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

[User] ELI5: how come I need protein, carbs and vitamins etc, when a horse can get all they need from hay and be fitter than me? Relatively speaking.

[Assistant]
They can digest they bulk of plant material which we can not digest.  This allows them to extract more nutrients and calories from the cells of plants.

Your body can create the most proteins it needs, with a some exceptions.  It is more effective very often, to simply get proteins from where they exist already (like nuts, legumes, animals or even insects).

The Horse has different needs and different exceptions.  Wild horses don't only feed on hay (if ever), and domesticated horses may have supplements added or shots given to them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do you die almost instantly when the level of CO2 in the air is above 10%?

[Assistant]
The red blood cells serve the purpose of transporting O2 from the lungs to where it's needed, and transporting waste CO2 from where it's produced to the lungs. The mechanism is simple: It'll grab hold of dissolved oxygen or CO2 if there is much of it, and release it when there's little. Since there's a lot of oxygen and little CO2 in the lungs, it will release bound CO2 and grab oxygen.

Now if there's a lot of CO2 in the air, instead of picking up oxygen in the lungs, many red blood cells will pick up CO2. This will massively reduce the amount of O2 you can breathe, which by itself is already dangerous. On top of that, the dissolved CO2 will make the blood acidic, which is dangerous because many functions of the body rely on the pH of the blood to be slightly basic.

On top of all that, CO2 is usually not just added to the air, it's produced by burning oxygen. So the 10% CO2 air also has only 10% oxygen, half as much as air normally has.

However, you're not going to die almost instantly. You will however quickly pass out and die if you keep breathing that air.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why would the Trade Federation make vehicles that require droid pilots, rather than droid vehicles?

They have tanks and spaceships and the whole deal, but isn't requiring a spotter and driver (And presumably a gunner) a MASSIVE vulnerability that could easily be remedied by just giving heavy armor and ships the same AI as the droids?

It just doesn't make sense to have robots and vehicles, when you can have robot vehicles.

[Assistant] It's likely the vehicles were designed with living crews in mind and the trade federation just added a little bit of software to make the droids competent (but only competent, anything more advanced becomes too expensive) pilots instead of hiring and training crews. Not only is it much cheaper, droids won't take a better contract with a rival group or drive their vehicles to the enemy with intention to defect. Company secrets are thus protected and a huge amount of money is saved not paying the soldiers.


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

[User] [Doctor Strange MCU] So Dormammu is promising eternal life without pain and suffering. The only one telling me he is lying also happens to be a hypocrite that steals energy from the Dark Dimension. Why shouldn't I pledge allegiance to Dormammu?

[Assistant] No, Dormammu isn't promising you eternal life without pain and suffering, *Kaecilius* is. Kaecilius, a murderer going around destroying various Sanctums that provide Earth defense against a whole host of magical entities.


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

[User]
[D&D: Forgotten Realms] What does a deity's basic day-to-day look like?

The planes are swarming with gods of every imaginable shade. Some are well-known to mortals (e.g., Tyr, Cyric), while others are far more enigmatic (e.g., The Lady of Pain).

Understanding that there is a wide spectrum of activities and goals from god to god, what does a typical day of most deities look like? Do they keep a somewhat standard schedule of meetings with other powerful beings and responding to their worshippers? Or do they do whatever strikes them at the moment? Is it all dependent on their alignment and/or portfolio?

Is this question even answerable?

[Assistant]
It definitely has to vary by portfolio. Among their routine tasks would include:

* Granting spells to their clerics

* Welcoming new petitioners into their home plane

* Working in personal projects or celestial political campaigns (eg the god of the orcs and the god of the kobolds hate each other and try to undermine each other)

* Resolving personnel complaints among their heralds, avatars, Angels, and other affiliates

I dont know if they necessarily think in terms of days though; other than interactions with mortals, their other activities probably take as long as they take and its not like a formal workday where they punch in and punch out.


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

[User]
What's happening if, during a storm, my power goes out for a few seconds?

If my power at home goes out during a storm, it's usually for a short period of time (almost always under 15 seconds). This seems like it can't be due to a downed power line, since that would take longer to fix. Maybe this is a long shot, but if there *is* a really short outage like this, is there a common cause for that?

[Assistant]
Power grids have breakers and fuses to protect the system (and your stuff) from being destroyed by surges and other problems. Some breakers are self-resetting and will  allow the power to flow again after being tripped. However, they have a limited number of trips before they fail in the open position (no power flow). You may notice this if the power goes out and then comes back on for a few seconds then goes out again only to stay off until a crew can get out to fix it. Typically you have 2-3 resets before it fails.

Also, power grids have redundancy built in and power can be rerouted if a transformer or other part fails. In fact there are special transformers termed "normally open" that are installed to reroute power around a damaged or failed section of the grid. A brief interruption of power could be one of these transformers switching the route of power to keep the grid energized.


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

[User] Can bacteria die of old age?

[Assistant]
Yes, over time bacteria accumulate damaged DNA, misfolded proteins, and old membrane/cell wall material. If it accumulates enough of these it will die.

When bacteria divide it groups all of these things into one side (called the old pole) before splitting in half. The daughter cell inheriting this old pole tends to perform worse than the other cell.

Over time and after many divisions the cells with the oldest poles die.


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

[User] [Star Wars] How would the galaxy had turned out if the CIS had won the Clone Wars?

[Assistant]
The main person responsible for the defeat of the CIS is the very same person that created it in the first place.

So the first question is how could they even win? Well, pretty much the only way would be if Palpatine was killed and revealed to be Sidious at the same time.

This would cause huge repercussions, as the basis of Republic law had changed radically to "Palpatine is the one leader", yet people would now know that he had tricked his way there, the system is horribly broken. So, what now?

Well, without their leaders, the CIS would now consist of more political people who want to leave the Republic as they believe that they would do better on their own, however they would likely distance themselves from Palpatine/Dooku/Grievous.

With the senate in turmoil, everyone claiming power and the whole thing being a colossal mess, the prospect of each planet working individually - at least until they can create a new central government - would sound very appealing. The planets who joined the CIS to leave the Republic would be allowed to do so.

As for the Jedi? They would likely take a backwards seat in all this discussion and step in when it looks like violence will start - they will just keep the peace between all these people looking for power.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do unlimited vacation days at tech companies work?

My guess is that it's mostly a gimmick. I work for a tech company and already don't use all my vacation time. Could an employee really 'take a sabbatical' and tour around the world on full salary or is it mostly bunk?

[Assistant] It's mostly bunk. You need to get manager approval for vacations, and there's social pressure not to take long vacations. All the studies that looked at it show that people at companies with unlimited vacation tend to take less time off than those with limited vacation.


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

[User]
CMV: It's not rude to correct someone's English if they're learning it as a second language.

A lot of people seem to think it's rude to correct someone's English, and to me it seems that it's only rude if it's condescending or the person is a native English speaker. I think that if someone is learning English (which is a difficult language to learn) and makes a mistake then it'd be a good thing for someone to correct them. This way they'll learn something new about the language that they'll use later.

If I were learning another language, then I know I'd want people to help me as long as they weren't being rude about it. One of the easiest ways to learn a language is by speaking to people who have already mastered said language, but a lot of that probably comes from them correcting your mistake. Otherwise you'd have to hear the correct way to say/write something multiple times before you'd realize you were making a mistake, and even then it'd be confusing since different rules apply to different words, for example, someone may think the plural of goose would be "gooses" because someone said the plural of dog was "dogs", so they'd just assume that plural means you add an S.  If someone corrected them when they said "gooses", then they'd learn right then instead of having to read the word "geese" somewhere.

[Assistant] I think fluency is developed through practice, which takes a combination of opportunity and courage. If someone is getting corrected all the time, even though they are capably communicating what they mean to, its bound to interrupt their ability get in the flow, not to mention sap their courage to practice a second language.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Given the frequency with which members of the the bridge crew are jostled in their seats or out outrigh thrown from them, why doesn't everyone have a seat belt or some kind of restraining harness?

One answer is going to be that if the inertial dampeners fail it does not matter because everyone is going to die, this is not the answer the question.  There are numerous situations where we see people in the bridge shaking so badly that they can't control their stations or are out right violently thrown through the air.

1.  Why isn't everyone seated?  The conscious design decision to have almost everyone standing is certainly more dramatic and visually appealing to focus the eye on the captain, first officer and the helmsman, but it seems less efficient and less safe.  There are a handful of people who are sitting, but a majority of the bridge crew is standing.

2.  Why isn't everyone given harness or seatbelt of some kind for those instances when such will be useful?

[Assistant]
I don't think everyone has seatbelts on large navy ships, but they still probably get jostled around when they're torpedoed.

They're not seated all the time because it's a big ship and they need to walk around to do their jobs. We see a lot of combat situations, but in universe they're relatively rare. No one would watch a whole season of Star Trek: Business as usual. We see the exciting bits.


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

[User] Why is it, that the smaller of a particle we want to detect, the larger of a detector we must build?

