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

[User] [Star Wars] I'm a parent who wants a nanny for my children. Is it cheaper to buy Shmi Skywalker or a servant droid? Which is a better choice?

[Assistant]
Shmi is cheaper, of course, but will cost more in the long-term in fuel and repairs. She also might be hard to discipline (slaves are notoriously resentful). Any decent protocol droid can handle most nanny functions. They can clean diapers, but usually get some of it in their joints. Just get one of those oil baths.

But as you can see, droids can be expensive, too. Honestly, why are you even having kids? If there is slavery on your planet, you can get a lot for an infant.


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

[User] Why does America(among others) have different laws for different states and other countries just have the same laws throughout the country.

[Assistant]
Federalism!

American federalism emerged from the particular way in which the states declared independence from Britain-becoming, in effect, separate countries-and then joined together to form a confederation and then a single nation.  Recall that the framers of the Constitution turned to federalism as a middle-ground solution between a confederation form of government-which was deemed a failed model based on the experience of the United States under the Articles of Confederation-and a unitary form of government-which a majority of states, jealous of their independence and prerogatives, found unacceptable. Federalism was also a form of government that was consistent with the eighteenth-century republicanism of the framers because it helps fragment government power. But we can gain further insight into why the United States adopted and has continued as a federal system if we look at what other countries with similar systems have in common.

Federalism tends to be found in nations that are large in a territorial sense and where the various geographical regions are fairly distinctive from one another in terms of religion, ethnicity, language, and forms of economic activity. In Germany, for example, the conservative Catholics of the south have traditionally been different from the liberal Protestants of the north and east, while the former communist territories of the former Germany Democratic Republic differ markedly in living standards from the prosperous West. In Canada, the farmers of the central plains are not much like the fishers of Nova Scotia, and the French-speaking (and primarily Catholic) residents of Quebec differ markedly from the mostly English-speaking Protestants of the rest of the country. In Spain, deep divisions along ethnic and language lines (note the distinctive Basque and Catalan regions). Other important federal systems include such large and richly diverse countries as India, Pakistan, Russia, and Brazil. In these countries, federalism gives diverse and geographically concentrated groups the degree of local autonomy they seem to want, with no need to submit in all matters to a unified central government. In Iraq, the question of the relative degree of autonomy of Kurdish and Shiite provinces in a federal Iraq was the most important point of contention over adoption of a new Iraqi constitution in 2005.
The United States, too, is large and diverse. From the early days of the Republic, the slave-holding and agriculture-oriented South was quite distinct from the merchant Northeast, and some important differences persist today. Illinois is not Louisiana; the farmers of Iowa differ from defense and electronics workers in California. States today also vary from one another in their approaches to public policy, their racial and ethnic composition, and their political cultures.  In The Federalist Papers, the Founders argued that this size and diversity made federalism especially appropriate for the new United States.

While the American system of federalism was truly exceptional at the founding, other large and important countries have taken on federal forms in the years since, especially since the end of World War II. To this extent, the United States is no longer the single exception or one among a handful of exceptions to the unitary nature of the majority of the world's governments.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the production of iron atoms a sign that a star is dying?

If Im not mistaken, most elements were forged in the cores of stars at the beginning of the universe. Supposedly, when a star starts making iron atoms, that means its dying. Why is that?

[Assistant] A star is big and shines bright. Most stars have hydrogen, element #1. Stars are so big and strong that they can squeeze four hydrogen atoms together to make element #2: helium. When stars fuse atoms together, usually it releases energy that makes the star shine bright. The star keeps doing this and they can make all sorts of elements, including #26: iron. But that takes a lot of energy. When a star makes iron, it uses more energy to make iron than iron makes the star shine. Making iron makes the star tired, and it will die for it. Edit: a star is big and shines bright.


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

[User] [Star Wars] during the Clone Wars how did Count Dooku justify using the droid army and that campaigns against the night sisters and against Darth Maul. when both of those they probably lost thousands of troops that were probably needed on the front lines against the Republic.

[Assistant]
Part of the reason the droid army was seen as an equivalent fighting force to the superior trained clones, able to hardline the Republic in the initial year of the war and maintain a heavy presence throughout, and could have won had they not been part of a puppet war designed to centralize the opponent into an Empire is that they were mass-produced in the tens of thousands each day, and had no need for anything other than a power source and gun. Dooku could take as many as he needed to Dathomir and it wouldnt be a drop in the CIS reserves.

Something to also note is that the Separatists model of government was basically a parody and proto-Imperial in a way: Dooku and Sidious were running the show, they put Grievous in charge of doing their bidding, and had the war council execute his commands for it because they knew better otherwise. The Separatist senate had almost no role in the military and were fed a propagandized version of events; if Dooku decided to crush a planet, nobody was going to stop him.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do we know the exact position of our solar system in the Milky Way?

I have always been amazed by this pictures portraying our location in the Universe. I know that this pictures are representations but, how the scientists know in fact that we are located in that exact place in the Galaxy?

[Assistant]
Imagine you live in NY. You can know your distance to Chicago, to Washington and to Tulsa, and you know the distsnce from all those cities to the other ones. You can draw a triangle knowing three of these distances, so you can draw a map of all the cities (I am 'supposing' here a flat Earth, to simplify).
So science knows (different methods here, including radiation and light measurements) the distance between the Earth on the other 'rocks' in our Galaxy. Is it also known that the Galaxy (and 'Galaxy' is just the portion out there we know) is somehow flat, so you can draw/portray those kind of pics you referred to.


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

[User] Was Apollo 11's route precalculated and launched independently or did the crew have to fly it manually? If so, how much impact did the crew have mid-flight?

[Assistant]
The trajectory was pre-calculated and monitored by the ship's computer and ground control in Houston, but the crew still had to make course corrections. The ship was placed on a free-return trajectory (as were several previous flights), which was chosen so that in the event of a major systems failure, the craft would loop around the moon and then head back towards Earth. When the ship entered the moon's gravity well, they would execute another burn to slow down, falling into orbit around the moon. The burns were initiated by the crew, but the attitude adjustments and calculations were performed by the computer.

Free-return trajectories from launch restricted the Moon landing sites available to us, so after Apollo 11, we started using a "hybrid" trajectory. We would put the ship on a highly elliptical orbit around Earth that, in the event of a major failure, would allow the ship to return to Earth in a re-entry corridor. Otherwise, it would make a mid-course correction that would put it into a trajectory to the Moon.

This actually became a bit of an issue during the Apollo 13 mission. The accident occurred after their lunar injection burn, so they had to execute *another* burn using the lunar module to put them on a free-return trajectory back to Earth (in the movie, this is the scene where they discuss doing a direct abort vs. free-return). On the way back to Earth, they had to execute another burn which would allow them to get home 10 hours earlier since consumables were extremely limited, and this burn was done entirely manually (this is the burn scene shown in the movie). The navigation computer had been shut down to conserve power and the astronauts wound up using visual landmarks on Earth as their navigation, so it was certainly possible to execute burns manually, though for obvious reasons using the flight computer was preferred.


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

[User]
[Terminator] why aren't Terminator programmed to make threats or do shows of strength before they demand things of humans, usually clothes, so as to reduce likerlyhood of non compliance and need for force (text possibly NSFW)?

If Arni in his prime told me to get naked or he'd turn me into a vaguely human shaped bruise, I'm pretty sure I'd just ask if I could keep my phone after he was .........*finished*

[Assistant]
Terminators are primarily infiltration units, meant to seamlessly blend into human groups and be as unassuming as possible until the moment comes to strike. Going around intimidating people and sparking confrontations would be a great way to get them spotted and destroyed long before they got to their target.

Also, remember that sending Terminators into the past wasn't their original mission parameter. They weren't designed to blend into 80's/90's culture, but the rugged band of survivors left behind after Judgment Day and organized by the Resistance. That's why they're so intimidating and suited to fighting, because that's what people would expect to see hiding among them. And besides, the T-800 blended in generally well for a good deal of its mission until Kyle Reese forced a massive change in the situation.


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

[User]
[Guardians of the Galaxy] When did Star Lord become "the 80s hero"?

The first time someone wrote about him was in 1976, and so surely he wasn't billed as "the spaceman stuck in the 80s" back then.

However, somehow over time he grew to fill that role.

My question is less about him and more about literally *every other* hero from that era that was pulled away from earth. Why did they get to grow, but not Quill? An easy example: why is he stuck in the 80s, but not Captain Marvel? The movies give the impression that she hasn't been back on earth since the 50s. Quill has his 80s jacket. So why is Captain Marvel not flying through the universe in a hoop skirt?

EDIT: It has come to my attention that my memory of Captain Marvel is just super incorrect. Maybe I was drunk or something, I don't know. My question persists, though - why didn't every space-faring hero end up "stuck in [X] decade"?

[Assistant] Quill doesn't want to return to Earth, but he doesn't want to let go of his memories there either. The memory of his dead mother is most likely what motivates both choices, and keeps him from moving forward. As a character, his growth has been stunted in several ways by that moment in his life. His choices in style and music are included.


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

[User]
ELI5: What are Parole Board Members suppose to be looking when assessing whether an inmate should be Paroled or not?

In light of the OJ Simpson Parole hearing today.

