've got NbTi (niobium-titanium alloys) for superconducting coils or SRF cavities. You've got iron for magnet cores, copper, steel, etc.

But the insides of the cavities and beamlines are held at very high vacuum. While there will always be some stray gas molecules inside the vacuum vessels, the vast majority of them are removed using very powerful pumps. These gas molecules are generally not electrically charged, so they are not affected by the electric and magnetic fields which may be present.


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

[User] ELI5 How does exercise help with mental health issues like depression and anxiety?

[Assistant] Immediately, endorphins. They decrease perception of pain, increase euphoria, modulate your appetite, and boost your immune system (among other things). Over time, the positive benefits of exercise (better sleep, life satisfaction from sticking to something you consciously know is beneficial) encourage you to stick to it.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do men get hairier as they age?

My understanding is that testosterone  peaks at a relatively young age (20s) but many men don't grow a lot of hair on their face or body (or weird places like nose and ears) until they're older.
Why is this?

[Assistant]
The top answer isnt quite right.
Testosterone is primarily an anabolic hormone - meaning it helps you to grow muscle.
It can be converted into DHT, which is an androgenic hormone - meaning it causes things like hair growth.
5-alpha reductase, which is an enzyme, does the conversion.

Hairy people have more DHT not more testosterone.
As men age, we produce more 5- alpha reductase, which converts more of our testosterone into dht making us hairier. The reduction in testosterone level by conversion makes it more difficult to build muscle too.

Incidentally, DHT also regulates the prostate, and too much can cause unhealthy enlargement.

Tl;dr hairiness caused by dht not testosterone. With age we produce more of an enzyme that converts testosterone to dht.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens to the astronauts/cosmonauts in the ISS if a war broke out between the U.S. and Russia?

[Assistant] nothing. setting aside that there are a huge number of provision and agreements for just that eventuality, no one is going to kill the guy they've been sharing the same football field sized house with for months.


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

[User]
[Star Trek TOS/The Wrath of Khan] What would've become of Khan & his ilk if...?

In *Space Seed* Kirk tells Khan that he (presumably not literally himself but Starfleet) will check on Khan and his followers on Ceti Alpha V periodically.

We learn in WoK that nobody ever did, and that six months after they were dropped there, Ceti Alpha VI exploded, knocking Ceti Alpha V into an erratic orbit which left it extremely hostile to life. Nevertheless, Khan & his following survived and eventually escaped. Khan swearing vengeance against Kirk specifically for having been left there and never checked on.

So, what if:

1. Kirk (and/or Starfleet) *had* checked periodically on Khan, found out admit Ceti Alpha VI within a year of is destruction, and transported Khan & co. to another, life sustaining but still challenging world?

2. Ceti Alpha VI *never blew up* and Khan & co. were able to actually make a go of it?

[Assistant]
Khan was the kind of guy who needed a great challenge to rise above himself.

Suppose he'd been given the easier, softer way Kirk had planned.

Khan would have been a Dan'l Boone type.  Wrestling bears and building a new cabin whenever he saw another man's smoke.

On the flip side.  If the Botany Bay colony worked out without becoming hostile to the Federation than it might have changed some of the prejudice against gene augmentation.

Or, the Klingons or Romulans might have found out about the colony and offered Khan a chance to re-take the Earth.  Khan did a credible job piloting a starship with zero training.  Imagine what he'd have done after spending some time training with Romulan tacticians or klingon warriors.


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

[User]
How does fire spread?

Does fire spread, or does the heat from the previous flame match the autoignition temperature and make more flames?

[Assistant]
It's mostly heat transfer, but also diffusion of the intermediate combustion products.  Even with really simple fuels like methane, you have tons of different (some highly reactive) molecules/ions/radicals produced and consumed within the flame.  So if you held a flame to something vs. blowing hot air of the same temperature on it, the flame could actually do a better job of setting that thing on fire.  Search "[fuel of your choice] detailed reaction mechanism" to tumble down that rabbit hole.

There is also the concept of flame speed.  Gas phase products get hot and therefore expand, and that pushes them away from the flame (or pushes the flame away, depending on your reference frame).  So a flame will just automatically climb upstream at a speed determined by its chemistry and heat transfer to surroundings.  Searching "laminar flame speed" will get you started on that...