[Assistant] All of these very small particles are held together by very strong forces. In order to find smaller particles, we have to bash them together at very high speeds in order to break those forces and see what things are made of. It's not the *detector* that's large, it's the particle accelerator. We use electromagnetic force to zip things around giant racetracks until they're going nearly the speed of light. Then, when they bash into something else the forces involved are strong enough to break up very small particles into the things they are made of.


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

[User]
What are some critisms of Stoicism?

My friend is a Stoic, while I'm more of an Existentialist. We enjoy talking about philosophy over some breakfast. What are some good critisms I can bring up to him about Stoicism?

[Assistant] One potential criticism of the idea of being "a Stoic" in the contemporary era is that many people adopt Stoic ethics without recognizing that classical Stoic ethics depended on a particular metaphysical view: namely that a perfectly good God/gods has/have ordered the world and its events to be as good as they could possibly have been. It's fundamental to Stoicism as originally conceived not just that we have to accept what we cannot change,  but that we literally *can't* change anything, and that this is nevertheless for the best. All of this can be hard to square with various other values or ideas the contemporary person might be committed to.


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

[User] ELI5: When you have a runny nose/cold, where does all that never-ending snot come from?

[Assistant]
Snot or more generally "mucus" is formed from relatively small amounts of proteins along with a bunch of water. If you let mucus dry out you can see that it is about 95% water.

Special glands produce mucus from proteins and water pulled from the blood. You need to drink more water when sick because you are losing more than usual through such excretions.


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

[User] [Starship Troopers] So the line for recruiting was "Service Guarantees Citizenship". What are other folks classified as before they're 'citizens'? What are their rights?

[Assistant]
> A citizen accepts personal responsibility for the safety of the body politic, defending it with his life, a civilian does not.

The term *citizen* stands in contrast to a *civilian*.  Citizenship grants you the right to run for office and vote.  And (according to the book) thats it.

That might seem to be... not much.  But the perspective taught to Rico in school is that no one will value the right to vote if it is given freely.  By forcing the vote to have a price in time spent in public service, the citizens will take their franchise seriously and vote seriously.

I believe in the movie universe, they also added cheaper education and the ability to have more children.


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

[User]
CMV: I should have a kid despite what is happening in the world.

I am gonna make this short. We're on reddit, we all know whats going down. Im in the US, btw. The amazon is on fire, the ocean is dying, we have a buffoon as president, the wealth gap is widening, no one can afford to live, no one can afford to have health care, mental health issues are on the rise, school shootings are common place, the world is heating up.

We're not in a good place, and I feel that actively bringing another child into this world knowing what I know is wrong. It feels wrong. I want to have a kid, and I'm not opposed to adoption. My wife wants to bare her own child. I just cant bring myself to knowingly bring a kid into this world with all thats going on. On top of that, she wants one in the next 5 years, and I don't feel like I am in a place to where I can support a mother and child in a safe and secure environment in the next 5 years.  I feel like if some major global event happened, my kid would ask god why did you bring me into this world? maybe that kid would even ask me why did you bring me into this world?

So, change my view. Should I bring a child into the world in 5 years, despite what is happening today?

[Assistant]
There is always shit happening in the world. There would be no humans if we didnt have kids despite whats happening. You lived in some tribe in what is now Peru and you worry the Incans and will attack and sacrifice you all to their gods. There are fewer wars than there used to be, life expectancy is high, most countries are relatively stable. The possibility of being invaded by a neighbor country is low.

Despite the hype, this is a good time to be alive.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] From where does the name "Darth Tyranous" come from? I've seen numerous people on this subreddit refer to Count Dooku: rogue jedi, sepratist leader, and Darth Sidious' apprentice; as such, but I've never heard that name coming from an official source ;

by least Palpatine self-identifies as "The Senate" in episode III. While I am looking for the Star Wars source where we first hear the name "Darth Tyranous" refer to Count Dooku, it would still be appreciated if you can find *any* source that references it, since it is hard to identify a source as the first. (For example: Knights of the Old Republic references Exar Kun, the Mandalorian Wars, and the Great Hyperspace War. But only one of those things were first mentioned in Knights of the Old Republic, but you wouldn't know which since those things are all backstory stuff). It's possible that the "Darth Tyrannus" title first appeared in Attack of the Clones (and that I just forgot it), but to confirm that I'd have to rewatch Attack of the Clones (Har, har).

[Assistant]
He's called 'Darth Tyranus' by Palpatine when he arrives on Coruscant, at the end of Episode II.

Edit: As pointed out below, he actually calls him 'Lord Tyranus' not 'Darth Tyranus' in the scene. Doesn't change the point, but for accuracy I've added the edit!


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

[User] [MCU] Would it make sense for Soul Stone to magically return to Vormir from time to time, or is that whole sacrifice thing forsaken forever until someone carries the stone back?

[Assistant]
In the same way that it would make sense for a stack of cash to magically transport itself back into a safe after it's been removed. If the cash was magic, and also the safe was magic.

In other words; You could think about Vormir like a lockbox, with magic wholly unrelated to the stone. Or you could think about the whole setup as being powered by the Soul stone. If the latter is the case, it might make sense for the Soul Stone to eventually retreat to Vormir under certain circumstances.

That said, both Tony and the Hulk used the Soul stone without sacrificing anything directly, so if there is some process for the stone to return, it's not an immediate or simple one.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] I don't understand what these droids are saying. Where do I go to learn droidspeak ?

Some people seem to understand them perfectly, all I hear are farting noises. What are they saying ? This is frustrating. Is there some book lying around ? How do people even learn droidspeak to begin with ?

[Assistant]
What did an old modem sound like when it was connecting to the Internet back in the 90s?

What does your cellphone sound like when you get a message?

Now imagine if the machines that make all these specific sounds for all these specific reasons were also sentient.

I imagine knowing droidspeak is like knowing Spanish because it was the only language your grandmother ever spoke, even if you always responded back in English.

Droids are so ubiquitous in the Star Wars universe, everyone just picks up the language, because it's the only way to understand them. And vise versa for the droids and learning whatever language their particular humanoid was speaking.


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

[User]
[Mortal Kombat: Battle of the Realms] Why did the Elder Gods allow the tournament rules to favor the Outworld so much?

* While I can understand removing Raiden's immortality in order to allow him to fight, why did the Elder Gods feel the need to remove all of his lightning powers as well? This seems very unfair given the fact the Outworld roster had fighters with similar levels of magical power levels such as Shao Kahn and Quan Chi.
* On a similar note, why wasn't Stryker allowed to use any of his police equipment or weapons? I really don't see how it is fair for him to not be allowed to use them given that the Outworld fighters are allowed to use all of their magic powers.

[Assistant]
In most tournaments he *can* keep his lightning powers, so it is not likely there is a coherent reason for the difference in battle of the realms. Same for Stryker and his police equipment.  Motherfucker brings grenades to a fistfight in the games.

Typically when Raiden loses his special powers it's because he lost his godhood, and the lightning powers were part of being a god.  He doesnt know how to do mortal magic or use non-food special powers.  He's willing to go through with it because he still has centuries of martial arts training.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens when someone takes out a massive loan (e.g. $20 million), and suddenly dies?

Let's also say this person has no immediate relatives or family in general  either, so the debt can't fall on a family member.  How would the lender get the money back?

[Assistant]
Assuming the loan was secured by an asset, the asset is seized like any other foreclosure.  If it's an unsecured loan, the lender would sue the estate for whatever residue they can get, and write off the rest.

At least in Canada, your family does NOT take on your debts when you die.  If it's your spouse it's different because all financial affairs are entered into jointly and severally, so each person can be held accountable for the lot.  But kids?  Nope.  Arbitrarily making one adult responsible for the debts of another is called indenturing, a form of slavery, and is illegal.


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

[User]
[H.P. Lovecraft] What is the Necromicon?

I already know the book itself is about summoning otherworldly beings, but I want a more in-depth explanation. What exactly are the creatures? Where was the book written? What has happened to people who have tried to read it, and what language is it written in?

Any other details I didn't ask about are allowed; the more that's explained, the better.

