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

[User] ELI5: Why do we hiccup?

[Assistant]
This is a surprisingly great question.

It may be related to a time when our ancestors were sea creatures transitioning to living on land and it may represent a reflex to help clear our breathing system of water.

Or, it may be a reflex that mammals developed to help get air out of the stomach; air introduced when suckling - something that mammals do and no other kind of animal does (and only mammals, as far as we know, hiccup).


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

[User]
ELI5: How are we able to bleed from anywhere on our body when veins, arteries, and capillaries are in set places?

Yeah, the title

How are we able to bleed from anywhere on our body (when cut/injured)?

[Assistant]
It's possible to poke a needle through several layers of skin and not bleed. Presumably you've had a papercut at some point too?

But beyond that, the veins you can see are the main ones, but they get regressively smaller in a fractal sort of pattern as they branch off from the main ones. If you cut a bigger vein you get more blood out of it.

Think about it this way. Every single square centimetre of your body needs blood to operate. If it doesn't get that blood it dies, so the blood has to be everywhere.


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

[User] ELI5: What happens when you crack your knuckles? Is it bad for you?

[Assistant]
In and around your joints is a very special fluid called "synovial fluid." This fluid is like oil or lubricant for the joints. This fluid kind of feels like egg yolk and it is great at making sure your joints don't grind together and hurt. This fluid is made by a kind of skin or membrane inside your joints called a "synovial membrane." Now this fluid is pretty cool. It not only oils up the joints but it also protects them from damage. The fluid becomes kind of tough when a force is put on it and immediately goes back to normal when the force is gone (**edit** for those of you wondering this is called a *shear thickening* fluid or a *dilatant*). Synovial fluid also contains quite a few gases like the oxygen you breath in and the carbon dioxide, which you breathe out. The fluid also contains nutrients and so the fluid helps put good stuff into the cells it touches (and cartilage) and takes the waste out, like carbon dioxide.

When you crack your knuckles you are making a small separation between your joints. This separation increases the volume of the space that your synovial fluid likes to sit in (since you are pushing your bones up and down more than they usually go). Now synovial fluid likes to fill up the entire space it sits in, by quickly making the volume or space larger it creates what we call a "negative pressure" like a vacuum almost around around the fluid. When this happens there isn't enough fluid to fill the space so it gets filled by the gases in the fluid. Usually the gases stay in the fluid (they stay in solution like when you dissolve salt in water) but the gas only stays in the fluid (at body temperature) under a certain pressure, when you decrease the pressure the gas gets to escape. This forms a bunch of bubbles that quickly pop and make the cracking sound you hear.

So far as science knows cracking knuckles don't damage your fingers in any lasting way. The fluid does a really good job of protecting and lubricating your joints and as long as those synovial membranes are healthy you will keep  making more.


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

[User]
[Marvel] Why doesn't Tony Stark (A.K.A. Iron Man) build a suit out of adamantium?

Tony Stark, perhaps better known as Iron Man, has access to a vast wealth as head of Stark Industries. In fact, he is one of the richest men in America. As such, he should be able to obtain a vast amount of adamantium or even vibranium. Yet, despite the repeated destruction of many of his suits, he does not utilize these metals in a suit. Why is this? Wouldn't an Iron Man suit made of adamantium be virtually indestructible?

[Assistant]
There are a few reasons why not.

1. Adamantium is a tricky material to work with. Once you refine it to it's liquid form you can mold it, shape it and forge it to the components that you need. After it sets it is nigh impossible to reshape.
Once Tony made a suit of adamantium there would be no way to modify it. Tony would be stuck with one suit that is invincible, but everything else about would quickly become outdated, the repulsors would have a limit of how far he could upgrade them, the boot jets, flight controls, onboard weapons would all be locked in.