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How does the galaxy deal with different rotations and time on planets?

Different planets have different rotations, meaning that some of them might have very long nights compared to others. I would also think that the biology of some species are adapted to the time and rotation of their planet. For example: on a planet which has a slower rotation compared to Earth or Coruscant , native species would possibly sleep for days. How does the galaxy in general deal with this? How do they communicate? Or the senate for example, how do they operate efficiently? Is there like a central time that planets abide by? Eg: do planets agree to consider 24hours as one day, regardless of the rotation of the planet? What if someone on Planet X has to communicate with someone on Planet Y while time/days are different for both of them? Even on Earth alone their are many different time zones, imagine having a whole galaxy of different planets with sentient life to communicate with.

And how do Jedi maintain their biorhythm when operating on all these different planets?

[Assistant]
In terms of the Republic and the Empire, Coruscant likely served as the central timekeeper for political and military purposes, effectively a "Coruscant Mean Time" (CMT) much the way Greenwich Mean Time is used as a general time marker. Each planet would use their own time for their internal business, but when you'd set your schedules with other planets you'd use CMT to make sure everyone's using the same time.

For travelers on ships, there's a few different ways they can do it. Either A) they can gently mess with the lights and timing during transit so by the time they arrive at their destination they're on the same rotation as the destination or B) maintain "ship's time" independent from their destination, set either from their port of origin or by CMT. The former is likely only done by smaller vessels, or by small non-crew groups on larger ships, effectively letting them cheat on "hyperdrive lag" in acclimating to the new rotation. The latter is more common with larger commercial and military vessels, as keeping to a strict, universal time table is often critical to operations and the individual comfort of the crew/passengers.

Regarding biological differences, it pretty much came down to "go on human timing or go F yourself". Even in the arguably more egalitarian Republic days, humanity had a dominant role in government and military, and when it comes time to get everyone to compromise on a schedule it's a human majority influencing the timing. Any species that couldn't hang with that timing was effectively handicapped, in turn further reducing their ability to influence the timetables and leading to a cycle where it was chiefly humans and human-equivalents making the calls on the schedule. In the Empire, which was a straight up human supremacist, this only got worse.

As far as the biorhythm of Jedi, they likely have techniques to get themselves on the schedule of new planets in rapid order; meditation, carefully timed resting to realign their sleep schedules, opening themselves to the local flow of life energy, that "fists with your toes" thing John McClane does, you know, whatever works.


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

[User]
[The Incredibles] What about the villians?

Even if the heroes were banned and forced to be average citizens, how did they make the villains comply? Villains don't care what the laws are. Wouldn't banning heroes just make society worse with the villains running rampant?

Or is it the Megamind/Joker complex where getting rid of the heroes caused them to lose their motivation for supervillainy and they just became like common thugs or white collar criminals?

[Assistant]
It's implied that the police/military are more than enough to handle villains when they show up. And when they aren't, insurance picks up the slack.

Important to note is that we don't see a single villain with powers. Bomb Voyage, Underminer, Screenslaver, Syndrome... They all used gadgets. It's possible that having superpowers makes you predisposed to heroism. Or, considering that mind wipe technology exists, all the super powered villains are captured and reprogrammed.


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

[User]
[Avengers Film] What was the glass on the helicarrier prison made of?

It was intended to contain the Hulk and Thor had a bit of trouble with it, what was it?

[Assistant]
it's a reinforced manufactured quartz substance.  Like man-made diamond but without the likelihood of flaws in the process.  IT has a fantastic resilience that no plastic could attain.  At this point, it can only take 5 tonnes per square inch but with some refinement, we could probably get it up to 7.5

It will do until the lab can get the transparency of crystalline formed metals high enough to be useful.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Would Vader really lose in a one on one duel with Sidious?

Off the top of my head the only reason Vader hadn't betrayed Sidious was because his lightning could fry his suit, but would that seriously prove a problem for one of the strongest light saber duelists ever? Especially when we know that blocking lightning with a lightsaber is a relatively simple matter?