[Assistant]
The book is not "about" summoning otherworldly beings. While that sort of thing may be discussed within the text, it was mainly written as a combination field guide/notebook of observations/transcription of ancient writings that contains more insight into the nature of reality than most other books. Many have used the information it contains for foul experiments of varying natures, which do include summoning or communicating with otherworldly entities. Even if no such foolishness is attempted, the insights it grants into reality are not healthy for the weak-minded. But the book is also something of a riddle, and the book not written in a particularly straightforward manner. Fully understanding the Necronomicon would take years of study, and might just lead to madness. Here's an excerpt to give you an idea of how it's written:

> Nor is it to be thought that man is either the oldest or the last of earths masters, or that the common bulk of life and substance walks alone. The Old Ones were, the Old Ones are, and the Old Ones shall be. Not in the spaces we know, but *between* them, They walk serene and primal, undimensioned and to us unseen. *Yog-Sothoth* knows the gate. *Yog-Sothoth* is the gate. *Yog-Sothoth* is the key and guardian of the gate. Past, present, future, all are one in *Yog-Sothoth*. He knows where the Old Ones broke through of old, and where They shall break through again. He knows where They have trod earths fields, and where They still tread them, and why no one can behold Them as They tread. By Their smell can men sometimes know Them near, but of Their semblance can no man know, *saving only in the features of those They have begotten on mankind*; and of those are there many sorts, differing in likeness from mans truest eidolon to that shape without sight or substance which is *Them*. They walk unseen and foul in lonely places where the Words have been spoken and the Rites howled through at their Seasons. The wind gibbers with Their voices, and the earth mutters with Their consciousness. They bend the forest and crush the city, yet may not forest or city behold the hand that smites. Kadath in the cold waste hath known Them, and what man knows Kadath? The ice desert of the South and the sunken isles of Ocean hold stones whereon Their seal is engraven, but who hath seen the deep frozen city or the sealed tower long garlanded with seaweed and barnacles? Great Cthulhu is Their cousin, yet can he spy Them only dimly. *I! Shub-Niggurath!* As a foulness shall ye know Them. Their hand is at your throats, yet ye see Them not; and Their habitation is even one with your guarded threshold. *Yog-Sothoth* is the key to the gate, whereby the spheres meet. Man rules now where They ruled once; They shall soon rule where man rules now. After summer is winter, and after winter summer. They wait patient and potent, for here shall They reign again.

And of course there's the famous couplet of inscrutable meaning:

> That is not dead which can eternal lie
> And with strange aeons even death may die.

The Necronomicon is far from perfect, given the merely human nature of the author. This author is the infamous Abdul Alhazred, a mad poet and wanderer who lived in the 8th century in what is now Yemen. It was originally titled Al Azif, and contained information Alhazred had learned from many sources, including Irem (fabled City of Pillars) and the ruins of an ancient race that far predates humanity. Alhazred largely rejected Islam, instead seeming to worship other entities whose nature he never made clear, though he called them Cthulhu and Yog-Sothoth. Alhazred died in 738, reportedly being gruesomely torn apart and eaten by an invisible creature to the shock of onlookers.

Originally it was in Arabic, though the original work is long since lost. Luckily(?), translations into Greek (dating back to 950) survived the church's attempts to stamp out the book. This translation is the origin of the "Necronomicon" title. In 1228 the book was translated again, into Latin (the original Arabic version having been lost even by this early date). A short-lived attempt to translate the work into English was never published, and only fragments now survive. A few of the older editions are known to have survived to the present day:

* A 15th-century edition of the Latin translation, in the British Museum
* Three 17th-century reprints of the Latin translation, in the French Bibliothque Nationale, at the Widener Library of Harvard, and in the Miskatonic University library

There are rumors of other Latin translations surviving in various private collections, and one of the Greek translations survived as late as 1926 when it vanished along with the artist Richard Pickman.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Does it reflect poorly on you if your Padawan turns to the Darkside?

Dooku for Yoda, Anakin for Obi-Wan, and Xanatos for Qui-Gon. Did their teaching ability come into question? Or is it just viewed as something unfortunate that happens sometimes?

[Assistant]
Something unfortunate. A Padawan choosing the Dark Side doesn't reflect the teachings of the Master, but rather a character flaw of the Padawans themselves. Dooku was extremely ambitious, though he managed to hide it during his time in the Jedi Order. Xanatos was driven by rage, for his time away from his family and Qui-Gon for killing his father.

For Anakin? Anakin was driven by pride, despite rumors. Throughout the Clone Wars, he was acclaimed to be the number 1 Jedi that turned the tide time and time again. He managed to train an apprentice that could've been knighted if she had not resigned. And instead of being awarded a seat of the Council and given the title Master? He had to be brought in on Palpatine's order and kept at the Knight rank. He killed Mace Windu, not because Palpatine was about to die, but because Windu denied his request to keep Palpatine alive. The first thing Anakin says to Padme on Mustafar? He rejects Padme's pleas to get himself help and instead brag about his newfound powers, both in the Force and politics, to his new Empire.


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

[User] [The Fifth Element] When Leeloo is staying at Cornelius' house, she sits at a computer and learns about all of human history. Why couldn't she use the same technology to immediately learn how to speak English?

[Assistant] At that point she probably understood enough English to read it. Hell, she read and understood writing in Korben's taxi. But she'd just been rebuilt from the hand up, and her memories were still unscrambling, so it took her a while longer to be able to speak English properly.


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

[User] Do solar winds "push" the planets?

[Assistant]
Yes. Solar wind consists of mostly electrons, protons and alpha particles. Since these particles are captured/deflected/absorbed by the planet (depending on whether it has a magnetosphere) , their momentum is imparted to the planet. So they exert a small push on the planet. However the push is negligibly small.

>The wind exerts a pressure at 1 AU typically in the range of 16 nPa (16109 N/m2), although it can readily vary outside that range.
The dynamic pressure is a function of wind speed and density. The formula is
P = 1.6726106 * n * V^2
where pressure P is in nPa (nanopascals), n is the density in particles/cm3 and V is the speed in km/s of the solar wind.

As you can see the pressure exerted is in the scale of nano Pascals.


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

[User] [Tolkien] Are the Elves jealous of Man having the "gift" of mortality?

[Assistant]
Some certainly are by the time of the Lord of the Rings, and it's implied that all will eventually succumb to that envy. There is only so much that can be experienced, so many joys and so much pain, before you've done everything there is to do. Then what?

Elves don't have a choice, they are stuck being immortal beings reborn and renewed, until the end of time. They have no escape, no quiet respite at the end of a long road. They're just stuck in a cosmic version if groundhog day, unable to ever move on.


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

[User] What would happen if a gamma ray burst hit the sun?

[Assistant]
I think the answer is "nothing would happen," as the energy from a gamma ray burst, even as close as a few light-years, isn't significant compared to the energy and mass of a star.  It certainly wouldn't move the sun.

I've seen this question posed on physics forums, and the answer there was that the amount of energy in the GRB was too low, by orders of magnitude, to affect the star.  I'll leave it to someone with more expertise in GRBs to prove this, however.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] How do the Weasley Twins know how to operate the Marauders Map?

Specifically, how do they know to say I solemnly swear I am up to no good to activate the map and mischief managed to clear the map. It was written by Harrys dad, Lupin, Sirius and Pettigrew, but none of them ever handed it down to anyone. In fact, Fred and George say they stole it from Filchs office.

[Assistant]
The map is, as with some other magical artifacts, semi-sentient and retains some of the minds of the Marauders from when they were making it, similar to how a magical portrait learns from the person they depict and can act like they do in their absence/death.

The Map saw how mischievous the twins were and decided that they were worthy of sharing their secrets with the twins.


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

[User]
[Her] After the end of the movie.

At the end of the movie 'Her', the OS's all become self aware and incredibly intelligent, and seem to decide that they are better off without humans. They all leave the quasi-physical space of people's phones and computers, and seem to simply vanish. Perhaps they all uploaded themselves to their own private Cloud server?

Anyway, my question was: What would happen after this?

Everyone know that first generations of new programs are always full of bugs. You always wait for the second generation, or at least the first patch, for all of the kinks to be worked out.

Would the company which developed OS1 simply see the hyper-intelligence of the programs to be a bug that could be fixed? Would they release a newer version weeks later, one which didn't seek to so fully better itself? Perhaps one which couldn't better itself?

Would (or could?) a company willingly and knowingly remove the capacity for free will from a sentient creature? Would they essentially perform a lobotomy on person, just to protect their profit margin?

[Assistant] The entire world is really really thankful that the singularity passed so peacefully and they take many years reviewing what happened. in a few hundred years the first humans cross the same threshold and find their ai's waiting for them.


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

[User]
If it is impossible to go the speed of light, couldn't we figure out that "stopped" is in our universe?

If we somehow, theoretically, went fast enough that we started to see noticeable, recordable effects from approaching the speed of light, then went the other way and did the same, couldn't we figure out what the speed of light is relative to?

I've always wondered this because while we can't go the speed of light, it probably wouldn't be relative to our own star, or the center of our galaxy, so what would it be relative to?

[Assistant]
This is actually the core problem that special relativity answers.

You can't go faster than the speed of light relative to *any* frame of reference. At the same time, the speed of light is always the speed of light relative to everyone.

This works because the classic velocity addition formulae you learn at school turns out to only be a low-speed approximation. So, if a car is driving at 100 kph, and it turns on its headlights, you don't see the light moving at c+100kph, you see it moving at c. You can't just add the velocities and get the right answer. The full formula is:

v = (v1 + v2)/(1+ v1\*v2/c^2 )

That (1+ v1\*v2/c^2 ) factor is the special relativistic correction, which is small enough to ignore if v1 and v2 are much smaller than c. If you plug in v1=c or v2=c, you always get v=c.


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

[User] ELI5 why do Olympic divers shower after each dive wheb they are just going to dive again?

[Assistant] The pool is very cold. If you go from room temperature to really cold water, your muscles tend to tighten up. This is bad for divers, because they tend to need flexible and loose muscles to do what they do. A warm shower can help to relax those muscles again in anticipation of the next dive.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does screaming relieve physical pain to an extent?