2. Adamantium is incredibly expensive by weight to ~~mine~~synthesize, refine and work. Tony is a business man, he sees the costs of the material, and while there is an upside to the survivability of an adamantium suit, there is a point of diminishing returns for the materials. If he has a carbon-nanotube/iron matrix that will do fine for 98% of the time, is the exponential rise in costs to the adamantium suit worth the investment to cover he last 2%?


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it that after you had a cough drop, cold water feels even colder when drinking?

ELI5: Why is it that after you had a cough drop, cold water feels even colder when drinking?

[Assistant] It's because of the menthol in the cough drop. A protein called TRPM8 regulates the movement of ions across the membranes of cells, and reacts to temperature, sending a signal to your brain telling you that it's cold. For some reason we don't fully understand yet, it also reacts with mint and menthol, sending the same signal regardless of actual temperature.


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

[User]
[The Avengers] If the Hulk was the last Avenger left and the portal stayed open could he destroy the entire alien army by himself? Or would he run out of stamina/rage?

.

[Assistant]
No matter how strong, fast, or angry, Hulk is one entity.

Send three of those snake behemoth things at him.  By the time he's done with them, your army is through the portal and spreading in all directions.  Hulk won't stop, sure, but he also can't catch up.


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

[User]
What (if any) physiological changes do men experience when their partner is pregnant?

As a follow up, what drives these changes? Pheromones released by the woman? Just seeing a pregnant belly? The conscious brain trying to process and prepare for the future?

[Assistant] **HEY EVERYONE!** Make sure you distinguish between research on father's-to-be vs. fathers.  The findings are better understood for fathers, whereas there is far more dispute regarding changes in expecting fathers.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do shows like Netflix's "House of Cards" release all their episodes on a single day once a year?

It seems to me that shows released weekly or in some sort of order (like Game of Thrones) generate prolonged publicity (news articles, online discussion) between episodes, while shows like "House of Cards" are super popular for those few weeks after release but then dies down for the rest of the year.

[Assistant]
Its a different market approach.

Cable (and HBO) subscribers are used to the typical "one a week" format so that is how the shows are released

Netflix users are more "binge" watchers, so they release everything at once to satisfy them.


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

[User] If a human being were crushed down past their Schwarzschild radius, would the resulting black hole pull in enough surrounding matter to sustain itself or would it shortly evaporate in a devastating explosion?

[Assistant]
a crude estimate for the remaining lifetime of a black hole is given by

t = 10^(-26) (mass in grams)^3 seconds

A 70kg BH would be gone in ~ 10^(-12) s.

The total energy released is Mc^2 ~ 6 * 10^18 Joules, about 30 Tsar Bombas if you need a reference.


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

[User]
[Injustice] What changes if Batman kills The Joker instead of Superman, and decides to create a regime?

Joker uses fear gas to trick Batman into killing his pregant wife (Bats has a lot of love interests to choose from, so just choose your fave.) And nukes Gotham.

Batman decides "Fuck it." And basically goes down the path that Supes went down in the original story.
What changes? Does he make more or less progress than Supes?

[Assistant]
He makes way less progress. Most of those heroes that sided with Superman did so because Superman is the ideal hero and think that if he's doing something it's probably the right thing to do. Batman does not have that kind of goodwill behind him.

Most the heroes that sided with Batman did so because they disagreed with Superman's ideology.

The vast majority of heroes would side with Superman if you switch the roles. This leaves only villains (who probably wouldn't want to stick around a losing fight) and a few heroes like maybe Wonder Woman and Damian on Batman's side.


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

[User]
[Pulp Fiction] Who was Jimmy, and why was he even marginally okay with Jules showing up at his house with a dead body?

Jimmy seemed like a pretty whitebread, domesticated dude. So why was Jules able to show up at his house with a dead body and have him not completely flip his shit? What kind of history did he have with Jules such that, although he was married to a nurse who would absolutely divorce him if she came home and found gangsters in her house doing gangster shit, he could still be seen as a potential safe place for Jules in an emergency?