EDIT: dammit I forgot a "for"

[Assistant] There are 8 criminogenic risk factors that can be used to predict the likelyhood someone will recidivate. Of those factors, 5 are directly linked to criminal behavior and 3 are supporting, but not directly linked. Factors include criminal history, education/employment, financial situation, housing, family/marital situation, drug/alcohol use, companions, and leisure time.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are biracial black-and-white people referred to as black but never as white in America?

[Assistant] The US Census and laws played a huge part in this. The so-called "One-Drop Rule" made it to where legally, if an individual had a drop of black blood in them, they were considered black. This was clearly a tool used to disfranchise people of color. This is an interesting policy to juxtapose with laws regarding status as a Native American. One typically has to prove a larger percentage of racial ancestry in order to be considered Native, and therefore again, making it harder to receive the benefits deserved by these populations.


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

[User] ELI5: why are car navigation and voice controls so clunky when we have the technology in phones to be very smooth?

[Assistant] Siri and all those like it ship the audio off your phone to a server at Apple/Google/wherever to do the speech to text processing. They have huge farms of optimized servers for that.   Your in-dash navigation system has to do it all itself with a relatively slow processor.


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

[User] ELI5: How can we deduce the life cycle of stars, if humanity hasn't existed long enough to witness it?

[Assistant]
Because there are a lot of the stars in the sky, all in different stages of their life.

Its like if an alien came down to earth and had to figure out in a day what the life cycle of a human was. You just take a bunch of humans all in different stages of their lives and line them up in a way that seems to make sense. Then as years go by and some changes happen you see how well your first prediction lined up.


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

[User] [The Shining] Why doesn't the Overlook Hotel play up during the months it is in use?

[Assistant]
It actually does play. Guests have reported a lot of strange things, and staff know well enough to try and avoid a certain room...

The Overlook only really gets excited by folks who shine. Jack and Wendy both shine a little, but Danny is the one it's really interested in. People who shine are like satellite dishes (the stronger the shine the more powerful the dish) and the overlook can only really affect them by sending them images.


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

[User] ELI5: How are you able to feel wetness through latex gloves without getting wet?

[Assistant]
You can feel the lubrication that moisture provides between the glove and the other surface. You can feel evaporative cooling as the moisture evaporates. You can feel the heat transfer from your skin through the gloves yo the (presumably) cold liquid prior to evaporation.

All three are the same phenomena that you would feel if there were liquid directly on your skin, so it feels very similar: enough to potentially trick your brain into thinking your hand is wet.


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

[User] Why does anxiety cause digestive issues?

[Assistant] The hormone cortisol is released in response to stress, be it physical or emotional. It also has many other functions such as immune suppression, waking the body from sleep, blood pressure regulation, and glucose homeostasis. Another function of cortisol is preparing the body for digestion by causing the liver to increase bile acid production. Excess levels of the hormone can cause exaggerated responses, one side-effect of which may be a feeling of indigestion.


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

[User]
[Fallout] Why is there so little variety in weaponry in the Commonwealth as opposed to the Mojave desert?

Even the slightest incursion into Boston can tell you that it was a bustling hub for the prewar military-industrial complex, like Cambridge Polymers, HalluciGen Inc., etc. but it seems like every other raider has to make their own guns literally from scratch?

As an example--there are only *two* choices of generic (non-unique) pistol in the Commonwealth: 10mm pistol or .44 magnum. Besides that you basically gotta make your own. In the Mojave you can find that and pistols chambered for 9mm, 45 caliber, .357 magnum, 12.7 mm, and a 5.56 mm.

It also appears that in Boston 9mm and 10mm SMGs are not available. Nor can you ever find an actual normal pump-action shotgun...

[Assistant] The Commonwealth was a hub of prewar activity sure, but the Mojave has Gun Runners making and selling new firearms. The NCR presence has something to do with it too, they're obviously using gear from prewar military stores and there isn't a comparable military outfit in the commonwealth.


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

[User]
[Strange question] Do chips get damaged by bacterias and biological viruses ?

So i was watching some introductory video on ssd hardware and like always got mesmerized by the marvel that moderns computers are.

Then i realized that the size of a v-nand is simply some nano-meters and that it's about the size of real life viruses. I wonder if viruses get zapped and can for example block ports or i don't know, melt due to the warmth of a working ssd and clog or damage parts of a v-nand or other components.

Also, considering that older electronics were micrometer sized, were there troubles with bacteria's at the time ? Did they damaged or clogged older chips ?

I know that my question is probably strange or insanely naive but considering that everything is covered in bacteria's and viruses, i wondered that the inside of computers probably are too and how does it interact with the computer...

After all the first bug was a real one !

[Assistant] Those chips are sealed inside casing that keeps microorganisms out. It also keeps dust and other bad stuff out. If they were actually exposed, the chips would be more at risk of having dust particles settle on them and cause electrical interference or short-circuits, which does not require any microorganisms to be involved.


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

[User]
[DC] If a Power Ring from the Lanterns Corps selects someone to be his new wielder, can that person deny it?

if a ring from one of the Lanterns corps chooses someone to be its new bearer, can that person deny it? or is she forced to become a lantern and go to her spectrum home planet and learn about them.

Situation: A green lantern Ring just shows up in my house, scans me, and says i'll become a Green Lantern, can i say **NO** to that?

[Assistant]
Green Lantern?  Yes, you can say no.

Red: nope. once the ring is on your finger your choices are Lantern or Death.
Orange: Theoretically you can say no, but it brainwashes you so you don't want to say no.
Yellow: You can say no with great effort (Will).
Blue: You can say no.
Indigo: You cannot say no.
Violet: Theoretically you can say no, but it brainwashes you so you don't want to say no.
Black: It's basically just piloting your corpse so no, you can't say no.
White: Theoretically you can say no, but the effort to get selected is such that you are very unlikely to do so.


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

[User] [Fantastic Beasts] Why were the criminal goblin's fingers curled backwards?

[Assistant] An aspect of goblin physiology is their apparent deformities (by human standards). These vary from goblin to goblin, such that no two goblins are alike. The gangster, Gnarlak, possesses an especially unnerving "deformity" which may perhaps mark him as especially powerful or important.


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

[User] [W40K]Greetings fellow Tech Priests of the Mechanicus. I've noticed that when a machine is not working, turning it off and on again may sooth the machine spirit and fix the problem. Well, The Golden Throne is failing, have we considered maybe just turning it off for a second and see what happens?

[Assistant]
Which part, acolyte of the Omnissiah? The life support creche? The thousand and one devices that calibrate and align the psychic energies? The Capacitors that store that energy? The Emitter arrays? Do you suggest we just jiggle the handle on the golden throne?

Do you think we haven't tried it? That we haven't rebooted every device in the sequence, replaced every part imaginable, 1001 times? Do you think that, in 11 thousand years, we have not tried the most basic ritual of Rebooting?

The problem isn't the hardware. The problem exists between keypad and throne. We cannot reboot the user, as the user is the Emperor.


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

[User]
How does nicotine, amphetamines, and coffee act on sympathetic nervous system yet still make me shit my brains out?

I understand these substances work via the sympathetic nervous system which would cause all the affects except one:  Why must I be near a bathroom when these kick in.  I take adderall and when it kicks in, I have to shit so hard.  Doesn't the parasympathetic nervous system control SLUDD (salivation, lacrimation, urination, Digestion, and Defecation).  I would think that these substances that act on the sympathetic and cause the opposite.  How do they make me excrete this ungodly smelling floaters?

[Assistant]
This is a fairly complex question, especially if we look at each drug individually.  That being said, there are two important concepts.  First, there is more overlap and redundancy in the autonomic nervous system then the simple "sympathetic does this, parasympathetic does the opposite."  Secondly, although those drugs may all have some sympathetic nervous system component, they are also "sloppy" in that they have other effects as well.

The bottom line though is that all three drugs you listed affect smooth (and striated) muscle tone.  Activation of the sympathetic nervous system might cause an eventual decrease in movement of material and secretion of fluid into the bowel, but there's another component to defecation; holding your poop in.  For most people at most times, there is always a little poo hanging out in your distal colon and rectum.  Normally, your anal sphincter muscles are happily contracted at a balance point of not-too-contracted and not-too-open.  If said sphincters get too tense or too loose a defecation reflex is started.

So, depending on the stimulant, your sphincter gets too tight or too loose and you get the urge to expel whatever it is that's hanging out in your pooper.


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

[User]
Does the entropy inside of a chicken egg decrease?

I am under the impression that eggs are a closed system and that once it leaves a hen, the insides develop from a yolk to a chick. Doesn't this imply that the entropy inside the egg somehow decreases while it is incubating?

[Assistant]
The egg is not a closed system. Oxygen enters the egg which the developing embryo uses for cellular respiration. Carbon dioxide leaves the egg. Heat transfer occurs between the egg and the environment.

In addition, the egg is initially in a highly organized state containing plenty of nutrients that is burned by the chick. The burning of these nutrients causes entropy to increase.


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

[User]
CMV: In Mass Effect, there is no reason why the galaxy at large shouldve switched to thermal clips for their weapons

This is pretty obscure, but Im hoping I can get a good conversation about it. I dont really think you need to know much about the games to give your take, but I will provide context if you need more.