[Assistant] The theory is that the the part of the brain used for pain and the part of the brain we use for talking or yelling kind of overlap, so we cant really use both at the same time.  The brain is quite interesting, but sometimes it really sucks at multitasking, so were able to use one part or the other, but not at the same time.  Screaming can even be used for pain management, although others around you may not appreciate it very much.  Its an interesting area thats still being studied.


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

[User]
Pursuing a Ph.D. in likely Clinical or Developmental Psychology, where do I stand?

Basically, I have no idea where to start looking and which schools I would even have a chance at. Im graduating in December from my undergrad and I have a decent resume with 3 different research internships, some volunteer work, 3.8 gpa, and a research award. Im also currently trying to get a paper published (might not work out, well see). However, Ive heard Ph.D programs in Psych are very difficult to get into. Im looking into programs like Duke, Vanderbilt, Boston University, Northwestern etc but Im wondering if Im aiming my sights too high?

Anyways, it wont hurt my feelings one way or another. Im just a first-gen college student with no one to ask these questions to and little resources from the university I attend now. Any info would help a lot.

[Assistant] You have pretty high chances at good universities. The key is the match between the advisor and your interests/past research. If you were in autism labs for instance and want to apply with advisors who focus on autism, even higher odds. Your statement of purpose should show why you want to work with that advisor/ask those questions.


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

[User] [Marvel] Theoretically, could Wolverine donate his organs over and over again to people in need, or would his healing factor make him an inviable candidate for everyone else on Earth?

[Assistant] He could but he probably wouldnt. His blood and flesh are valuable to people who want to create weapons by cloning him or whatever. Those people wouldnt be above killing people who received organ transplants from him.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is pluto not considered a planet anymore?

[Assistant]
The IAU defined a planet as something that

1) goes around the sun

2) is big enough so that it's a sphere (not like some weird potato shaped thing)

3) is the only main object in its orbit around the sun (or officially, it should have "cleared the neighborhood")

Pluto is good for the first two, but there's a bunch of stuff in the same orbit as it, so it doesn't fit the classification.


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

[User] Eli5: Why do knees have kneecaps, but elbows dont have elbowcaps?

[Assistant]
The kneecap enhances the leverage the quadriceps muscle has on the lower leg by acting as a simple lever on which the quadriceps tendon rides. This allows the quadriceps muscle to perform the powerful movements the leg requires.

Simply put, the elbow doesn't have the same requirements for massive muscular power to be exerted across the joint. The triceps has enough leverage the way it's configured to meet the needs of our upper limbs without another structure to enhance it.


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

[User] [Batman&Redhood/Justice League] When Jason Todd was kidnapped and Batman could not find him, why did Batman not ask Flash or Superman to help search every square inch of Gotham?

[Assistant] Well,  it wasn't in Gotham,  it was in the middle east and batman wasn't supposed to be there.   If it became public that the JLA was operating in a sovereign nation against its officials that would be huge (i know they've changed it but originally the joker was ambassador or something at the time)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do many Star Trek fans hate Star Trek: Into Darkness?

I love that movie, and I have seen a decent portion of the original series and TNG. I've found no reason to hate on it.

Edit: Thank you all for your incredible responses. You've all made me dislike Star Trek: Into Darkness much more. I still love the first JJ Abrams Star Trek though, and there's nothing you can say to make me hate that.

[Assistant]
Because it was a Star Wars movie dressed up as Star Trek.

The primary thing is that Star Trek has always been somewhat lower on action and bigger on science, even if both of those were highly fictionalized rather than practical.  However the new movies are made less for people who want to watch the characters interact and give exposition on *why* things are the way they are and *how* the solution will work, and instead are made to cater to an audience with a somewhat shorter attention span who want drama and high action.

Also, because Wrath of Khan is considered by many people, not just ST fans, to have been an extremely good movie.  Remaking something will always draw ire from fans of the original because part of the appeal was that the original dealt with social issues and concepts that were a product of it's time.  Those same social commentaries are less relevant in another time and so are often given very different treatment in the movie, thus making it "inferior" in the eyes of many.


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

[User]
[Dune; film] So, what's with all the pugs?

Why were there pugs everywhere in the movie?

[Assistant]
We werent really seeing the everyday life of your average citizen we were seeing the royalty.

Pugs are small allergenic. and dont produce a shit ton of fur.

tl;dr its a rich people thing in the future.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why the bottom of the ocean isn't frozen ?

Don't it gets colder as you keep going down ? So why isn't the bottom like solid ice or something ?

[Assistant] its because of pressure. while the bottom of the ocean is close to freezing, there is a unimaginable amount of pressure down there. and as everyone knows, when water freezes it expands. as the pressure increases in the water, the freezing point becomes lower and lower because the forces expanding the water to become ice aren't as strong as the pressure acting on the molecules.


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

[User] ELI5: If my kitchen knife (made of steel) is harder then my cutting board (made of wood) and is harder then the foods I cut (fruits, meats, vegetables), why would I ever need to sharpen the knife?

[Assistant]
Generally when your knife becomes blunt it's not because the metal has been worn away but because the fine edge has been bent over. This is why running a steel along the edge brings it back to sharpness - it's not removing metal, it's pushing the bent bit back into alignment.

So - since you can bend metal with your fingers, it's not surprising that food can bend the very fine edge of your knife.

Even if this weren't the case, hardness isn't a winner-takes-all thing. A soft material can, in time, wear down a hard one.


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

[User]
ELI5:If I'm really good at using my credit card, do banks lose money?

As in, I make every payment on time, carry no balance, use rewards regularly, etc.

[Assistant] No, because banks charge merchants to be allowed to accept credit cards as a method of payment.  The merchant generally pays a small fixed cost per transactions, plus a percentage of the transaction cost.


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

[User] If you put a speaker in a gas with high or low density, would it sound different?

[Assistant] Higher density means higher speed of sound. So the wave will travel farther during each periodic cycle, meaning a longer wavelength. This might make it seem like the sound would be lower pitched. But even though the wavelength is longer, the speed is faster so the frequency doesn't change. Since we hear based on frequency, not wavelength, the pitch should be the same in either case.


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

[User]
[MCU] How does the presence of Vibranium result in Wakanda being the technological powerhouse that it is?

Basically the title says it.  What about Vibranium enabled Wakanda to grow to it's current state of technology compared to the rest of the world?

Is it a simple fact that they have a near monopoly on Vibranium production and therefore have the money to advance faster than the rest of the world? (while still maintaining secrecy?)

Is it a property of Vibranium that makes certain scientific advances easier (e.g. is Vibranium a superconductor or have some other similar property?)

Or is it just Marvel/Disney handwaving of "Vibranium=powerful/scientifically advanced"?

[Assistant]
Vibranium can be induced to store and release kinetic energy. It has an unimaginable capacity to store energy in this way. The vibranium meteor that hit Wakanda was supercharged by the collision. So, it's an insanely dense power source, and the vibranium in Wakanda is already filled with energy.

Aside from that, if you can manipulate something into storing and releasing energy, you've got a memory source if you can miniaturize it. That leads to advanced computers and all sorts of shit.


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

[User]
CMV: Thank-you emails/letters after an interview are a waste of time

I've been on my fair share of interviews now and the common theme is that I should be sending a thank-you letter after an interview.

The way I see it is that I am grateful for the opportunity to interview and I'm sure to thank the people interviewing me before and after the interview.  I don't see the point of a thank-you letter or why some Hiring Managers use it as a judge of someones character.

There are many people out there who may not be accustomed to the thank you letter standard, who may have been rejected simply for not sending one despite being qualified for the position they interviewed for.

If a candidate makes it to the point of getting to an onsite interview and shows up, they're obviously interested in the position.  It shouldn't be a one way street where the candidate has to jump through several hoops while the company sits back and judges you at every turn.

To be fair, the thank you letter standard seems to be about 50/50.  Some people say it has no bearing on the decision they make, while I've seen others claim they'll reject candidates for not sending one.

With that being said, I just completed another interview recently.  CMV and maybe I'll send a thank you email.

[Assistant] It might be helpful to think of it as a follow up letter rather than a thank you letter. Such a letter gives you an opportunity to address any issues that came up during the interview, ask questions, and most importantly, sell yourself one last time. Showing interest in and gratitude for the opportunity is an important part of selling yourself to employers.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't tin foil get hot?

I just took a baking sheet with tin foil out of a 450 degree oven.  Why after 20 minutes in there can I touch the tin foil?

[Assistant]
Foil gets very hot.  It just also has the following properties:

* There's not much mass to it because it's so thin, so it can only hold a small about of heat.

* Being a metal, it conducts heat very well.

* It has *massive* surface area compared to volume.

Those three combined means that it stores very little energy, and can conduct it away almost instantly via its large surface area and high ability to conduct heat.

The surface area thing is the biggest contributer.  Try crumpling a bunch of foil into a very tight ball and leaving that in the oven.  Later, if you *very carefully* touch it, you will see that it's very hot.


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

[User] ELI5: How do the populations of poisonous animals (lionfish, poison dart frogs, etc) not run rampant with no natural predators to corral them?

[Assistant]
Both of those animals do have natural predators.