[Assistant]
I think the implication is that Jimmy at some point in the past had been involved in 'gangster shit' with Jules. He may or may not been working for Mr Wallace previously.

The Wolf sort of implies that Jimmy wasn't familiar with the scene, but the Wolf doesn't know specifically who Jimmy is- only that its his house, and that hes cool as long as they're gone by 9:30.


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

[User]
If we were to magnify to an almost molecular level the edge of a circle, would we reach a point when it is completely straight?

Not sure if the question makes a lot of sense since English is not my first language, however what I am trying to ask is: Is there such an area on a circle which is completely straight?

[Assistant]
You need to decide if you are talking about a physical object or a mathematical object.

The analogy breaks down "at the molecular level". No real object can be a perfect circle. If you zoom in enough you wil get to a point where the edge is niether circular OR straight. It will just be a jagged edge.

A mathematical circle however can be veiwed at any abritrarilly small scale. You could zoom in until an electron is the size of the entire universe and the edge of the circle would get very close to a straight line.

There is a concept of a "limit" in mathematics. And YES: if you take the limit as you zoom in closer and closer to the edge of a circle, the edge approached a straight line "at the limit".


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

[User] [The Matrix] Aren't there better batteries than human bodies? What about whales, or ants, or actual batteries?

[Assistant]
To hell with all the "the script wasn't supposed to be like that" answers. That is irrelevant to how the movie turned out and it is not in the spirit of this sub.

It didn't need to be practical. The machines in the matrix were not malevolent, the humans were the ones risking the destruction of both races just to win the war. The machines created the matrix as a way to stop the war without destroying them. They created a utopia where humans could live in peace without being a harm to anybody. To machines, a virtual world is just as tangible as a real one.

The humans were used as batteries to help power the matrix, as a way to alleviate some of the egregious power costs necessary to keep the system running. This is because they were there, they didn't have a billion whales locked in nice little pods, did they?


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

[User]
What's the academic path in your country?

I'm always intrigued by how different it is in every country. I'll start!

Brazil:
3 year high-school -> 4-6 year bachelor's (engineering and psychology take 5 years and medicine takes 6) -> 2 year MPhil (you must porsue a masters in order to apply for a PhD) -> 4 year PhD

Thanks!

[Assistant]
Canada:

* Undergraduate degree (3-4 years)
* Master's Degree (2 years)optional in many situations
* PhD (5+ years)
   * Optionally (but most likely) followed by a post-doc (1-3 years) before getting a tenure-track position; this is *not* a degree (it's just some time doing research and improving your CV)


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

[User] Why do car wheels look like they're turning in reverse when they're driving forward?

[Assistant]
Our eyes take in sight at a limited speed. When you look at a wheel that is turning, you don't see it at *every* position from 0 to 360 degrees. Instead, you see it's position at certain intervals of time, for example, every twentieth of a second.

But what if the wheel is rotating 20 times a second? Then, every time your eye looks, it sees the wheel in the same place as it was before, and it looks like the wheel isn't turning at all!

If the wheel turns just a little less than 20 times a second, then each time your eye sees the wheel, it will have turned, say 355 degrees around. But because your eye didn't see it at any point during those 355 degrees, it will look like the wheel turned very slowly 5 degrees the other way.


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

[User] [Spider-Man] I know that Spidey has his no kill rule, but hes been known to work with the police. Would he go out of his way to stop them from opening fire on a super villain?

[Assistant] Depends on the context, but not usually. First, most supervillains can tank bullets in some way. Second, Spidey understands that deadly force is something cops are both trained for and legally allowed to use.


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

[User]
What causes a computer to slow down over a period of time?

At my workplace we have some computers that are about 6 years old. These computers are only ever used for word processing and browsing the Web. They are also 're-imaged' or have their hard drives effectively wiped every year at around this time. So why is it that when they were new they were lightning fast but now, even though they're running pretty much identical software and are put to a similar level of use they are terribly slow? Is it degradation of components? Common apps like IE and Office requiring more power? or something else?