Essentially, in the first Mass Effect, all weapons had no ammo limits, but could overheat. This was later changed due to gameplay reasons, but Im not really counting them because I dont think it shows good world building if your reason for a societys change is because you say so.

This excerpt from the wiki defines how the weapons work in the first game, lore wise.

..to generate ammunition a weapon shaves a projectile the size of a sand grain from a dense block of metal contained within the weapon's body. The projectile is launched at supersonic velocities by decreasing its mass in a mass effect field. Thousands of these tiny rounds can be produced from a single ammunition block.

So, we have weapons launching small pieces of metal at an incredibly high speed and minimal work on the combatants, like reloading and jamming and such. The only downside you have is overheating, but with trigger discipline this can be easily avoided. You essentially have a combat ready rifle that can be used at a moments notice. Much of todays militaries gear for the common soldier includes extra magazines, this technology would free up a solider to be more lightweight, have better protection, and so on.

In Mass Effect 2/3, thermal clips were introduced. They are essentially magazines for today, except the excuse is that excess heat is sent to this clip to be ejected. The wiki describes it as so:

It was discovered that, in an age of kinetic barriers, most firefights were won by the side who could put the most rounds downrange the fastest. As such, detachable heat sinks, known as thermal clips, were adopted first by the geth, and shortly thereafter by organic arms manufacturers. Ammunition may never be a concern with modern arms, but the availability of thermal clips is; weapons without thermal clips have nowhere to disperse their heat and are incapable of firing.

So, now weve brought back the hindrance of essentially magazines for a weapon, and in return we get slightly faster time to get back into action? Im sorry, but this makes no sense. Its so obviously a handicap to anyone in a firefight, and lore wise it makes no sense. I cant imagine any military seeing the benefits of carrying technology that doesnt even really improve their weapons at all. Logistically it even gets worse. Now every military has to carry around not only a gun, but enough thermal clips for their soldiers to use. I honestly cant see any benefits.

Again, I know this was done for gameplay reasons. My view is that this is bad writing and legitimately doesnt make sense. In the real world, this would never happen. No military or armed group would adopt a technology that does nothing but hold them back. If anyone needs more clarification, I will do my best to provide it.

[Assistant]
I would argue you're just not looking at it in quite the right way. So thermal clips increase ability to put rounds downrange, yeah? Let's think of it as a simple math problem.

Soldier A has a coolant weapon, Soldier B has thermal clips. The weapons are otherwise identical.
Both of them fire downrange for, let's say 30 seconds.
Soldier A has put 30 rounds into the target in 30 seconds.
Soldier B has put 30 rounds into the target in 30 seconds.
Soldier A now has wait for the coolant effect to work, then resumes firing. Let's assume this takes 10 seconds to cool all the way.
Soldier B pops a thermal clip and is immediately back in, and fires as previous.
Soldier A has put 50 rounds into the target in 60 seconds.
Soldier B has now put 60 rounds into the target in 60 seconds.

That gap only grows as combat is sustained. And, as it clearly states in the lore, whomever fires the most rounds in the shortest amount of time usually wins. You could argue that's not necessarily something that's true, but here it is outright stated to be true. The burden of having to carry thermal clips is meaningless next to the fact that doing so makes you more likely to win any engagement. You could also argue that simply moderating the rate of fire would allow Soldier A to not have to worry about overheating, but then he's firing even -fewer- rounds while Soldier B is sending an unending hail of death downrange because he's just going to pop a thermal clip and immediately go all out again.


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

[User] [Halo] Would two graveminds that developed independent of each other work together, combine into a singular gravemind, or fight each other to obtain resources the other controls?

[Assistant]
There is only one Gravemind, though it may have many bodies. It is the overriding , malicious intelegence behing all flood, linking them together over unfathomable distances through the living consciousness of Space-Time.

Two bodies would work in concert, as two limbs of the same great beast. They could meld, increasing the mental capacity of the Graveminds manifestation, or spread out, so if one was destroyed the will of the Flood would remain manifest.


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

[User]
ELI5: How Do You Retain Memories if Cells Keep Dying?

If I understand biology correctly, you are not made up of the same cells you were 10 years ago or even 5 years ago. They're constantly dividing dying, etc.

How then are you able to retain memories if all of your neurons are dividing into new ones and then dying. Where is everything stored? Thanks.

[Assistant]
The common trope of cells turning over every 7-odd years is just an average.

The lifespan of a cell will vary greatly depending on what kind of cell it is and where its located.

Your front-line cells in your skin and blood and stomach turn over every month or two.

The critical neurons and cardiac muscle cells in your brain and heart dont turn over at all, and are likely to live as long as you do once the initial developmental stages have been completed.

A small number of new ones are created over your life to do some maintenance and whatnot, and a few will die randomly, but you wont even come close fully turning over your heart or brain in one lifetime.


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

[User] [MCU] I'm a mental health professional in the MCU specializing in post-snap/post-return post-traumatic stress disorder. What are most of clients dealing with and how the hell do I convince them a normal life is even possible?

[Assistant]
So the actual blip event didnt appear to be particularly traumatic from the point of view of the blipped. Getting snapped, alarming and confusing as it might have been to watch their bodies fading into dust, didnt actually appear to be particularly painful for most experiencing it.

The problem is afterwards, when they suddenly find themselves unsnapped back into existence five years later.

Children will have grown up. Significant others may have moved on. Homes may have been let or sold. Estates or accounts may have been modified, etc., etc.

The closest IRL analogue might be suddenly waking up from a five year coma, or suddenly returning from a castaway situation after everybody has already given you up for dead. The main thing is helping them navigate the economic, legal, and personal changes that come with essentially losing five years of time.

Ultimately each case is going to be unique, as is often the case. In this instance, it might be important to emphasize that they are emphatically and clearly *not* alone in having to deal with these things. Blipped support groups may be prevalent and helpful.


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

[User]
ELI5: How can Pandas survive on a diet of 99% Bamboo while humans have to eat a diverse range of food?.

Humans are told that they require various types of food to ensure optimum health. Why is it that Pandas are able to thrive on diets solely based on Bamboo when they are quite large animals.

[Assistant]
Pandas are peculiar animals because they're anatomically carnivores, but they act like herbivores. The reason they're able to do this is because pandas have *symbiotic bacteria* in their digestive systems that allow them to digest something called *cellulose.* Cellulose is a chemical made up of many thousands of *glucose* molecules polymerized together. Most animals can only digest cellulose inefficiently, if at all. But pandas have those symbiotic bacteria in their guts that consume cellulose and excrete various other molecules which the pandas *can* digest.

Basically the way it must've happened is that many millions of years ago, the panda's ancestors had diets more similar to a typical modern-day bear, being opportunistic omnivores meaning they ate pretty much the same kinds of foods humans can eat. But one particular ancestral proto-panda got infected with an intestinal bacterium and managed *not* to die from it, through some random genetic mutation that allowed it to tolerate those gut bacteria. That not-a-panda was able to digest cellulose more efficiently than its siblings, so it could get more nutrition out of plants like bamboo. Shake-and-bake for a few million years, and you have a type of bear which is adapted to live off cellulose as its primary source of energy.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] A Sith Apprentice would always have to kill his Master, as it is the only way of succession and a Sith Master can kill his apprectice if he found a stronger one. Has this always been the case?

So how can the Siths live with this, knowing full well that one day they will kill one another. I mean, why would they even bother training an apprentice if the master were to be killed by the apprentice?

Or is there a "Code" one that the Sith honors?

[Assistant]
No.

Used to be that the Sith where a much larger organisation, or at least a loosely collected rabble of masters and their apprentices, however the constant inner fighting and backstabbing prevented any one individual from becoming too strong.

Power was shared, and while occasionally you'd have one rise above and get things done, it usually ended with them being cut down dozen lesser lords ganging up.

The rule of two was the idea that you had a master who had all the power, and an apprentice who craved it - when the time came for the the apprentice to usurp the master they should be stronger. It was a theory for a long time and practiced by many Sith however only became the primary doctrine after one Lord, Darth Bane, managed to get all the other Lords killed during the Battle of Ruusan -  when the Jedi had all the remaining Sith Lords cornered, good 'ol Bane backstabbed the lot of them then went underground - for a long time the Jedi were convinced they had wiped the Sith out.

The idea behind the rule of two was Banes philosophy that the inner fighting made the Sith weak, that by only having two actual Sith at any one time consolidated power (and ensured they stayed hidden from the jedi), and that by having the apprentices strive overtake and eventually kill their masters theoretically this ensured that each Sith would be either more powerful than their predecessor... or at least more cunning.

Also note that killing the master wasn't necessary for the theory to work, but it became de jure due to the nature of the Sith.


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

[User] [Lord of the Rings Two Towers] What was the great battle that took place in the bog ?

[Assistant]
During the War of the Last Alliance that brought down Sauron at the end of the Second Age, the forces of Elendil and Gil-Galad met the forces of Sauron before the Black Gate, on what came to be known as the Dagorlad - the Battle Plain. The battle lasted months, but in the end the forces of the Alliance were victorious. Sauron's armies retreated to Barad-dr, where they were besieged for ~~ten~~ seven years until, at the last of his reserves, Sauron himself came forth, and was destroyed.