[Assistant] The thing is, Sidious is fast. Like, *insanely* fast. And he knows Vader's fighting style. He knew Vader had tons of schemes and plans behind the scenes of the Empire (as per the comic series *Darth Vader* (2015)) but allowed it because he was (over)confident he could keep his apprentice on a leash. The second Vader enters his room or even the building he's in with the *full* intention of striking his master down, Sidious sniffs him out immediately and acts accordingly. He's always with his Guards, and they were extremely skilled in Legends, so Vader also has to worry about them. The only reason he was able to get the drop on Palpatine in *Return of the Jedi* was because it was not pre-meditated so Sidious had like a second to react, on top of being distracted by his sadism and rage while torturing Luke.


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

[User]
Tenure Track Interview and Dinner?

I have an on-campus interview for a TT position in Education/Social Services. I've been adjuncting with this school for a few years now.
The thing that is throwing me off is that there is a dinner the night before the day-long interview.

I've only ever been to one other academic interview (wound up going into clinical work). I expected there to be a portion of time where I'd have lunch with the search committee or department.

What should I expect at the dinner? I believe it will be the search committee only (i.e., not the entire department). Am I correct to assume that this is an assessment of "fit" between me and the department?

Any advice is appreciated!

[Assistant]
Doubtful with the whole committee and definitely not with the whole department. Probably only 2-3 members of the committee, including the Chair/Head.

Be personable and professional, but you also want to be looked at like someone they could envision spending a few decades working/socializing  with. Follow their lead with alcoholic drinks. Don't be the only one ordering beer/wine. Obviously don't get tipsy in the slightest. Cell on mute. Ask questions. Don't order spaghetti :)

And good luck/congrats!


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

[User] [One Punch Man] How did Saitama support himself prior to joining the Hero Association?

[Assistant]
Saitama was employed right up until he decided he wanted to be a hero and presumably had some savings.

He also lives insanely frugally - he has encyclopedic knowledge of all the grocery sales in his region and lives rent-and-utility-free in a section of city that was written off for being uninhabitable.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] [SPOILERS] How common are unidentified species?

In the mandalorian series we see the people first seeing the kid pretty blas about it, in EP 5 the mechanic gives this a nod by telling a droid she has no idea of what the kid is, so I can imagine in smaller worlds without large traffic people not knowing about a species makes sense, but even in somewhat larges ones with more traffic, people are still uncaring about the kid's species.

Is the sense of wonder and discorery gone? Or are unkown species that common that people don't really ask about it?

[Assistant] It's a big universe, with a ton of species living in it, and there are probably very few people, if any, who know all of them. Seeing a species you don't recognize doesn't mean it's an undiscovered oddity, just a species that you've never seen before. Living on a world with a lot of travellers coming and going, you probably get used to it.


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

[User] ELI5: Do our voices have a 'default' accent? If so, which dialect would it most likely resemble?

[Assistant] Nope.  There's a huge variety in the way things can be pronounced, and no default setting.   It's sort of like asking if there is a default tone on a piano.  Nope: it depends on which key you hit and how well or badly it's tuned.


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

[User] [Deep space 9]Remember that time Quark tried replacing all his staff with holograms of him self. why were they so buggy and non interactive compared to the holosuite characters running just above the bar?

[Assistant]
Because Quark did it for the money and he is cheap, so he used cheap holograms with his face plastered on top. His holo-emitters were probably also low quality and hastily put in with multiple dead spots where the holograms would become intangible, causing them to drop stuff.

The holosuites are designed for good holograms with plenty of interactivity. His bar's retrofitting is not.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do newspapers and books have dull paper and magazines have shiny paper?

[Assistant] Newspaper's are cheap and published daily, while magazines are meant to be kept for at least a month, so require a higher quality.  Magazines also showcase more ads and articles that require higher quality images.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are the key differences between Al-Qaeda, Islamic State, the Taliban, and whatever other factions there are over in the middle east?

And why do the hate each other so much?