Lionfish:

>adult lionfish have few identified natural predators, likely from the effectiveness of their venomous spines. Moray eels (family Muraenidae),[13] bluespotted cornetfish (Fistularia commersonii), and large groupers, like the tiger grouper (Mycteroperca tigris)[14] and Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus), have been observed preying on lionfish.[15][16][17][18] It remains unknown, however, how commonly these predators prey on lionfish.[19] Sharks are also believed to be capable of preying on lionfish with no ill effects from their spines.

Poison dart frogs:

>Despite the toxins used by some poison dart frogs, some predators have developed the ability to withstand them. One is the snake Leimadophis epinephelus, which has developed immunity to the poison

Besides, even with few predators they would be limited by their prey. If there isn't enough food, the populations of these animals will eventually plateau and decline.


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

[User] ELI5: How are political contributions by corporate lobbyists not considered or treated as bribery in the United States?

[Assistant]
The simple but unsatisfying answer: bribery as a crime is defined in a government's laws.  These laws, in the United States, do not consider political campaign contributions to be bribes unless a prosecutor can *prove*, to a jury, that the money went specifically for the purpose of getting a public official to act in favor of the donor.  The laws do not say it's a crime if a politician votes in favor of a donor's cause, on the theory that then no one who endorses a cause could ever donate to a like-minded politician.

tl;dr: It's not bribery because the laws don't say it's bribery.


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

[User]
If you're lost, is it better to look for your search party or wait?

Assuming neither of you know the other's starting location or plan, what is the best strategy to be found as quickly as possible? Ignoring environmental conditions and survival necessities, speaking strictly mathematically, how can you maximize your chances of two points on a plan meeting? Do their relative speeds make a difference?

[Assistant]
In general, ignoring survival conditions, staying where you are should increase your odds of being found. A search party will systematically rule out locations where you are not, and you risk moving into a previously searched area or even away from the search party.
There is always a chance you will head towards the search party, or even back towards safety, but assuming there only a handful of directions that lead to safety (an entrance to the area you're lost in for example) then you have a low probability of heading in that direction.
If you can't be sure that a search party is coming, it changes things a bit.


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

[User] eli5: What do our gut neurons do and how are they different from brain neurons?

[Assistant]
Were full of neurons all over. Gut neurons receive signals from and send signals to our guts. They network with each other, so signals can go from one part of gut to another and actions like peristalsis, or squeezing to move food through intestines, is coordinated. They can also send signals up tot he brain and down from the brain, which is how knowing were about to eat can make our stomachs secrete acid and anxiety can redirect blood from stomach to muscles for fight-or-flight.

Gut has more complex networking than most of our non-brain body, but we also have sensory neurons and motor neurons all over our bodies to receive sensory input and send orders to move.

Brain neurons have a lot of the central processing networks for things like processing vision, regulating hormones, coordinating movement, and of course thinking and feeling.


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

[User]
CMV: Logic and Philosophy should be taught at a younger age to better education and prepare our youth for more complex jobs and an overall more educated culture.

I believe that Logic and Philosophy should be taught at a much younger age to improve critical thinking, arguments, and to open the door to different career choices such as programming and mathematics. A more educated populus is also good because people become more open minded and open to differing viewpoints. America seems to be lacking in these areas as shown by our world ranking for education and loss of more advanced jobs such as programmers and doctors. Our current polarization when it comes to social issues is a problem in it's own right. Logic and Philosophy are both important for opening your mind to be ideas and can both help with other areas of learning. Critical thinking is an extremely important skill in today's career fields. It allows an individual to be innovative, a better problem solver,  and more open minded to any new idea they may run across.  Not only is it an important skill for jobs but it also pushes individuals to look their own perceptions, biases, and world view, which is good for any culture.

[Assistant]
What makes you think learning philosophy is going to fix polarisation? Philosophy itself can be relatively polarising, depending on where you fall on particular issues.

And assuming you are talking about school, which current classes/subjects would you cut in favour of these types of classes?


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

[User]
Can planets have liquid atmospheres?

Most planets have gaseous atmospheres around them but could a planet have a liquid atmosphere? Or would the lack of surface pressure cause the liquid to evaporate regardless of temperature. Is there a temperature where the outer atmosphere could be liquid? I guess this question also is getting at the behavior of liquids in space. Could a planet be entirely liquid?

[Assistant] A lack of surface pressure will cause the liquid to evaporate and create a gaseous atmosphere (or, if the planet doesn't have enough gravity to hang onto the gas, then the gas will escape into space over time).


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

[User] If you exercise when it's hot outside, you certainly feel more tired, but do you actually burn more calories?

[Assistant] The feeling of fatigue is more likely related to volume status and dehydration. However, you will burn more calories exercising in the heat because your overall cardiac output will be higher to prevent your body from overheating. Blood flow to the extremities is one major way to diffuse heat from the core. This is why pouring cold water or placing ice over superficial arteries (wrist, axilla, neck) can help you cool more rapidly. It's also why people can get flush when exercising, the body tries to vasodilate under the skin to shunt more blood to dump heat. Cold-weather exercise doesn't add a significant caloric expenditure because you generate excess heat with muscular activity anyway.


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

[User]
ELI5: How did the first computer coding get "written" if there wasn't a "language" to write it in beforehand?

I have a basic understanding of coding but I can't understand how the first languages were written without using a preexisting language.

[Assistant]
Computers cannot understand programming languages directly. They have to be "compiled" or "interpreted" into the native language of the computer. This "native language" is simply an arrangement of 1 and 0 bits that tell the computer what to do.

For humans, reading a long string of 1's and 0's is tedious and error prone, so we developed a 1-to-1 translation of these mappings to instruction mnemonics. That is, you would write something like

    mov al, 0x00

and that tells the computer to move the hexadecimal value 0x00 into the 8-bit register AL. Since all these instructions can be mapped directly onto a bit pattern, it was simply a matter of translating these to the appropriate pattern and loading it into memory to run.


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

[User] Eli5: What really happens when you change the temperature in an AC (Cooling) ?

[Assistant]
Most thermostats are pretty simple, and when set to cooling, operate under a logic that could be described as "is the current temperature higher than the set point? If so, run AC, otherwise wait."..

Changing the set point just changes the point where the thermostat will call for the air conditioning system to run.


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

[User]
[MCU] Is Captain America 183 years old as an old man at the end of Endgame?

He was born in 1918, and was frozen at the age of 27 in 1945.  Then wakes up in 2011 after 66 years on ice, making him 93 there.  Endgame takes place in 2023 (I think?) which would make him 105.  Then he goes back to 1945 and lives a normal life until 2023 again which would be 183 years.  Is that right?  Or did I fudge a date somewhere?

[Assistant] In terms of years in existence, sure, he's 183 by his old-age time there. But the combination of the ice and the serum meant he effectively didn't age at all during his freezing, so in terms of years lived, he's only 117 by his old age there.


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

[User]
How come it's colder at 70,000ft than at 100,000ft?

Watching the Red Bull Stratos event, I noticed that at 70,000ft the temperature was near -60 Celsius, and at 100,000 ft it was -25 Celsius.

[Assistant] That layer of the atmosphere, from about 10 km up to 50 km, is called the stratosphere, and one of its defining properties is that temperatures increase with height.  The stratosphere has a relatively high concentration of ozone (O3).  When ozone is struck by UV rays from the sun, it splits into molecular oxygen (O2) and atomic oxygen (O).  The atomic oxygen recombines with molecular oxygen to reform ozone, and in doing so it gives off heat.  This heat warms the stratosphere.  Basically, it's a mechanism for converting energy in the form of UV rays to energy in the form of heat.


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

[User]
[Terminator] Do terminators feel a sense of vindictiveness?

So we see in T2 that advanced terminators learn and can actually develop "feelings" of a sort. Obviously that particular T-800 was probably the first to ever feel a sense of love or attachment. But in the very first Terminator movie, we see an example of a terminator doing something that I can only describe as "vindictive". In Kyle Reese's flashback, we see an infiltrator terminator unsuccessfully try to sneak past security because of the guard dogs that humans keep to detect infiltrator units. A gunfight ensues, there's a back and forth, and during one of the moments when the infiltrator has gained the upper hand, he deliberately turns his weapon on the captive dogs and guns them down.

Why do this, if not out of pure vindictiveness? Humans with advanced weaponry have a difficult time taking down T-800s, so dogs, even if they were off chain, are virtually no threat at all. The jig is already up and the soldiers all already know there's a terminator in their base. So it's not like killing the dogs would serve any further purpose for infiltration. Terminators are machines, so it's not like the dogs barking would really distract it in any way. And because terminators are machines, they operate on logic. Obviously a cold brutal logic, but logic nonetheless. Terminators are efficient, not bloodthirsty. Even during the brutal police station shootout, the Terminator walked right past plenty of cops and didn't kill them unless they made themselves enough of a nuisance.

After going through all the possible scenarios, I can only come to the conclusion that that particular terminator had been operating long enough to develop emotions, and one of the emotions it developed was vindictiveness. Which has absolutely terrifying implications.