The spirits in the Dead Marshes are the unquiet spirits of the dead who fell in that great battle before the Black Gate, where Sauron's armies were broken.


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

[User] [MCU] So... is the Vision the only Avenger that hasn't killed a lot of people?

[Assistant]
Has Thor ever killed any people? Frost Giants, aliens, dark elves, yes, but is there any reason to believe he's ever killed a human?

Not to say that Frost Giants aren't people or anything, just curious.


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

[User]
Why dont clouds get blown apart?

How do clouds stay together in (mostly) the same shapes in high winds? Why doesnt the wind just disperse the clouds like a cloud of smoke?

[Assistant] Wind itself wouldn't disperse smoke either, you need wind *shear*, which is a change in the wind's speed in the direction perpendicular to it, to disperse something. While us surface-dwellers encounter high wind shear almost any time there's wind due to the ground, trees, buildings, or just about anything else that gets in the way, high up in the atmosphere it's less extreme. From the perspective of a cloud being carried by winds with little to no wind shear, it might as well be staying still while everything else moves around it. Think of flying, headwinds and tailwinds high in the atmosphere can move very fast and make a big difference in flight times, but planes aren't constantly battered about by the high winds because all of the air is moving at basically the same speed. When there are sudden changes in wind speed the plane experiences turbulence.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does kissing feel good?

[Assistant] When you kiss someone, your brain begins to release 3 chemicals which make up something called dopamine. Dopamine makes us happy. One of those chemicals is called oxytocin which is the one that makes us become sexually aroused which then raises the other chemicals and just makes you super happy all around.


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

[User] Can you explain 'Gdel Escher Bach - an Eternal Golden Braid' to me LI5?

[Assistant]
It tries to answer a question about mind: "Does mind follow rules?" and the related "Is Artificial intelligence possible?"

While explaining this, Hofstadter references art, music and logic through the works of Escher, Bach and Godel.
Another important theme is the concept of what he calls **Strange loop**, for example "*this statement is false*", so something that refers to itself.

Every chapter has an introductory dialogue between Achille and the Tortoise. Another interesting fact about this book is that even though it is an essay it has many wordplays.

However this boook is surely too complex to be discussed here.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do no companies make battery operated kitchen appliances?

almost all major tool companies make lithium-ion powered tools, many have a universal battery to power everything from drills to tablesaws. Why then are there no companies with a similar system; all my appliances are mains-powered...

[Assistant] Why would you want that? A kitchen utensil is pretty much guaranteed to stay in the kitchen, and usually there are loads of power sockets there... Batteries are expensive, heavy, and have to be charged regularly. What advantage would it give you?


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

[User]
Do children who speak different languages all start speaking around the same time, or do different languages take longer/shorter to learn?

Are some languages, especially tonal languages harder for children to learn?

[Assistant]
Basically, all the languages in the world have approximately the same difficulty level, so you'll see that child language development happens at the same rate regardless of the language being learned. It just seems to us that some languages are harder because of how different they are from the language we grew up with.

A child under six months has the ability to distinguish between phonemes that an adult would not be able to. After that six month mark (approximately. It varies from person to person) the brain starts to recognize the specific phonemes it needs to learn the language it's exposed to. Simply put, it cuts out the phonemes it doesn't need, which is why as an adult, it's much harder to learn a language with a lot of phonemic differences from your own.


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

[User] ELI5 Why do SSRIs take up to 2 weeks to kick in, but only 2-3 days to wear off?

[Assistant]
Imagine an empty swimming pool being filled with a hose.   To be allowed to dive, you must fill the pool to the 8 foot mark, so you put a plug in the drain. It takes many hours to fill up 8 feet of water. The water level needs to rise 8 feet, to reach the 'effective level'.

It's now 8' 1".

Someone removed the drain plug. The water level only needs to fall more than an inch before it goes below the 'effective level, where it's not allowed to dive.

Also, the drain is letting water out faster than the hose brings water in. So it only takes a few minutes before it's not safe to dive again.

In this analogy, the SSR inhibitor is the drain plug.


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

[User] [Ren and Stimpy] Is "Log" really just a piece of wood well marketed at children or is there a legitimate function "Log" provides that the discerning consumer cannot live without in these trying times?

[Assistant]
It has many legitimate functions including:

* It rolls down stairs, alone or in pairs.

* It rolls over your neighbor's dog.

* It's great for a snack.

* It fits on your back.

* It's big.

* It's heavy.

* It's wood.

* It's better than bad.

* It's good.


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

[User] ELI5: why is 12 volts very common? Why not 11 or 9 volts?

[Assistant]
The voltages produced by a single cell of a battery is determined by the battery chemistry. For lead-acid, this is ~1.5V. 8 of those cells produce 12V.

In terms of "why not 11 volts?", you can't build an 11V battery from a cardinal number of 1.5V batteries. In terms of "why not 9 volts?", it's simply a matter of the people who standardized battery sizes back in the early 20th Century deciding it that way. In theory, we could just as easily have square batteries that produce 9V instead of rectangular ones that produce 12V if they had decided differently.

Once these standards were established, there's an incentive for manufacturers to simply use what the market offers unless there's a compelling reason to do otherwise.

EDIT: It's actually 8 1.5V cells that produce 12V, not 6.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] If I look at one of the moving paintings with a good magnifying lens while they're moving, would I see the paint itself moving, or just changing colors?

Or would it be something more trippy, like having the motion neurons activated while the conventional image neurons are not perceiving any change or vice-versa? What if I touched the painting, would I feel the texture of the layers of paint changing as they morph into new strokes? Would I feel my skin being dragged along the direction of motion?

Do the motions apply any forces to the canvas fabric itself?

[Assistant]
A paintings are materially non-homogenous.   Colors are of uneven thickness, different materials, and often formed by layers of paint.  As such, the materials would need to be moving or transmuting in place, of the two, the first seems much easier.  The top layer is likely a varnished for preservation, masking movement.  Even bare, the movement may likely be  so subtle it would not be easy to feel most of it.  Although a big glop or thick edge you can feel when it is not moving would be more obvious when it is.

Interestingly, thinking on this strongly hints the background is painted first, then the portrait on top.  So when it moves there is no blank spot.

Interestingly, an actual photograph would have originally homogeneous materials altered to different states.  So in their case chemical state-changes would be the easier way to go and there would be nothing to feel except, perhaps, heat.


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

[User] [Elderscrolls: Online] What caused the Imperial City to rotate 30 degrees to the left?

[Assistant] The Elder Scrolls are all legends!  Surely you don't believe that, every few hundred years, one being, who's race and gender change depending on the story teller, comes into great physical and magical power as well as leads one or more guilds, and then vanishes from memory?  If the story of how Emperor Martin fought and banished a Deadra Lord with the help of a ever-changing partner who is a male Nord in Bruma and a female Argonian in Leyawiin is of no concern than worrying about where the South gate lets out relative to Bravil isn't much worry.  Focus on the moral of the legends.


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

[User] ELI5:If there are an infinite number of universes, wouldnt there be one where a machine was invented that could travel to ours?

[Assistant] Well there's the idea that an infinite number of something doesn't mean every variation of it is possible. For example, there are an infinite number of numbers between 1 and 2, but none of them are 3, because it isn't possible.


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

[User]
[Batman] Is the Ventriloquist insane, or is the scarface doll he has sentient?

In *The Batman* cartoon, the Ventriloquest and Scarface doll seem like their both sentient at times. At times it seems Scarface is controlling him, while at other times scarface seems just like a split personality  of the ventriloquist. So what is it?

[Assistant]
The Ventriloquist is insane. Anytime the Ventriloquist does something he doesn't want to he is arguing with himself. It's been awhile since I've seen those though. Does something happen that contradicts insanity as the explanation?

(Out of universe: it's important to note the character is based on theories of mental illness that have since come under heavy professional criticism but were "in vogue" during the show's run)


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do lions live in prides if cats in general are solitary animals?

EDIT: Wow, was not expecting so many responses!

This is probably a separate question altogether, but every pride I've seen in a nature documentary has one male and a bunch of females. Does that mean that there a whole lot of single males roaming the savannah? Or do these males necessary get killed off by other dominant males? Seems like that would create a bit of a gene pool situation, no?

[Assistant]
They are different species which have evolved different patterns of behavior. Those behaviors persist because they are successful. A pride of lions, for instance, can bring down prey that would be difficult or impossible for a single lion to bring down.

Your house cat is not descended from a lion, or vice versa, though they share a common ancestor.

I will note, however, that cats do congregate into groupings at times, so called feral cat colonies, depending upon the availability of food.


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

[User]
What is instantaneous periodicity?

There of course is an average "velocity" which is simply displacement upon time. Or there is an instantaneous velocity, or v = dx/dt. However, I have never understood what instantaneous frequency is? For example, if frequency is expressed as a function, then it gives me the frequency at a point of time. I am not sure what it means. For a given data signal, what is the frequency at a point in time? Doesn't frequency require a notion of periodicity? How do we define a period (or wavelength, or any other wave property) at a point in time?
I apologize in advance if this question is ridiculous or I have gotten things way too wrong.