[Assistant]
1. Al Qaeda- a stateless organization formed during the 1990's by Osama bin Laden. Al Qaeda's main goal was to abolish the modern national borders and governments and establish a "Caliphate", or a single, large country based on Sunni Islamic law. Bin Laden believed that by launching terrorist attacks against the West and Western-allied governments in the Muslim world, the world's Sunni Muslims would be inspired to rise up, overthrow their secular governments, and build the Caliphate. The Al Qaeda organization was structured very loosely, so killing or capturing certain leaders didn't hugely impact the organization as a whole. Over time, "Al Qaeda" became more of a brand or franchise than an actual organization, something senior Al Qaeda leaders encouraged.

2. The Islamic State is a large, hybrid Sunni Islamic militant group that operates a Caliphate in large parts of Syria and Iraq. IS actually began as a branch of Al Qaeda in the late 1990's and rose to prominence during the US war in Iraq. During this time, it was known as Al Qaeda in Iraq and Islamic State of Iraq. When the Americans and Iraqis finally stamped out most of the insurgency in 2008-2009, AQI seemed to be out of steam. However, the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011, breathed new life into AQI/IQI and it quickly became one of the most prominent groups fighting the Assad regime. This new cause celebre, as well as a growing influx of foreign recruits, let them renew their fight against the Iraqi government as well as against the Syrian government. During this time, the group labeled itself ISIS (Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) and formally split from Al Qaeda. Although AQ and ISIS share a common general philosophy, AQ believed in being patient and letting the Caliphate come about on its own whereas ISIS wanted to establish the Caliphate with their own hands as soon as possible. In the summer of 2014, ISIS went on a blitz throughout large parts of Iraq and Syria, gaining an enormous swath of territory and officially declaring this territory as the new Islamic Caliphate. They changed their name to the Islamic State to reinforce their global ambitions rather than just regional ones. IS is a hybrid organization. Whereas Al Qaeda has no military units and few actual headquarters, IS has a de-facto state complete with its own government and semi-organized military. However, IS also has continued Al Qaeda's strategy of encouraging others to take up the IS "brand" and carry out their own attacks, while still threatening the West with attacks on its soil. So, in effect, it combined Al Qaeda's do-it-yourself, media-focused terrorism model with more traditional nation-building strategies. They aren't enemies of Al Qaeda in the true sense, but nor have they shown an interest in reconciling with their parent group either and they maintain a rivalry in terms of attracting recruits and media attention.

3. The Taliban is a Sunni Islamist militant group operating in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Whereas Al Qaeda and IS have traditionally been dominated by Sunni Arab Muslims, the Taliban are all Sunni Pashtun Afghans. They ran their own Caliphate in Afghanistan from 1996 until the US knocked them from power in 2001. They share many common beliefs with AQ and IS (even sheltering AQ during the 1990's, and thus invoking America's wrath after 9/11), however, they are focused on local goals, primarily regaining control of Afghanistan. They have no love for the West but have shown no efforts to conduct attacks outside of the Afghan/Pakistan region.

Now, those three factions above are all Sunni Muslim jihadists. The Assad government in Syria and the Iranian government are Shiia, also called Shiites. Assad's regime is secular but run mostly by Shiia, whereas Iran is a Shiia theocracy. (The Sunni/Shiite divide is roughly analogous to the Catholic/Protestant differences in Christianity.) Iran supports Assad because Assad has been a loyal ally and is the only Shiite-dominated government in the Arab world (the Iranians are Persians, not Arabs.) Also, Assad's government acts as Iran's footprint on the other half of the Middle East, helping them pursue Iranian agendas in Lebanon and the Palestinian territories. Iran does *not* want to lose their Syrian ally. Within Iraq, the Shiites control most of the Iraqi government. But ~40% of the Iraqi population is Sunni, which has created widespread mistrust of the American-backed Iraqi government in the Sunni provinces.

You've also got the Kurds, who live in Syria and northern Iraq. The Kurds aren't Arabs- they're Kurds- but they are also Sunni Muslims. The Kurds have always been very pro-American and have been doing the majority of the ground fighting against IS. However, the Kurds have a very long and very deep antagonism with the Turkish government. Turkey doesn't like IS, but they also don't want to help the Kurds do much of anything. There are still also millions of Christians in the region but they have been fleeing in increasing numbers for years for reasons that shouldn't need much explaining.