[Assistant]
From a purely web viewing perspective, a lot of web sites are pushing more work to the browser.  Where in the past a website would contain mostly static HTML, a lot more websites are making use of Javascript.

Javascript allows a browser to change the contents of a webpage after the browser has already rendered it.  For example when you view google maps you've already loaded the page that displays the map data.  But when you "grab" the map and move it in a particular direction, it automatically loads the images that need to now be shown because you've taken some areas outside of the viewing screen and added new ones.  This is all done behind the scenes with Javascript and if you notice you're still at the same "page" but the contents of the page have changed.

All this Javascript rendering and loading uses more CPU cycles.

TLDR - From a web browsing perspective as computers have gotten more powerful from a web page standpoint web sites have used more features to make web sites nicer looking and more user interactive.  Older computers have to work harder to run these new features.


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

[User]
[General sci fi] Things like Xenomorphs or Cell are said to be perfect, in a biological sense. What would a structurally/biologically perfect creature actually look/behave/act like, and what sort of traits would it have?

Title. A lot of sci-fi claims to have a "perfect lifeform" in it, but what would a perfect lifeform actually look like? How would it be structured? What biological abilities would it have? How would it act and behave?

I get that "perfect" is subjective, so I'll leave the exact definition up to you, but I think ou get the general idea behind the "perfect lifeform" concept and question.

[Assistant]
Perfect isn't really subjective, it's just highly variable based on the function that they need to perform. Every species alive can be said to be "perfect" for their existence in their biological niche. The Woodpecker is perfect for getting grubs out of trees in its habitat with its prey with its predators with its reproductive method with its...

However, we look a lot more for versatility. Can it survive and thrive when those things are not there. With that, the perfect creature are the Star-Children from 2001: a Space Odysee. This is a species that rejected all the imperfections of biology and moved on to pure electromagnetism. They possess near infinite ability. We saw them with a flick of their physical manifestations, the monoliths, turn Jupiter into a star just to cradle the infant life on one of its moons. They gave us something many currently attribute to a god, the power to reason, the knowledge of good and evil. They did it by just dropping one of their monoliths nearby. They are the closest thing to perfection that can still be called a creature and not a God.


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

[User] [Sherlock] Who is the most famous fictional detective in history?

[Assistant]
There are lots of them. From Britain and Europe we have Agatha Christie's Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot. In the same vein we also have C. Auguste Dupin, a French detective created by the American Edgar Allan Poe.

Going on with the Americans we also have characters like Dashiell Hammett's Sam Spade and The Continental Op, and Raymond Chandler's Philip Marlowe. These are all typical "hard-boiled" characters unlike the other three. Both Sam Spade and Philip Marlowe were portrayed on the silver screen by Humphrey Bogart in *The Maltese Falcon*  and *The Big Sleep*, typifying the film noir genre.


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

[User]
ELI5: What does it mean when someone says horror is campy?

I read it a lot. I dont get it, though. Does it mean tacky? Far fetched? What constitutes a campy horror film?

[Assistant] It's exaggerated for the camera and humor, e.g. the Adam West Batman TV series was campy, but the new ones are not, they are serious.  Shaun of the Dead, Chucky and Army of Darkness are  campy horror movies, it as as much goofiness in it as it does horror, but not It and The Conjuring are not campy.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How could star systems slip through Tarkin's fingers?

How could a star system openly rebel or even moderately help the Rebellion without the Empire finding out and sending a fleet to ravage the planet? The entire planet's population would need to keep a secret, which isn't reasonable. Is the Rebellion strong enough to hold territory against the Empire to protect key systems? The only way I can see this happening is if multiple systems simultaneously rebel so that the Imperial fleet is spread too thin but simultaneous Rebellion is unlikely.