[Assistant]
Frequency is change in phase over change in time (with a factor of 2):

mean(f) = (1/2) /t

Instantaneous frequency is just the infinitesimal limit of this (the same as with average velocity vs instantaneous velocity):

f = (1/2) d/dt

You can try this with SHM: x = cos(t), where t = . You get f = /2, which is the standard result.


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

[User] [Matrix] Why could Neo fly, but the rest and even Agent Smith could'nt?

[Assistant]
Agent Smith learned how to in Matrix Revolutions. As for why the others can't it's probably because they can't rewrite the laws of the Matrix in the same way Neo can. As Morpheus says in the first movie the Matrix has rules like gravity, some can be bent other can be broken. Neo can break all of them though.

Edit: It's the same reason he can stop bullets in the air. He can basically just go "fuck you, those bullets are standing still in the air" and make it so.


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

[User] Is there a reason why bigger animals tend to have bigger eyes. What advantage is it having eyes in proportion to body size?

[Assistant]
Bigger eyes generally mean better visual resolution and better light-gathering abilities.  It's basically the same reason that big telescopes are better than small ones.  For example, on the reef at dawn and dusk big predators come out to hunt.  They have the advantage over small reef fish because their larger eyes allow them to see better in the dim light.

So big animals basically just have bigger eyes because they _can_.  You couldn't stick a human sized eye on a mouse, because the poor thing would be about half eyeball.  But there are diminishing returns, and eyeball size levels off.  Cows are a lot bigger than people, but their eyes aren't all that much bigger.  The animal with the largest eye of all, the giant squid, hunts in deep dark water and needs extra-large eyes to see.  The much larger blue whale has smaller eyes, due to the fact that it doesn't rely on vision, especially vision in dark water, nearly as much.


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

[User] [DC] When Krypto is around different colours of Kryptonite he just uncontrollably does standard dog things. When Superman is around Kryptonite he just fucking dies. Does this mean Krypto is stronger than Superman?

[Assistant]
I mean, when *you're* around kryptonite, it does absolutely nothing. You can rub it on your face all  day long. Does that make you stronger then both?

Krypto is a different species to Superman, and is affected differently by different things. Superman is still stronger, even  if he has a biological weakness a dog doesn't share.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why doesn't the Red Hulk have a mustache?

Thaddeus Ross has a big white mustache.  However, when he transforms into the Red Hulk, the mustache disappears.  How do we explain this?  Shouldn't the Red Hulk have a mustache?

[Assistant]
One theory is that the red hulk, like the green hulk, is a completely separate body from the host. This means any similarities between the two bodies is purely coincidence and not telling of how either the host or the hulk will or should look.

So basically he looks different because he is different.

Edit: the theory is further supported by Thaddeus' head hair being gray, while Red Hulk's is black.


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

[User]
[WH40K] So what was the plan after humanity took over the galaxy?

What did the Emperor have planned once humans took over the entire galaxy?

[Assistant] Guide the natural evolution of humanity to a point where they would all be as individually powerful as he was. The Primarchs and the Emperor are genetic blips that show humanity what its own future contains.


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

[User]
Will an object rotating in a vacuum which has no contact with another external object, rotate infinitely or will it gradually lose its speed?

Until yesterday, I thought if there is no friction force with a rotating object, it will never lose its spin, but I read somewhere that even under such conditions, the object will gradually slow down (but the reason was not specified). So, which force slows the rotation speed?

Moreover, does the Earth lose its average (sidereal) rotation speed in time?

[Assistant] An asymmetrical (around the axis) rotating object will radiate gravitational waves (symmetrical ones will only drag space without radiating), but that would take billions of years to have an effect on most objects.


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

[User]
[Star Wars/general Sci-fi] Interplanetary Internet?

Persay I want to play space WoW with my friend, I live on Coruscant, he lives on Corellia, is this even possible? Can i email my crazy estranged uncle on tatooine?

In BSG how would I keep in contact with a friend on one of the other colonies?

Same thing for other mainstream sci-fi universes?

[Assistant]
In Star Wars, they have an interstellar Holonet, connecting at least all of the core world, and with limited access beyond.

In BSG, interplanetary communication is typically conducted through couriers, or laser burst communication. It is not real time and suffers from some significant delays.

In 40k... No one really has access to anything like an Interplanetary Internet. Even the Eldar and Necrons didn't have it.

Starcraft has limited interplanetary networking, but again even the Protoss typically use couriers to convey important information to their colonies.


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

[User]
ELI5: If the brain signals for moving your hand and thinking of moving your hand are the same, what is the physiological difference that causes your hand to actually move?

Edit: In a Tom Scott video, he was describing an experiment on a zero-g flight by some neuro researchers testing their CBIs in zero-gravity. One of the researchers said the brain signal for moving your hand and thinking of moving your hand is the same hence my question.

[Assistant]
The main reason thinking about moving does not move your arm is the 'strength of the signal'. Ie that you just *thought* about it is not enough for movement. The signals (electrical messages) your brain have to reach a particular threshold for actual movement.

What is really cool is that there is growing research into computer technology that can help with this eg for people with spinal cord injuries. They can move robotic prosthetics by just *thinking* about moving them.


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

[User]
[Pacific Rim] what does it mean when a Jaeger runs on an Analog System

I was going over the field reports about the hong kong incident. A Kaiju used an emp like device that knocked out all electronics in Jaegers, The Shatterdome, and the immediate vicinity.

Only Gypsy Danger was able to operate due to running on an analog system, compared to others which ran on a digital system. Despite being packed full of electronics, which weren't fried somehow, gypsy danger repelled the attack. Why wasn't Gypsy Danger's electronics fried and whats difference between analog and digital jaegers?

[Assistant] Gipsy Danger had self-contained power plants. Believe it or not, the newer Jaegers actually ran on hugely advanced power cells, which were fried when the EMP-ish attack went off. Basically, the EMP blasted anything with active electrical current in it at the time of the explosion. Gipsy was powered down. Further, Gipsy, because it had dual nuclear reactors rather than power cells, was capable of powering up post-blast without being repaired and recharged (as Striker was before the next deployment). The term "analog" used in the reports is apparently internal Shatterdome slang for that type of older power system.


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

[User]
[Pacific Rim] Is there a reason Jaegers fight without any support?

By support I mean an array of drones/boats to do surveillance, drop flares, missiles, smoke, etc.

Main battle tanks go into battle fully supported but giant billion dollar robots can't get any?

By that I mean, why would a jaeger ever fight fair?

They should be supported by drones and planes dropping flares/smoke almost constantly on kaijus eyes to confuse it.

If a kaiju is gaining advantage in a fight, a good old Tomahawk missile to the face would give the Jaeger a chance to recover.

Why don't they implement this? They can field thousand tons robots just fine, I'm sure logistics can support dozens of even hundreds of drones for each Jaeger.

I know Jaegers could just carry more weapons but that wouldn't get the effect of a Kaiju getting hits from multiple angles.

[Assistant]
The kaiju aren't monsters, they're weapons.  Think of them as such.

The first monster to emerge faced conventional warfare like you're positing above; planes, drones, tanks, the works.  And when it finally fell, the creators would've taken note and improved it.  For us, the kaiju would have fun little nicknames.  But for the creators, it'd be Human Killer v1.03, v1.5, v2, and on down the line, with each one featuring improvements over the last.  I'd guess that past a certain point, design elements came to include modifications and improvements that rendered such aid completely and utterly useless.

Consider that within a few years, the kaiju were able to launch an EMP that took out modern Jaegers, the only things that posed any real threat to them.  How long would it realistically take to nullify anything weaker?


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

[User]
[Portal] If one were to weld a pipe, end-to-end through portals, then close the portals, where would the pipe cut off?

Would it change size?

What if it was vertical and an object were to fall through it, why are there no infinite energy generators in portal?

[Assistant]
It gets cut at the portal.  The section of the pipe that's in the orange portal is the same as the blue portal, that's how the portal works.
So it gets cut there and the pipe is the same size as it ever was.
You can do infinite falling objects with properly oriented portals.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do many African Americans speak Ebonics while most French speaking Africans in former colonies speak clear, standard French?

African Americans have been speaking English in their regional variation for many generations now, but I've found that most African French speakers use clear, standardized French in countries such as Senegal. Although their may be some regional words, most people speak the textbook version of French.  In Haiti, French has been changed a lot as it is mixed with Creole expressions even though some words sound very similar, such as
"Bonju" and "Bonswa"

[Assistant]
Ebonics (which is more properly called African-American Vernacular English) has had more time to develop. Black people have been living in America for close to 400 years, and that's a lot of time to evolve their own distinctive dialect of English. French speakers in Africa are more recent, only about the last 125 years or so. Furthermore, many of those French speakers don't use French as their primary language in day to day life, French is the language they use when talking to people from outside their community, but inside their communities and neighborhoods, most still retain their local languages. Most people in Africa (and in many other places around the world) are bilingual and trilingual, using different languages for different social situations.