There are other, smaller factions in play with all this but this is a good general explanation of what's going on and why there are no easy solutions at hand.


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

[User]
[Dungeons & Dragons/Pathfinder] Is there anything special about wizards and clerics?

Just like the title says; is there something special about these spell casters or can any layperson become one?

Wizards are typically described as using their intelligence to study the underlying forces of magic, which allows them to prepare and cast spells. So could a peasant who has never seen anything more magical than a pitchfork, with enough time and resources, become a wizard?

Clerics on the other hand receive their magic from their deity, who has the ability to revoke the cleric's powers if they deviate too far from their dogma. Could that same peasant begin worshipping a deity that aligns with her ideals and become a cleric of that deity?

Of course sorcerers and oracles and the like are different. They have to be born into it.

[Assistant]
Wizards: basically, yes. If a lay person devoted years of his/her life to intense study and contemplation, there's nothing stopping them from learning to cast spells. It's like learning quantum physics in our world: it's not easy, but theoretically anyone could do it.

Clerics are a little more complicated - it's entirely up to the god. You could spend your whole life devoted to a deity and not receive any divine power, and meanwhile some random low-level acolyte is called to service and granted divine magic. Some gods tend to favor certain types of people, but they're not very predictable.


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

[User]
ELI5: During a live televised sports match, how do they get the replay footage edited in so quickly?

Im curious as to how a ref will blow their whistle and get instant replay footage within seconds. Can someone explain this process to me?

[Assistant]
There's a whole room (or trailer) full of directors, producers, and editors watching dozens or hundreds of feeds simultaneously. They're pretty much constantly cutting highlight shots, different angles of play, etc to be ready when the lead director wants a replay.

It's a huge amount of very fast-paced work.


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

[User]
Does a pilot hear the sound barrier breaking from the cockpit of the aircraft they are operating?

I am guessing the front half of the aircraft, the portion forward of the engines breaks the sound barrier first, and at that point the plane is traveling faster than sound.  So will the pilot actually hear it?

[Assistant]
No. 'Breaking the sound barrier' does not cause a discrete bang or audible noise.

The bang we hear is the plane flying by. The pilot is moving along 'in' the bang, so he doesn't have the opportunity to hear it.

The only indication the pilot has is on the instrument panel, or possibly through some handling changes depending on the plane.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why does the greatest wizard of all time work at a secondary school?

Dumbledore, and several other prominent magical figures work at what is essentially a secondary school (Hogwarts). Why does a school have such a central role in the wizarding world?

[Assistant]
Presumably they like their job and it allows them to pass their skills onto the next generation in case they're needed in the future.

A lot of people work places you may not expect them to because they enjoy the work they do and prefer that than moving into a role others would say they've earned or should do.


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

[User]
What programming language would be Esperanto of programming languages?

A regular, easy to learn but unwanted/marginalized by the major players/companies. What programming language is like that?

[Assistant]
Pascal/Delphi

Designed specifically to be easy to learn, incorporating features from other languages, still used by a core of fans, nothing inherently wrong with it and quite capable yet not really widely used (any more).

Although unlike Esperanto it *was* once much more popular, in the early 1990s when it was the Apple application framework language and then in the late 1990s as Delphi was one of the first RAD enviroments with visual GUI development.


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

[User] Coronaviruses usually just cause the common cold ,why is Covid-19 different? Can covid-19 also just cause mild upper respiratory tract illness like the common cold in some people?

[Assistant] Basically, its a different disease, even if its the same class. Some bacteria dont do anything, and others can kill you; viruses are the same way. The Coronavirus going basically gives a bad respiratory illness that isnt bad in some people, but is terrible in others. We dont know why for certain yet. And for some reason, it takes a toll on the circulatory system as well, which also varies from person to person. But the biggest thing making this virus deadly is that it transmits easily, so its spread to millions of people.


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

[User]
Why do freckles stay throughout our lives?

If we get a new layer of skin every few weeks, why don't freckles "peel off" with it? Why do freckles stay on whereas a tan fades?