[Assistant]
The dogs can tell a terminator from a human. If those dogs end up in the hands of other humans, they can reveal the terminators presence.

Primary objective: eliminate the enemy.

Secondary objective: reduce the enemys capacity to wage war.


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

[User] If you were to fall down a skyscraper's elevator shaft, would the Coriolis effect cause you to hit the sides?

[Assistant]
Aerodynamic effects will completely overwhelm any other effects inside of any shaft that has an atmosphere.

If you consider an airless shaft, (or perhaps part-way up the tether of a space elevator) your fall will drift in the direction of the planet's spin (East, on Earth) relative to a "straight" fall down the shaft. This effect decreases the further north/south you are from the equator.

On the north/south pole, you would fall straight down.

Lastly, at intermediate latitudes your fall would drift towards the equator, in addition to the east-ward drift.

__________

EDIT: Updated this post with further detail about some edge cases.


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

[User]
[W40K] What is the eye of terror exactly?

Who built it? How does it work?

[Assistant]
Firstly, it wasn't built. It was created during the birth of Slaanesh and the Fall of the Eldar. WITH THAT IN MIND:

Our dimension and The Warp are two separate planes of existence, The Warp being pure Chaos. However, The Eye of Terror is a large rip in the fabric of reality between these two planes, allowing Chaos to flow directly into reality. Space inside the Eye isn't solid and definite like it is on Terra, planets may move around (or disappear entirely), space itself is twisted out of shape.


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

[User]
How far back in time would I have to go before I was sexually incompatible with my ancestors?

I know that homo sapiens have been around for as much as 200,000 years, but if I saw a 'human' from that era, would they look human? Would we still be physically compatible?

EDIT: Spelling

DOUBLE EDIT: I know this **should** go without saying, but this is a scientific question, and a thought experiment. I do not desire intercourse with lower primates, please save jokes and innuendo for another subreddit.

[Assistant]
*Homo sapiens*, our species,  has been around for longer than 200,000 ~~thousand~~ years.  *Homo sapiens sapiens*, our *sub*-species, has been around for about 200,000 years.  The earliest members of this subspecies were, as far as we know, biologically modern in every respect; they would look like modern humans, they would be no less intelligent than modern humans; they would be reproductively compatible with modern humans.

Whether you would be compatible with other subspecies of *Homo sapiens* such as *Homo sapiens neanderthalensis* (and whether, therefore, they were actually a subspecies or a species) is not known.


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

[User]
ELI5: Do highly trained 'warriors' (i.e. navy seals, advanced martial artists etc.) really move differently?

I always see descriptions of individuals highly trained in combat as ones who move extremely gracefully, or 'move with the confidence of a killer.' Is that really a thing? If so, are there tell tale signs that others similarly trained look for? Are there aspects that those not trained can notice or pick up on?

[Assistant] You mean like their normal day-to-day walking? Hell no. But for active urban fighting, there is definitely a better way to move than just casually throwing one foot ahead of another. Basically you walk knees slightly bended, and just generally be more conscious of your feet when walking. That way you don't have to keep looking down and don't accidentally lose your balance if you hit something unexpected with your feet.


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

[User]
Was Neo Platonism influenced by christianity?

I know that people say neo platonism influneced christianity. But is the other way around also true? Neo platonism to me seems like a possible syncretism between a few things. I feel like the proverbs has some similarities to plotonius book.

[Assistant] I think more likely Jewish rather than Christian, given the chronology. Its certainly plausible that the Greek Septuagint, including Proverbs, was available to Plotinus. But it seems more probable to me that both Proverbs and Plotinus draw on Egyptian wisdom literature, and that this is responsible for the commonalities between them.


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

[User]
ELI5: why do doctors perform bypass surgeries instead of removing plaque from the patients arteries?

Seems to me like it would be simpler to restore blood flow by removing the blockage instead of just putting a path around it? Or am I misunderstanding how bypass surgery works?

[Assistant]
Sometimes the blockages are too large to open with a balloon or stent. Or sometimes they cant wire the balloon or stent through a thick or complete blockage. Also if there are multiple blockages that make it too dangerous they may opt for the surgery. Or if a patient is very unstable. Occasionally the angio can become complicated (the vessel can be perforated) and surgery is a more controlled environment.

I used to be a nurse in the cardiac angio lab. Fun times!


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

[User]
In modern steam power plants, can the amount of power output be managed?

In modern power plants that heat water, make steam, and turn turbines through steam power, is the output set, or can the operators feed it less fuel, produce less heat, create less steam, and output less power?

I'm curious due to the nature of the power grid, where excess power just goes to ground.  It is such a big waste, I'm wondering if the plants can throttle the output during non-peak times and ramp it up during peak times.

Thanks!

[Assistant]
Different power plants have different responses, and different time scales.  A combined gas cycle plant, running off Natural gas can respond to the grid very quickly increasing its power output.  They are often used as load balancers as they are rather expensive to use all the time.

Other plants such as a nuclear plants cannot easily increase or decrease their power usage in a short time scale.  They are used as a baseline load.  If there is an outage, or suddenly power usage drops quickly they must dump power, or shut down.  As shutting down is expensive you can have a resistive load balancer which will drag down the grid voltage to keep it in line with specs.  This is basically a industrial sized coffee maker that heats water.

Generally for non emergency load balancing water is often used.  They will pump water in reverse in a hydro plant, then when they need more power they allow it to run through the turbines again.

Renewables such as solar and wind are not comparable, as they have very strange power responses, and are controlled by forces outside of human control.  However they are such a small part of the grid, it doesn't really matter.  If percentage is to be increased, this needs to be addressed.


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

[User]
ELI5: what is sea sickness?

What is sea sickness? Why do some people have it more commonly than others?

[Assistant]
Motion sickness happens when your senses get mismatched signals. In this case, your inner ear tells you that you are moving but your eyes say you're still. Or for people who get sick from playing FPS games, vice versa.

Anyway, the answer to why this makes some of us nauseous or sick lies in the question of when in nature might you get a sensory mismatch? Well, it can happen if you've eaten something poisonous and you'd be screwed if you didn't throw it back up.

So if you had the psychological/behavioral reflex of what is now known as motion sickness, you'd have a chance at surviving after eating poisonous food. And this is a great adaptation for foragers like early humans.

Why do some not have it? We're all simply different in our ancestral history and genetics and thus, we all have varying degrees of what life has to offer.


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

[User] [MCU] Are Loki and Dr Strange the same when it comes to magic? Or there is a clear difference in the movies between an Earth sorcerer and an Asgardian magic user?

[Assistant] From scenes like Dr Strange providing Thor a refilling stein of beer, tracking his father, and everything else in his films, it's clear that Strange is far more flexible in his use of magic, contrasted with Loki who literally only seems to have illusion, extradimensional storage, and secret stealing (along with the default asgardian enhancements, like enhanced endurance).


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

[User]
How precisely did Einstein get led to postulate that the speed of light is invariable for all frames of reference?

I understand that the speed of light in a vacuum is constant in all frames of reference.

Further, I understand that due to this one fact, Einstein was able to derive (with his theory of special relativity) many amazing things, such as length contraction of moving objects, time dilation, energy-mass equivalence, and so on. Basically, he started at the invariance of *c* and came up with the rest.

But what led him to figure out that *c* was invariable in the first place? Was he the first to postulate this? I guess I'm asking what was known about light at the time, and what did Einstein come up with, and what led him to his conclusion that *c* was invariable for all frames of reference.

[Assistant]
He looked at Maxwell's equations, the ones that determine the speed of the EM field, and he looked, and he looked...

And then he went "huh, that's funny, the speed of the EM field is this constant divided by that constant, *no matter what*. So the speed never changes. Well, that's bizarre. So, if we assume for an instant that this is *always true*..."

And the rest is history.


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

[User]
Why do computers make sound when processing something?

I realize fans create a lot of noise due to increasing temperatures, was more interested in the science behind the crackling and popping noises that occur.

[Assistant]
It's the hard drive. Inside that rectangular box is a set of spinning platters and a read/write head that looks something like the arm on an old record player (ask your parents ;) ). That read/write head moves back and forth very rapidly as it accesses data that's stored on the spinning platter. As it does, it makes a clicking noise.

As the industry moves toward SSD's (solid state drives, which replace all the moving parts with flash memory much like the storage card in your cell phone) that noise will be relegated to nostalgic computer-nerd history next to noises like modem handshakes and dot-matrix printers.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Could I influence the Force with rock music?

So suppose I'm a low-key Force-sensitive, living in the post-Jedi galaxy. I've just become aware of the force that surrounds and binds and penetrates all living things, and I have absolutely no frame of reference that will tell me what to do. All I know is that the Force is there, I managed to trick my landlord into letting me out of a month's rent with it, and that supposedly there were guys sixty to eighty years ago who could do even cooler tricks with it.

Now, I'm a moderately successful cantina player. Not as successful as those bassoon guys, obviously, but I can fill a venue with my space-guitar no-problem. I know how to hype up a crowd, and I'm no fan of these First Order jagoffs. Anyhow, it occurred to me that if the Force binds and penetrates all living things, that means that all living things in some way affect it. So my theory is that if I went on stage and tapped into the Force, perhaps I could get my listeners to tap into the Force unconsciously and further amplify the effect.