Haiti is actually more similar to the American case. French has been the language there for three hundred years. And over the centuries, African languages and French comingled and evolved and became the new language called Haitian Creole which actually sounds very different from traditional French. In Haiti, most people speak Creole in their day-to-day lives but Standard French is the official language of government and education. Unlike America however, Haitian Creole is so distinct that many would argue it qualifies as its own language, separate from French. Whereas African-American Vernacular English and so-called "Standard American English" are clearly just two dialects of the same language and speakers of either dialect can easily understand each other, whereas a Creole speaker and a French speaker might actually have a little difficulty understanding each other (except most Creole speakers also know Standard French anyway).


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

[User] ELI5: Why I have to sign my credit card receipt when I can scribble just anything on there?

[Assistant]
The signature isn't about confirming that you are you. They're never going to check your signature against the one on your card or the one on your credit card contract.

In short? A receipt, in itself, is a contract between you and the person you're buying from. You can make any mark on the line and it legally constitutes a signature. By signing the receipt, you're signing a contract agreeing to the charges listed on the receipt. Two copies exist so that they can make sure you don't underpay them, and so that you can make sure they don't overcharge you.


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

[User] [Pokemon] Why are paved roads so rare?

[Assistant] Trainers on their first Pokemon adventure are usually too young to drive, and are encouraged to stick to pedestrian paths and bike trails. Besides, the nation's highways are elevated with all tall grass cleared far away from the road to prevent collisions with Pokemon.


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

[User] [Star Trek: The Next Generation] Starfleet developed a Borg-disabling virus in the form of a seemingly paradoxical geometric design. Why didn't they incorporate that design into all of their uniforms, ship designs, et cetera?

[Assistant]
It'd probably only work once, and Data and Geordi explained it *couldn't exist in our space-time*. They were going to install it on a part of Hugh's optical analysis computer thingemy, so that it would bypass the usual filters etc, and get passed around the Collective as an unsolvable puzzle. The shape would also spawn anomalous solution, or there was an additional viral payload that would do so, gradually becoming bigger and more unstable and branching out into many different systems.

Edit: To clarify, that shape couldn't exist, but the Borg would register as it existing, so there'd be an ever-increasing amount of memory and computation resources devoted to finding out how it can exist when every known law of reality states it cannot, and tests also state it cannot, yet their systems register it as being perceived. It might also exploit the Borg's interest in novel information, as they might not stop such an analysis. Along with that there's a viral payload or malware that introduces anomalous data that must also be analysed, but attempts to analyse it will result in ever more complex and pressing solutions that overflow into other systems, destabilizing them.

And the thing with the Borg, is that when they assimilate you they learn everything you learn. If you knew about the paradoxical shape they'd scan your mind, realize what you were doing, and patch their systems so that approach would never work again.


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

[User] [Star wars] Where did grievous get his first lightsaber.

[Assistant]
From the corpse of a Jedi of course. The first of many in his collection.

It's not like it's impossible to kill one, Jango Fett killed several on Geonosis. Grevious likely took his first one fighting Jedi in the Huk War.


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

[User] ELI5: How did the US "accidentally" bomb a Doctors Without Borders hospital in Afghanistan? I know that mistakes can be made, but that seems like a pretty big mistake to me.

[Assistant]
Well. The story has changed a bit.. the afghans called in a fire support mission on the hospital, because they said they were taking fire from it. So we bombed it for them. ( the fire support missions are supplied by the us,  but the targets are supplied by the Afghan military ) this is probably also why, the afghans weren't rioting in the streets to kill America like every other time we bomb something in their country. They were awful quiet after this which suprised analysts and news media.

Edit: BY the way, the afghans didn't identify the target as a hospital when they called for us to hit it. Were they taking fire and did they know it was a hospital when they called it in? No one seems to know.


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

[User] How does spin allow objects to fly straight? Bullets and frisbees for example.

[Assistant] When an object spins around an axis, that spinning force will resist any changes in orientation. This will help the bullet keep pointing in the same direction (forward) so that it remains aerodynamic instead of just flapping randomly and deviating. Same thing with the frisbee, it will stay horizontal instead of wobbling and deviating.


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

[User] How do we determine the intelligence of an animal?

[Assistant]
We apply an arbitrary human-centric metric to it. Seriously.

Have you ever heard that 'dolphins are as smart as a third-grader" or "ravens can figure out more complex puzzles than the average 10-year old"? We can't measure a species' intelligence as that species because we value human traits. Unless we create a metric that measures a dog's ability to retrieve food or an elephant's ability to protect its young from a lioness or a chimpanzee's capacity for safely recovering its position in a tree when its branch breaks, measuring the intelligence of other animals is futile.

Forcing an animal to do a human task and measuring its ability to complete that task and, therefore, its perceived intelligence on a human-centric scale isn't the same as measuring that animal's intelligence.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the British Pound worth much more than the USD, when it seems like the equivalent goods cost the same face value amount?

[Assistant]
Point of sale costs, government services and methods of taxation all matter.

When you buy X in the UK you're buying all of the labour along the chain.  So if the guy who delivers the package to the store, the store clerk etc. all get paid more in the UK you're paying more money for the same product otherwise.

It's not easy to compare "The US" to "The UK" either.  Costs in New York or London are relevant to averages, but you shouldn't compare the cost in London versus say Texas.

Then you get into other 'costs'.  If you need healthcare in the UK the government has your back.  For that about 10% of GDP covers everyone in the country and provides better care.  In the US if you need healthcare the government might have your back (~7% of GDP) but might not, at which point you pay out of pocket or have private insurance (~10% of GDP).  And lots of stuff like that.  This means the average british person is paying more in taxes towards healthcare, but less money overall for healthcare (and getting better care) compared to the average american.

Then you have just straight up cultural differences.  Comparing the price of a can of coke between the two places isn't necessarily indicative of 'typical beverage' because the british and americans consume different things.  This applies to cars and houses and expensive stuff too.

So what you do is you start doing complex averaging.  So you add up all the stuff people spend money on, housing, transport, food, healthcare, education (including post secondary), entertainment, power, telecoms etc. and you say what does 30 000 pounds in income get you in the UK versus 51KUSD  in the US?  And currencies float up and down because these are constantly being reassessed and constantly have many factors playing a part, and in the end it's just an average anyway.  Because 51K in New York city is not the same as 51K in Plano Texas, and 30K GBP in London is not the same as 30K GBP in Northern Ireland.

Oh and how you do taxes is tricky.  The EU is big on value added tax (which is about 22% on average or something), and looks a lot like a sales tax, whereas the US has more income tax.  Some countries are borrowing more than others to provide services etc.

**TL:DR** there's no simple 1:1 comparison.  It's about the average of all of the spending that happens, which requires considering a LOT of data about a lot of different things.


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

[User] [MCU]Could Hela escape Strange's Mirror Dimention?

[Assistant]
Doubtful. The Sorcerer Supreme herself seemed dependent upon a sling ring to escape, as did all of the Masters. Strange is still wearing the ring as of *Infinity War*.

Combine that with the fact that Hella needs to Bifrost to travel between worlds, and lacks the innate ability to summon it herself, and it's a pretty good bet that she'd be trapped there, just like she was trapped by Odin.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do our eyes jolt around when looking around, instead of smooth transitions?

[Assistant] Your brain actually conveniently "forgets" the inbetween. You saw what was there, but your mind didn't "play" the transition. This is because when your eye darts around, there is a fast blur. Because seeing blurs all the time is annoying junk information to the brain, you end up seeing and remembering only the clear views from before and after your eye started moving. However the stuff you "didn't see" wasn't lost. You can remember "seeing" objects your eye passed over, even though your mind didn't show you exactly what it was in that instant blur. You can notice things you never explicitly looked at.


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

[User]
CMV: While both groups deserve full rights and protections, LGB and TQ+ are separate communities facing different challenges.

The first group is about the right to love whoever you want. It wants protections so that the only people who care who is in your bed are the consenting adults in it. It needs for society to normalize relationship with a different combination of genders than the traditional male/female

The second is about the right to bodily and executive autonomy. It's about the right to reconcile your vision of yourself with your reality. It wants protections so that the only person who can determine your identity is yourself. It needs for society to accept that you are the sole judge of what you can do with your body and how you live your life.

This of course doesn't mean that there isn't overlap between the groups, but people are more than just one thing.

While both fights for rights are equally important I think that bundling them together muddies the waters and makes it harder to address the very real issues these communities face.

[Assistant]
Feel free to head back in time to tell the bigots obsessed with gender and what it all means and convince them to separate them, then. A big part of why they're grouped together is because the people targeting them, who also happened to hold a lot more power in society, grouped them together simply because every single one of them weren't acting how their gender said they should. Which kind of sums it up: they're all about gender.

I also fail to see where waters have been muddied. Oftentimes, the people pushing to separate them are simply interested in separating trans people from the wider community to make it easier to attack them.


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

[User] ELI5: Why hasn't anyone/won't anyone take militarized action to secure the Ukraine crash site and investigate, with so many countries having had citizens who died in the MH-17 incident?

[Assistant]
There are a lot of politics involved, and very large consequences for any military unit violating another nation's borders.  Countries may not want to start a war for the sake of a few dozen people.

Additionally, military action isn't something that can happen overnight.  Supply lines need to be generated, mission parameters and rules of engagement formulated, and plans made.  By the time a mission arrived, there would be no remaining evidence of the incident.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is Yoko Ono disliked by so many?