[Assistant] New skin cells originate from a basal layer of stem cells. In case of freckles, and other irregularly coloured spots on your skin, these cells are genetically set to produce darker cells. The transcriptional state (which genes are on and off) of these cells, and therefore the position of these freckles, was determined during embryonic development. Skin does peel off every so many weeks, but only the outer layers, not including the stem cell layer.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why sunscreen is so vital, when ancient humans did not wear it.

I searched and found nothing really similar to what I am asking. So basically my question is, with all the sunscreen pushing we have now, what did people do in ancient times?

It's like a crime to go out without sunscreen nowadays but what did early greeks, englishman, chinese, etc. Other melanin-lacking people do? Did they all just contract skin cancer and die or...? And why is sunscreen even necessary?

Because it seems weird to me that the human body would react so negatively to the sun- something we naturally need.

[Assistant]
We've been gaining longer and longer lifespans the longer time goes on. We're also diagnosing things a lot more often and efficiently.

Back before sunscreen people still would have gotten skin cancer and died from it, but maybe it wasn't reported or they just attributed it as 'death by unknown causes'.

In Australia at least we have a MASSIVE hole in our ozone layer. Us white Australians really aren't suited to this sort of environment, we belong where it's cold and there's no sun most of the time. We'd still get sun there, but not so much as to cause sunburn on a regular basis.


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

[User]
CMV: architecture is one of the most under appreciated jobs

over lockdown i had long time to reflect on everything that was important, staring out of the same window at the same row of buildings adjacent the street. With the whole introduction of the words "essential workers" light was brought to how important roles that were previously seen as lesser were to our lives. Oddly enough the career i found such respect for was architects. Being unable to travel i began to really miss seeing unique spaces. Once your surrounded by the same buildings for a year u appreciated that once u travel out that area your are treated to a whole new experience presented by the landscape and that what is built upon it. At the end of it all i decided to look into dropping out of my college course and pursue an architecture degree (eventually deciding not to follow this path) yet was kinda shocked with what i found during my research. The amount of work, dedication, time and  skill involved with becoming an architect is so high yet at the end of the day you earn a salary that doesnt near match. For a career that has such a large impact on our daily lives that has very long work hours, they dont seem to get near the level of respect or financial compensation as jobs like engineers.

[Assistant]
"essential workers" are those without which things would break down in the short term. No grocery store workers?  Buying food becomes really difficult really quickly.

No architects? We recycle existing designs for a while until the economy recovers. Civil engineers continue to make functional if not boring buildings.


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

[User]
how does a computer pick a random number?

pretty straight forward question... i hope

im wondering what process or program allows it to generate a random number? is it really random if the computer picks it? is it subject to some kind of physical bias?

[Assistant]
To generate apparently random numbers in software, computers use programs called *pseudo-random number generators*.  The lists of numbers these generate are not actually random.  The pseudo-random number generator is given a seed, and from that, calculates a series of numbers that are designed to appear to be random, i.e., that under a large set of statistical tests, would not be distinguishable from a genuinely random list.

Of course, numbers generated in this way are not genuinely random.  Start with the same seed, and you will get the same sequence of numbers.  Wait long enough, and eventually the pattern will repeat.  (How many steps you have to take until the pattern repeats scales exponentially in the number of bits in the digits being generated, so these periods can be made really, really long.)

There are systems that use physical processes to generate random numbers, but that's different; in that case, the computer isn't generating the random (or apparently random) numbers, but is just getting the results of some physical process and generating a list of numbers from that.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are there random bits of english and phonecian numbers in japanese games/media?

[Assistant] In general, English looks exotic and cool to Japanese people. It's a language that they are superficially familiar with, as it is taught in schools, and which is in the American pop culture they get shown.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How necessary is Vader once the Empire was created?

Can't Imperial intelligence and military forces find and kill remaining Jedi? Everything else can be done without using the Force. And without Vader, you don't have to worry about anyone having the specific life goal of overthrowing you.