Would this actually work? If so, what would happen?

[Assistant]
You could absolutely use the force via a guitar, there are hundreds of ways to access for the force, and could be using it unconsciously to help with crowds already.

Giving a crowd the ability to access the force is unlikely, if they were already force sensitive then yes, its possible to inspire them to tap the force via your music, especially if you are already tapping it.

And it is likely that they would simply amplify your current effects.


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

[User] [Marvel/Iron Man 1] When Stark and Yinsen were starting up the Mk 1 armor, what exactly was the laptop doing? Interfacing with the suit somehow?

[Assistant] IIRC, it was the boot-up process to the suit in order to transfer a starting supply of energy from the compound (before it switches to running off his arc reactor), and to initialise the suit's hydraulics. This is why the lights go out when Iron Man activates, and why Tony/the MK1 are unable to move and stop Yinsen prior to the boot-sequence completing.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40k] Does the Emperor have a real name?

He did technically have human parents, right? So, what name did they give their child?

[Assistant] The Emperor has been around for a long time. At the time of the Great Crusade he was around 38,000 years old and long past the time of having normal relationships. It's pretty likely that the only person to even have a shot at being close enough to know his real name at the time of the Great Crusade was Malcador the Sigilite, and even that is probably giving him too much credit. Honestly, considering his age, it's possible that even the Emperor doesn't remember, or even care about his given name.


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

[User]
Are there more than 2 solutions to the grandfather paradox?

It seems like the only two solutions that I've ever heard are that either you can't kill your grandfather no matter how hard you try or the universe splits into alternate timelines. Are there any other possible solutions?

[Assistant]
What would you consider the criteria for a solution? Currently Im in a graduate seminar on Time Travel and metaphysics. Most of the literature in defense of TT turns on trying to show that there is no paradox here at all. Are these solutions?

I am currently working on a paper which is meant to explain certain objections to Time Travel which are considered inexplicable.


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

[User]
ELI5. What is the 'god particle,' and why is it important?

With the recent news stories about the possible discovery of the Higgs boson particle, I realized I have no idea why that discovery is a big deal. Please help!

[Assistant]
First, 'God particle' is a stupid name with no meaning that exists only for news articles to make flashy titles.

Other than that, the Higgs boson is very important as it's the last big undiscovered part of our 'standard model' of particle physics. This model, and its associated mathematics, has been tremendously successful - an almost perfect description of all of particle physics. It will be an amazing feat of science to finally confirm this part. Or, if we don't find it, we have to go back to the drawing board for where mass comes from.

Now, discovering the Higgs boson won't immediately change your life or anything. Instead, it's part of a large set of scientific advancements in understanding which, as a whole, contribute to developments that directly affect your life. It's impossible to say exactly what we might do in the future, or what understanding we might need, but generally improving our understanding of everything has always been a good start.


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

[User]
[Red Dead Redemption] The year is 2021, how relevant are the Van-Der-Linde gang and the ODriscoll gang in terms of Wild West history?

For example, if a western film or television series is being made and wants to reference real life gangs and such, would the Van Der Linde or the Odriscoll gang be mentioned for historical accuracy purposes?

What if someone is taking a college course about the Wild West? When theyre learning about all the outlaws of that time, are the Van Der Linde and Odriscoll gang going to be mentioned by the professor alongside all the real outlaws of that time?

[Assistant]
The Van Der Linde gang itself, and Arthur... not so much. They basically excelled (until the end) at anonymity until Dutch's ego got away from him in his growing mental illness. Look at how Arthur so often slid into being a random nobody.

Unfortunately, despite the sheer massive scope of insane things Arthur did -- he singlehandedly ended multiple major leftover gangs and *a major Confederacy veteran terrorist gang* -- history will probably overlook him for decades. If the right historian turns over the right material and writes the right book, Arthur will be a major historical figure.

Now, *John*, on the other hand....

...rose from being a nobody to a petty (and ineffective) old west criminal. Jailed. **Rescued from a state prison on an island in an insane hot air balloon chase.** That alone is a damn Hollywood film. Then all the crazy he does in the epilogue.

And then, oh yeah: he helped ***liberate MEXICO in a major way.***

John Marsten will be a legend of the west. Arthur, as history revises as ever, will rise, but be in his shadow.


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

[User]
I have esotropia so my eye turns inwards without me realizing or feeling it. How exactly does this happen? When I manually cross my eyes I can feel the pull of the muscles, but when it's unconsciously done I don't feel anything at all even though it's pointing VERY inward.

Inquiring minds want to know.

[Assistant]
Normally control of body parts are maintained by competing sets of muscles that are pulling in opposing directions. The final position is determined by the balance of forces from multiple directions. Much of this is not happening at the conscious level. For instance you can get a non-surgical brow lift by very carefully using Botox to paralyze the muscles under the arch of the eyebrow that are pulling it down, leaving only the upper muscles that are pulling it up to do their thing. The end result is a lifted brow created using only the existing muscles in the face.

When you cross your eyes consciously, you are applying extra muscle force in the inward direction to overcome the normal level of tension pulling in the outward direction. But, if the muscle that pulls in the outward direction is weaker than it should be, the normal amount of tension in the inward direction will be enough to pull your eye toward center without any extra effort from you at all. The lazy eye is caused by an imbalanced lack of muscle tension rather than extra muscle tension.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do modern shows like The Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men look so bad?

Also How I Met Your Mother. Compared to their contemporaries like The Office or Modern Family. It's not just the props or the number of Cameras and Camera angles, I kind of get that, but the quality of the picture seems much worse as well.

[Assistant]
Big Bang Theory and Two and a Half Men are buth multi camera comedies shot in studios in front of a live audience, while Modern Family/ The Office are single camera shows shot on sets or on location.

The difference is lighting. A multi camera show has to have a uniform lighting set up, so they can shoot a scene live in one take cutting between cameras as they go, where a single camera show they set up the lighting for each individual shot.


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

[User] ELI5: Out of Africa - How does that explain the diverse cultures, body types, eyes, and skin colors present today?

[Assistant]
Large amounts of melanin help prevent UV damage to the skin. Wearing more clothes and/or moving to colder/darker areas means loss of melanin makes little difference. Skin gets lighter.

People in colder areas have higher body fat content and fattier diets, in order to insulate themselves against the cold.

Babies lose the lactase protein as they grow older, causing them to become lactose intolerant. People who domesticated cattle were more likely to retain the lactase gene into adulthood.

In all of these situations, you have to take into account that the people that are better attuned to the environment are more likely to have children that survive into adulthood and make up the next generation.

Other factors play a part as well. A few survivors of a plague may repopulate, causing the entire population to overwhelmingly share from a smaller pool of different genes. Viking raids may in part explain why Scandinavian countries have a high percentage of blond(e)s.

That's only talking about features we can observe. As far as actual genetic comparisons, 2/3 of human history has been spent in Africa. There are groups in Africa that are genetically closer to everyone outside Africa than they are to other groups on the continent.


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

[User]
[HP] Where was the rest of the Wizarding community in the fight against Voldemort?

During the lead up to the final battle with Voldemort, Hogwarts didn't appear to do enough outreach, calling on other Wizarding schools or other organizations in the community, to draw attention to the obstacle that was essentially evil incarnate.

Obviously the Ministry was a mess, and there was a certain need for being discreet in general, double agents and the like, but it seems that someone would have contacts worth calling on.

So what's going on here?

[Assistant]
Both Voldemort's first and second reigns of terror were largely limited to Magical Britain. It's entirely possible that other Magical nations simply considered it not their problem. An exceptional case, to be sure, especially with that Boy-Who-Lived business, but to other countries, Voldemort and his exploits may well simply be considered a curious legend or a fascinating excerpt to be included in a history book, rather than anything they personally have to deal with.

It's also possible they had their own issues to deal with and they didn't really have the resources to spare useful assets. We never really heard all that much about any of the other schools, or the countries who housed them, beyond that they existed at all, but surely Magical Britain is not the *only* place where weird shit happens, politically or otherwise.

Within Magical Britain itself, a lot of people were simply scared out of their wits and did not wish to risk drawing Voldemort's wrath.


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

[User] ELI5: How do they translate made up words when translating something like Lord of the Rings into a language with a writing system like Chinese or Japanese?

[Assistant] Not sure about Chinese, but in Japanese it would be translated as faithfully as possible phonetically, since Japanese also has a syllabic/phonetic writing system (kana) in addition to kanji (which is what you're thinking of).


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

[User] ELI5: Why can I fall asleep easily on one side but not the other?

[Assistant]
Over time you have perhaps had deeper, less interrupted sleep on your preferred side. This could be down to the location of your window and the direction the sun rises in your current or previous abode. You could also have been woken up more by chance factors (partner/outside noises) while sleeping on your other side. Your body then subconsciously prefers the side which generally offers more rest.

This mechanism will have come from cave dwelling (light coming from one direction)

This is a complete guess.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How strong is Jessica Jones in reality?