[Assistant]
To many, she destroyed the Beatles.

There were a lot of egos and strong personalities in the band, especially after they got big.  Manager Brian Epstein was there from early on and respected by all, and was able to resolve disputes and keep them on track.  His untimely death was probably the biggest reason the band broke up.

Without Brian, there was no one who would say no, and everyone, particularly John and Paul, did whatever they liked.  John was completely enraptured by Yoko, and pretty much did whatever she said.  When she wanted greater involvement in the band, since he didn't say no, no one could stop it.

This lead to a *lot* of resentment.  Previously, outsiders, particularly girlfriends, were not allowed in rehearsals, but now Yoko was there.  She seemed to think her obscure avant-garde artist opinions had the same weight was those who built the most popular band in the world, and John would always take her side.  Paul and George couldn't work that way, they were increasingly unable to produce new albums, and eventually the band broke up.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is my phone able to upload to cell towers that are miles away with its tiny 1W omnidirectional antenna?

I get how the phone can download from the cell tower, because cell sites use 20-50W directional antennas, much more powerful than the phone, so they can cover a large area.

But the phone's antenna is omnidirectional, usually 1W max. That's as powerful as a Wi-Fi access point. So how can it reach the cell site 2 miles away? Is it because cell site antennas have high gain, so they can pick up a very faint signal?

[Assistant] Cell phone towers have ***much*** larger antennas and much more power available for signal amplification and processing compared to a handheld phone. They also tend to use a number of directional antennas to pick up signals from all directions, which helps their performance.


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

[User] Why don't metal detectors go off because of zippers and metal buttons?

[Assistant] The detectors have a threshold setting which is often adjustable.  They're detecting metal all the time, but only objects that displace the field by a given amount sound the alarm. They keep the threshold high enough that it doesn't go off for things like small zippers .


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why Didn't Johnny Blaze swallow his pride and just work with Zarathos?

I've been reading the originals lately and it seems to me Johnny never learned Spider-Mans lesson "with great power comes great responsibility." He just fucking pouts and broods.

Zarathos was tied to him as a consequence of his own stupid actions. He wasn't "cursed" he made a deal!!! Zarathos only punished the guilty and it was always a needless struggle before he let him out to do his thing. In fact sometimes people got hurt because Johnny refused to let Zarathos out. So what gives.

[Assistant]
I think you said it - Pride. Johnny didn't like that he had been tricked into the deal and he made it damn clear. His yearly employee evaluations must have been pretty bad.

- Low motivation.
- Does not take initiative.
- Does not look to exceed his role.

I mean, poor Zarathos is bonded to him so they'd get jointly evaluated. Johnny could have through about the well-being of his demon possessor a bit more!


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

[User]
Is C# really that much better than Java?

Hi reddit,

I am a CS student and one of my fellow students always keeps saying how much better C# is than Java and what a bad language Java is overall.

Is he right? Are there any objective arguments/proofs that show that C# is superior to Java? What is your opinion?

[Assistant]
Programming language slap fights aren't worth participating in. They're tools, and you don't see hammer people getting in fights with screwdriver or wrench people.

If something you need to do is particularly well supported in C#, like making a Windows app or something use it. If you need to work with Cassandra or Zookeeper or something, Java is probably a better choice.

Java and C# are basically the same anyways, going from those to something farther out like Rust, Elm, or Erlang is going to be more fun and educational in the long term.


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

[User] [Hellraisers] When solving the puzzle box, what criteria determines if the person will be turned into a cenobite (like Elliot Spencer) or simply dragged to hell and tortured (like Frank Cotton)?

[Assistant]
The cenobites are sense explorers. They choose to indulge in the greatest of sensory experiences possible. A gnawing hunger drove them to the box and after time within the labyrinth they began to yearn for more. With a malaise and despondent attitude they sought out the gifts of leviathan not for themselves but to give others sensations they no longer feel. They get pleasure through proxy of seeing others experience it as they themselves are otherwise numb to it.

Spencer wanted to have more of it and craved enough to be elevated into the Gash. Frank wanted a more limited sensory experience closer to sexuality and dominance rather than all that the leviathan could offer. He didn't throw himself into the experience and as such wouldn't be able to enjoy it.

The leviathan will allow new cenobites to be created if the Gash becomes too few in number but only those with that seed of craving for more can be used for this. Those elevated without the hunger will inevitably fall into baser desires that are more human and will be abandoned by the leviathan once a more suitable cenobite Candidate is found.


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

[User]
ELI5:Would it be possible to mine a white dwarf star?

I actually joined reddit to ask this question, couldn't find the answer online.

[Assistant]
Not with science as we know it. We'd have to have some serious gravity/mass shenanigans to even get close to a dwarf star.

If you could create a powerful enough gravity well in the vicinity of a dwarf star, you could possibly syphon off some of its mass. The problem then would be whether the impossibly-large-to-comprehend energy expenditure would be worth the payoff, in addition to mundane problems like avoiding being sucked in yourself.

In short: no way of knowing, with present science.


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

[User] [MCU] If caps shield completely absorbs vibration, why does bullets hitting it make a sound?

[Assistant] Spider-Man very clearly says it doesn't obey the laws of physics at all. The rules for what vibration it absorbs are unknown, as if it actually did absorb impact and vibration, it wouldn't bounce after getting thrown.


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

[User] Why does human hair (head) grow continuously as opposed to animals?

[Assistant]
Animal hair does continuously grow. All hair does. The limit to the length of hair is the growth cycle.

Basically, every hair follicle has a cycle it goes through. The hair grows, then after a while stops growing, and then falls out. The follicle then rests for a period of time before starting a new hair growth. For human hair, the growth period is on the order of several years.

Fur, like the hairs on other parts of the body, has a much shorter growth stage, resulting in shorter hair.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does our (user) data actually look like when it is tracked, collected, analyzed and sold?

I guess this is a multi part question.

First kind of things do Google, Facebook, Reddit track and collect?  Is it on a per IP address basis, name basis?

Next, what does the data that look like when Facebook for example sells it to a third party? What kind of information is is available through Google Analytics?  Google doesn't sell its own data right, it just uses it to place ads for others right?

And then third parties who do research and analysis of this data, where do they obtain this data from and how do they analyze it and what can this data look like when it gets sold to their clients?

And how does one obtain such data freely and/or from these third parties?

[Assistant] Former ad tech guy here. Your data (cookie or otherwise) is stored and parsed into segments (male, twenties, white) which are used by ad campaign managers to appropriately target you based off of needs and wants for each ad campaign. Campaigns have a target sheet which tells each campaign manager (or computer, now) which segments to associate with that campaign. Your data is sold to numerous vendors, and in the case of ads, typically to an RTB backend who can do something with it.


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

[User]
[Marvel] What information do I need before making a Faustian Deal with Mephisto?

Can I hire someone like  Forge or Shaman to act on my behalf during these negotiations or is it all on me? Is Mephisto the only one who makes these deals or could I shop around with Dormmamu or Chthon? I want to get the best value for my soul here and Mephisto seems kind of weak but he seems slightly more trustworthy then the  others.

Whose the most trustworthy person I could sell my soul to? This seems like a dangerous operation and I want to be well informed before making this decision.

[Assistant]
No matter what you do you are going to get a bad deal, even if it looks like a good deal it is a bad deal.  Maybe you get fame, fortune and you never age.  And Mephisto doesn't get your soul until you die a natural death; so after you make the deal Mephisto has someone drop a tree on you.  Your best beat might be to sell your soul to Mephisto for something valuable to Dr. Doom.  Doom hates Mephisto so if you give him a good enough reason he might just help out, but this is still a bit of a longshot.

Or as an alternative don't sell your soul; instead fall in love and get married.  Then sell your marriage to Mephisto and he will give you pretty much anything you want for it.  You don't even have give up your or your spouse's soul.  Mephisto just loves being a homewrecker.


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

[User] [LOTR] What happened to Saruman after he was killed? Since he is basically an angel did his soul just go back to Valinor where the Valar are like what the fuck bro?!

[Assistant]
> "Whereas Curunir was cast down, and utterly humbled, and perished at last by the hand of an oppressed slave; and his spirit went whither-soever it was doomed to go, and to Middle-earth, whether naked or embodied, came never back."

His body died, but his spirit remained an incorporeal mass, denied entry to anywhere beyond the living world. He also did not have the ability to re-make a physical form like Sauron once could.

What was left of his spirit drifted into eternity, forgotten, unable to interact with anyone or anything again.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Are there any spells of mass destruction?

Are there any spells that can basically destroy a huge amount of space? Like, a spell that makes an explosion with a 5 mile radius, or a spell that kills everyone nearby, like a gatling Avada Kadavra? Is there any way for a wizard to kill a lot of people, really really quickly? Is there a magical nuke?

[Assistant]
What about that cursed fire thingy? Sounds terrible if you put it on a skyscraper.

Otherwise you could transmute something to pure plutonium or something (not sure how that works though, not a scientist)


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

[User] Is it possible to freeze water while electricity is flowing?

[Assistant]
Well, as you may know, water is actually a very poor conductor. What lets it conduct in daily life are dissolved ions which can conduct, and crucially, are very mobile in liquid water. Let's assume you mean water with these ions, of course. As you cool it, conductivity will slowly decrease as in mobility drops.