[Assistant] Without Vader it would have been very difficult to kill the remaining Jedi.  A Jedi can a squad of normal soldiers in a fight easily.  The only reason Order 66 worked as well as it did was the element of surprise.  The Clones themselves didn't even know they were going to open fire so the Jedi precog didn't work and they were taken down mostly by overwhelming blaster fire to their backs.  A jedi in hiding is going to be actively watchign for Storm Troopers trying to take them out and if you send bounty hunters instead you'll trigger the Jedi Precog and they'll peace out before you can trap them.  Vader was able to fight a Jedi one on one and mask his presence to get the jump on them.  Vader is also useful as an intimidation tool to planet leaders and your own officers.


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

[User]
[American Gods] How powerful is Nike? What is she up to?

With all the massive sporting events, especially the Olympics, and a giant multinational corporation named after her, she must be receiving more worship than most other old gods.

[Assistant]
But they're not really worshiping *her* though. Except hardcore sneakerheads, nobody puts great significance in their shoes the way they do in media or general consumerism. Additionally, she had to come America somehow. Just like how Mr. Wednesday is a separate entity from old world Odin, a new world Nike would have to have come to America from some Greek who still believed in the old gods.

If she's in America at all, she's probably some washed up old track star who looks at her medals all the time.


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

[User] [Supernatural] If a demon put his arm/hand/leg in a devil's trap, but not rest of his body, would he be able to pull his limb back, or would the limb he put inside the trap get stuck?

[Assistant]
No.

There are several instances where Demons walk in to a demon trap only to notice that it caught them, only once they try to get out of it.

If the trap would capture them bit by bit as they move in, they would notice some resistance (swinging your arm when walking etc.) as they walk in to it. So the trap 'snaps' only once the demon is completely past its border.


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

[User]
[Alien] could a xenomorph be infected by a zombie?

The same could be asked with vampires, they bite the xeno, does it turn? Like yes the bitter dies cause acid but would it still affect the xenomorph?

[Assistant]
Chances are not.

Zombies seem to only affect humans exclusively, you don't see zombie animals for example.

As for vampires, for those that can turn with a simple bite (which is rare), whatever they transmit to the target will probably instantly die in the acid bloodstream.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Can the Infinity Gauntlet create things the user does not understand?

Say I wanted to create an AI machine to protect the earth, like Ultron was supposed to be in the MCU, and I had the infinity stones gathered in order to achieve this. However, I myself have no knowledge whatsoever of AI, programming, machinery and mechanics, or literally anything that would help make an AI superhero. Could the infinity stones still create what I wanted, or would they be limited by my own knowledge and experience?

[Assistant] In the MCU, neither Thanos nor Bruce Banner have real understanding of what "half the life in the universe" is since there are unimaginable life forms, yet they are able to erase and restore them.  So yes, the Infinity Stones give the user power beyond their comprehension.


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

[User]
[MCU] Are there Dormmamu and Dark Dimension variants?

Does the Dark Dimension exist as a universe separate from the many worlds MCU timelines, or is it simply an aspect of each individual timeline? In other words, would the Dormmamu encountered by alternate Stranges throughout the multiverse be the same Dormmamu or just many Dormmamu variants?

[Assistant] I think there has to be a Dormammu variant for each Dr Strange variant. If Dormammu was the same across all timelines, then every Dr Strange that fought him would've fought the same one. It would also mean that Dormammu tried to invade countless Earths, was stopped by Strange countless times, forgot who he was, and forgot what the time stone could do each time.


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

[User] ELI5: Why when a phone battery is dead, the phone is still able to turn on and tell you that the battery is dead?

[Assistant]
Because the battery % that you see on the screen showing 1% is actually closer to 10% charge remaining.
Phone manufacturers know that their users cannot be trusted to manage battery health on their own, damaging their brand as a result.

So the 100-0 battery scale in actual battery charge is likely closer to 100-10 to protect idiots from themselves.


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

[User] If water boils at 100 degrees Celsius and turns to steam (water vapour), how is it that we can see water vapour in our breath when it is cold?

[Assistant] Steam is actually invisible, if you boil a kettle and look at the spout you will notice that the air is invisible for about an inch or so, than you see the vapour. What you see is when the air starts to cool down and the water vapour becomes visible (condenses). The higher the temperature, the more water vapour the air can hold.  On a cold day, your body is much warmer than the outside air, so the air in your body holds more water. When you breath out, the air starts to cool and the water vapour begins to condense.