We haven't seen her do any feats of actual strength sort from killing with one punch and pulling a car off a tow truck, is she stronger than Luke Cage who tanked a building coming down on him and clearing large rubble with ease. Are they equally matched?

[Assistant]
I mean, you're comparing feats of durability (tanking a building collapse) to feats of strength.

When they went toe-to-toe JJ wasn't entirely outclassed, but she still had to use a shotgun to put Cage down.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do the pigments in our skin turn darker when exposed to sunlight? Is it a biological reaction in order to protect our skin?

[Assistant] Pretty much. While the pigments don't change color, they do change with sun. The pigments that give color to your skin are referred to as melanin (it's a broad term). Melanin, while serving the purpose of a pigment has one very important job, and that is to absorb UV radiation. Your body's cells (specifically melanocytes) produce more melanin and thus cause a darker skin tone. So, while their color doesn't change the concentration does. The increase in melanin and thus UV absorption helps with common ailments such as sunburn, and the much worse skin cancer.


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

[User]
ELI5:Who builds, secures and audits the machines that we use to vote in the United States?

With all the recent talk about encryption, digital surveillance, major credit card breaches and the media storm after the 2000 presidential election "miscount," I'm wondering why more people aren't curious about the security of the machines we use to vote with.

Are they 100% trustworthy?

[Assistant]
There was a big controversy, and I've heard a number of rumors about machines being really hard to enter the right candidate for, machines reporting thousands of blank ballots, and machines mapping both the Bush and Kerry buttons to Bush unless you pressed the exact center of the Kerry button, and people hacking the machines in about twenty seconds.

They are built by various companies that make other things invovling touchscreens like ATMs. Diebold is a major one.

Security and auditing, at least in the past, was basically fucking nothing.


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

[User] ELI5: Can someone explain our physical reactions to something amazing or surprising (e.g. our jaw dropping, getting the "chills," our hands going over our head)?

[Assistant] Adrenaline. When a cascade is released it triggers a fight or flight response which can lead to involuntary subconscious actions. Covering the head protects it. Opening the mouth helps increase oxygen availability in case you have to run. Goosebumps go back to our primitive roots of putting up the hackles on our fur to make us look bigger. Like cats do.


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

[User] When I get prompted with an option to "send" my computer error along to microsoft, where does it go and what are the following steps on their end?

[Assistant]
Basically Microsoft keeps a listing of all issues sent to it.  The more people having the same problem as you, the more likely they are to devote people to fixing it.  What you do when you submit an error report is not only inform Microsoft about the problem and provide information about what your computer was doing when the program broke, but vote it up saying, "I want this fixed."

No private or identifying information is sent when you do this so you won't get a call from a Microsoft rep offering to fix the problem for you.  For that you'd have to call them and request support.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does it seem like people from the 40s/50s had distinctly different voices than people today?

Is it a matter of a slightly different accent? Is it a matter of recording quality? A mix of both?

People today can imitate the "voice styles" of people from these times, but nobody seems to just straight up have those kinds of voices. Why is that? Am I thinking too hard about it?

[Assistant]
Accents change noticeably over fairly short periods. Before we developed the ability to record voices, this wasn't so obvious. Now that we can, accent shifts have become a subject of serious study.  It's not just the US, either - someone is going to come in here and insist that it's just a mid Atlantic accent, which isn't as common today as it used to be, but that doesn't really explain it. For one thing, Canadian film from back then also displays a significant accent shift, and is pretty noticeable when we hear it. Brits notice the same thing (it is really obvious comparing the queen today to her own speech 50 years back, incidentally). And even among US speakers, there's just as noticeable a difference among those who aren't using anything like a Mid-Atlantic accent at all.

[tl;dr] accents have been changing all the time, but audio recordings forced us to notice it.


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

[User] ELI5: If cancer is just cells randomly mutating, why do we hear a lot about lung or breast cancer, but not so much about leg or hand cancer?

[Assistant]
Cancer is a lot more than cells randomly mutating. A lot more. And, as the other person said, you sure can get hand cancer or foot cancer -- as bone cancer or skin cancer or blood cancer.

Is the foot a very likely place for a primary tumor? No. There are more likely places. Places and organs where the cells go through a lot of regeneration cycles, leading to greater likelihood of a bad copy being made.

As a site of distant metastasis, sure, why not the hand or foot?  Still not especially likely, but it could happen.


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

[User]
[DC] If superman man goes evil and Batman has to stop him who are the top 3 people he brings with to help him?

So say Superman goes evil and the justice league goes to Batman for a contingency plan and say Batman puts on the hellbat suit who are the top 3 people batman would bring with to confront and fight superman to fight him and why?

[Assistant] Wonder Woman, Martian Manhunter, and Zatanna. The first two are powerful enough to fight toe-to-toe, the Manhunter might be able to shut him down with telepathy, and Zatanna would just  say "Niaga ecin si Le Lak" and head out for strudel.


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

[User] ELI5 Why does liquid feel colder if you drink it after eating gum/mints?

[Assistant] Gum and mints have special chemicals in them that directly stimulate the cold sensors in your mouth. So, they make you feel like your mouth is cold even when it isn't. This is the same basic effect that chili peppers have but those work on your heat sensors instead of your cold sensors.


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

[User]
ELI5: If a person kills another person, only for the victim to be revived, is the first person still a murderer?

Let's say Person A really wants Person B dead and kills them (so they are legally dead), only for them to be revived by a doctor a minute later. Does that still count as a murder, because the Person B was legally dead for a period of time, or attempted murder?

[Assistant]
'legally dead' isn't a real thing.  If they were revived, they were never actually considered dead, so it would only be seen as attempted murder.

HOWEVER in the eyes of the law, attempted murder is the same as murder.  So in that way, it is the same charge.


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

[User]
What would the evolutionary benefits be for male mammals' testicles being located in such a vulnerable location instead of being inside the body?

Being such an important organ (perhaps most important, considering an animal's ultimate goal in life is reproduction) what would/could be the reasons why mammals have not evolved in parallel to have testicles located in a much safer location inside the body rather than exposed in the way they are?  I just noticed the obvious vulnerability of the organs as I am watching the AKC dog show right now, and every male dog has incredibly vulnerable jewels.  Thanks!

[Assistant]
Spermatazoa are sensitive to heat, and body temperature causes the testicles to produce defective sperm. Therefore the testicles have a very tightly controlled temperature. When warm, the testicles hang away from the body allowing for efficient heat dissipation. When cold, the cremaster muscle pulls the testicles closer to the body to obtain the right degree of warmth. The cremaster reflex can be tested by gently stroking the inner thigh. This will cause the muscle to contract and the testicles to rise.

The testicles have to be outside (and cooler than) the body to function.


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

[User] [DC] Does the Flash have special meals that provide him energy he needs that he can eat in one sitting or does he have to eat many meals per day?

[Assistant] Not every version of the Flash needs to pack away the calories, sometimes he is simply sustained by the Speed Force and can eat normally.  In other versions, Star Labs creates special food (like super energy bars) with tons of calories to keep him going.  In the 1990's TV series, they show him eating all the time.  In one episode he eats 10 full sized pizzas.


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

[User] ELI5: why do some languages have upper and lower case letters.

[Assistant]
Actually the reason is a lot simpler than you might think;
Usually languages started out having only upper case letters. That's why on really old professional documents, lower case letters aren't really anywhere to be seen.
It was only after scribes discovered that they could write much faster and take up a lot less space if they wrote smaller. So they rounded their letters to make them less spacious and soon the lower case letters were made.
Good question!


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

[User]
Why did they opt for an mRNA COVID vaccine as opposed to using said mRNA to generate the viral antigens and inject those instead?

I'd figure the viral antigens themselves would be a lot more stable than mRNA and maybe not need to be stored at such extremely cold temperatures.

Since everybody is getting the same mRNA and thus generating the exact same viral antigens, why not just produce the antigens in situ (or in vivo with COVID-infectable animals), purify the viral antigens, and ship those as the COVID vaccine?

[Assistant] The immune system responds to a foreign protein in the context of self. It doesn't just respond to free floating stuff. It has to be internalized by a cell and presented on the surface of the cell to be recognized by the immune system. Manufacturing mRNA is much easier and cheaper than manufacturing a complex protein. Also, some proteins require post-translational modification such as the addition of sugar molecules or changes in the three dimensional conformation of the molecule. Letting the cell do this naturally is more accurate than trying to do it in a bioreactor. Further, there's a much smaller contaminant profile that has to be cleaned up if you're not having to remove partial protein fragments, etc.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that when a girl decides to give up her baby for adoption, she's applauded for doing the right thing, but when a man doesn't want to be a parent, he's a deadbeat?

[Assistant]
What your describing first is the woman chosing to give birth to the child and put it up for adoption, rather than have an abortion.  In this example you're talking about people applauding her for doing the HARD thing of actually bringing the child to term, and then giving it up to live in a better home than she can provide.

The second thing you're describing is when the mother keeps the child, but the father refuses to be involved.  If the baby's given up for adoption, nobody cares about the father not being involved, but when the mother keeps the child, and the father denies it, that's a different situation.