If fully frozen, these ions become almost immobile (there is still diffusion in solid state, but in time and distance scales that is insignificant). This makes ice a very poor conductor even with ions embedded. If saturated with ions, conductivity would be higher, but still low.

That being said, it could still conduct a little bit, depending on applied voltage/current, size if your piece of ice, etc. But, if you try to pump too much through your ice, the resistivity of the water will cause heating and very easily and quickly melt the ice, which in turn would increase conductivity again.

In fact, some pipe systems have used this effect to prevent freezing, and it's somewhat similar to power lines that use resistive heating to thaw it percent I've buildup. Now, with power lines, the resistance comes from the line itself and not from conduction through water, but it still shows how electrical resistance can generate heat.


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

[User] ELI5 : how are the various parts of voyager 1 and 2 still working despite them not undergoing regular maintenance , especially even after 45 years?

[Assistant]
Theyre designed to be durable, not cheap.  Most earth-based hardware can cut a lot of cost by using vastly cheaper consumable parts.

Theyre also in deep space - an environment that has certain challenges from radiation and low pressure, but also has some key benefits in zero moisture or oxidizing gases.

The Voyager probe would have been obliterated by corrosion on Earth by now.

With few moving parts and no threat of corrosion, space probes have a good history of running until their power supplies go dead.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it legal that I can google an US citizen and find out he or she was arrested for something?

Some time ago I met this guy at a conference, we talked a lot and hat some beers. Next day I google him and first thing I find is he was arrested for public intoxication some years back (It happened in Utah...). I was really surprised - not by the fact *this* guy was publicly intoxicated, but by the fact that EVERYTHING was online (and can only be removed for a fee, which sounds like extortion).

How is that legal? What is the rationale behind that? Here in Germany you could probably raise hell if the state made personal information like that public.

EDIT: OK, let me clear this up. I'm not asking why the state is keeping public records on legal processes. I am asking why there is basically an online pillory for misdemeanors.
In Germany for example you nearly always have to hand in an official, printed copy of your criminal record when you apply for a job. This document is regarded highly confidential. So a potential employer can check you. But I can't just google my neighbor and start a witch hunt.

Edit 2: Some quite important words.

[Assistant]
The actions of the court system and the police system which are funded by taxpayers are generally considered public information.

Once your actions force the government to punish you, they're no longer really personal anymore.


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

[User]
[Artemis Fowl] How long could the fairy folk remain undetected before humanity finds them, given the rapid advancement of technology over the past century?

I've just finished the Atlantis Complex. If the above question comes up in the final book, I apologize.

[Assistant] Indefinitely, assuming that the humans never catch the people technologically. The more humans rely on the information they get from their toys the easier they are to fool with false data. Any one who manages to uncover evidence of the people and sounds the alarm about elves living underground will be dismissed as a nut until a mind wipe takes care of the problem. The Fowl Incident was a one time event and the risks of such a thing happening again is negligible.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do Tylenol and Advil destroy your liver?

Edit: No I didn't ~~watch~~ listen to This American Life the other day. I was having an argument with a friend about the effects of Tylenol and Advil.

Edit: Thank you for all the great responses! I get it now.

[Assistant]
Tylenol is acetaminophen.

Your liver metabolizes acetaminophen.  The metabolite of acetaminophen is toxic to the liver.  It destroys proteins and DNA in the liver. However, there is a compound in the liver that quickly neutralizes this harmful metabolite to something that isn't harmful.  Too much tylenol overwhelms this compound.  So of course the treatment for an overdose of tylenol is to give the compound that neutralizes the harmful metabolite of acetaminophen.

Advil is ibuprofen.  Ibuprofen nor it's metabolites destroy your liver.  It will affect your kidneys before your liver.


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

[User] is it the case that poisonous animals tend to be colourful and if so why is it that they tend to evolve to be colourful moreso then other animals?

[Assistant]
The why comes down to evolution. Lets do a thought experiment. There is a population of caterpillars that are poisonous. They look exactly like a non-poisonous species and both are mostly brown. Birds will try to eat both. They notice that some taste great and some taste awful.

Which is which though? You dont want to make the same mistake twice. There is, of course, genetic variation in coloration. Some of the poisonous caterpillars have small, thin red stripes and some dont. The birds eat both and notice that all of the ones with red stripes taste bad but only some of the all brown ones taste bad (because some are poisonous and some are the non-poisonous species). They stop eating the striped ones but keep eating the brown ones (and spitting them out). The poisonous ones with no red stripes are thus weeded out of the gene pool and all of the poisonous offspring now only have red stripes. Over time, those red stripes get larger and larger as the caterpillars with bolder red stripes are less likely to accidentally get eaten and thus the genes for bold bright warning colors are more likely to be spread in the gene pool of poisonous animals. The opposite is true for tasty non-poisonous animals. Only those with the best adapted camouflage survive to pass their genes onto the next generation.


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

[User] Why do we hear ourselves differently than we actually sound?

[Assistant] Because of where our ears are located and which way they point. Take your hands, cup them around your ears with your palms facing forward, and push your earlobes forward a bit. That's what you really sound like.


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

[User]
CMV: People are over reacting to the Corona Virus

Hoping that someone can help change my view on this subject.

It seems as though every year there is some sort of big medical scare, whether it be Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, Corona Virus, etc.

But in the end these scares often amount to very little. The media coverage just makes everyone terrified and it seems to be worse for this virus than any before.

Upon researching the virus, it doesn't even seem to be that bad? Just similar to a flu, so wouldn't it only really be a risk to older and at risk people? Why are whole countries shutting down?

The flu kills so many people every year, but people are just told to stay off work if they have it, rather than curfewing cities and damaging economies.

I might be wrong on a lot of these fronts, so I'd be glad if someone more knowledgable could help change my view!

[Assistant] Simply put, most of the medical scares over the years have amounted to false alarms because they were taken extremely seriously. When the media coverage makes everyone terrified and gets everyone talking about the latest outbreak, it reduces the chance of an epidemic. If nobody cared and just ignored it, that's when disease becomes dangerous.


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

[User] ELI5: why can't scientists program viruses that kill cells with deformed DNA to cure cancer?

[Assistant]
Short answer: They're trying, but it's hard. This will probably be how we eventually manage to "cure" cancer.

Long Answer: "Cancer" is a general term which generally refers to any unwanted/out of control growth of the body's own cells. As you correctly said, it's due to deformed/mis copied DNA, which shuts off the protein pathways which prevent abnormal growth (both by stopping cell division, and trigger apoptosis (cell death) in cells which shouldn't be somewhere). There are a couple of things which make this hard to treat by sticking a virus into the body.

Firstly, cancers are not composed of foreign cells and generally have the same markers on their surface as rest of the body's cells, so the immune system doesn't attack them. This isn't always the case, it is possible for the immune system to be "taught" to attack cancerous cells *in vitro* (outside the body). In fact this was recently done by a team using a modified version of the HIV virus and they had some success treating an individual's leukaemia. Viruses are a good approach because they hijack host cell's DNA to produce their own proteins/reproduce, so you can use them to add specific genes to cells. (this is how some GM crops are made). The problem with this is that we are still a huge way from being able to custom design a gene which will produce a protein with function X, so our ability to kill cancer cells using this approach is limited. The team using the HIV cells made some of the body's own immune cells recognise naturally occurring "signals" on the cancerous cells; but this was pretty specific to the type of cancer they were treating.

Secondly, each cancer is different. While a lot of cancers have mutations to certain genes which regulate cell growth, this doesn't necessarily mean that they "look" the same on the outside to immune cells, (especially as each individual has different immune antigens anyway) so a treatment would almost certainly have to be tailored to each individual which is prohibitively expensive (and basically impossible with current knowledge / computers).

Hopefully once we get better at understanding how proteins fold, and hence what function they have, we'll be able to custom design virii which will attack cells with malformed DNA.


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

[User]
Did the construction of the Panama and Suez canals affect the ecology of the surrounding waters?

Despite the small overland distance, would connecting two very different bodies of water have a noticeable effect on the flora and fauna of the two regions?

[Assistant] Suez allowed lots of marine organisms from Red Sea to enter Mediterranean Sea. This process is so wide spread it is given a name; Lessepsian migration or sometimes Lessepsian invasion. It effects on Mediterranean ecosystems hasn't been great.


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

[User]
Could we reach T=0 in the center of a huge neutron
star?

If all the atoms have been packed into a huge crystal, no electron shells, wouldn't they stop moving?  Isn't that T=0, a thermodynamic impossibility?

[Assistant]
Actually quite the opposite, as you pack the neutrons closer and closer you *increase* their rate of movement.

Due to heisenbergs uncertainty principle the uncertainty in the position times the uncertainty in the momentum must be > plancks constant. If you pack the neutrons closer and closer together you decrease the size of the "box" you have limited their location to. This decrease in your positional uncertainty increases the uncertainty of the momentum.

It is actually the pressure caused by this uncertainty that holds the neutron star up against gravity. Once these neutrons are being packed so tight that they have relativistic energies, this force is unable to keep the star up against its gravity and it collapses into a black hole.