[Assistant]
The Empire's main concentration of power was in the Core Regions and Inner Rim, which is most of the territory controlled by the Republic during the Clone Wars, and was the historical center of power for the galaxy for millennia. Countries in the Mid and Outer Rim were more likely to have sided with the CIS during the Clone Wars, and Imperial influence was both weaker and more recent. The Empire spent quite a few years chasing down the last of the Droid Armies, solidifying their hold in the Core Regions, and building up the Imperial Bureaucracy.

For planets in the Outer Rim, a Rebellion had a much greater chance of succeeding. Some planets still had little to no Imperial authority (such as Tatooine) or only a small presence. Any rebellion would take much longer to respond to, and would likely not be able to deploy the same overwhelming force they could in the Core regions.

While no planets were in open rebellion at this time, they soon would be. The aftermath of the Battle of Yavin saw widespread galactic protest at the destruction of Alderaan, and the Rebel victory proved to many planets on the fence that the Rebels could pose a serious threat to the Empire.

Imperial forces were quite honestly, stretched very thin. In Legends, we know that the Empire had 25,000 Star Destroyers at it's peak, with many more smaller support ships. The galaxy had about 1000 sectors, each with dozens of star systems and hundreds of planets. That's 25 destroyers per sector, not counting the other destroyers that might be protecting key planets such as Coruscant or on deployment elsewhere, and-for the sake of argument-one destroyer per star system.

If a planet rebelled, it could be some time before the Empire could respond to the threat. In many cases, they would likely have to deploy a destroyer that was on duty eleswhere to respond to that threat, which would of course, leave another planet unguarded. If the Empire tightens their grip, planets that would otherwise not act out might be drawn to Rebellion. Instead of sending just one destroyer, they now send two, and make an example of this system. This in turn, drives more systems to rebel, and requires the Empire to exert greater and greater pressure, but also leave more and more systems unguarded. The Empire can keep putting out fires and shuffling around ships, and keep rebellion contained, but once it reaches a certain point, the Empire can't respond to every threat without weakening their grip. Eventually, the Empire has to start making choices. Do you let the developed, industrial world that is refusing to pay their taxes get away with it? Or do you go all the way out to the Outer Rim to deal with the tiny agricultural planet that is openly declaring their allegiance to the Rebellion. Logic say to deal with the former, and let that tiny system slip away. And it begins to snowball away.


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

[User]
ELI5: How is it possible that you can order something on ebay for $3 without shipping payments?

How can they ship the item for less than 3 dollars. They dont even make 3 dollars profit so it has to be less than 3 dollars.

[Assistant] Usually it's coming from China. The Chinese government subsidizes parcels moving out of the country if its for the purpose if ecommerce, which makes international postal rates for Chinese sellers ridiculously low.


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

[User]
[Spider-Man 2/Raimiverse] How did J. Jonah Jameson takes the news, that his sons finance left him for his photographer?

Considering that Peter works for him.

How would it go for Parker after JJJ learns the truth?

[Assistant]
This version of JJJ appears to be rough around the edges but generally principled.  So he'd probably find some way to satisfy himself that nothing illegal or immoral happened (for example, there was no cheating or coercion), and then treat Parker pretty much the same as before.

Though he'd probably be miffed that he had to pay for a wedding that eventually didn't happen... even if they didn't open the caviar.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How come Anakin/Vader lost in his duel against Obi Wan Kenobi on Mustafar?

Anakin had a connection with the Force supposedly on a level above anybody else, allegedly fathered by the Force itself. He had fallen to the dark side, fueled by fiery rage, and the duel took place surrounded by lava, hardly the place for Jedi-like dispassionate self-control. The fight was emotional for both participants, breaking a bond of brotherhood and mentorship that Kenobi should never have fostered the way he did. Anakin had every advantage, how come Kenobi was the stronger fighter?

[Assistant]
Kenobi had the high ground!

But seriously, Kenobi shouldn't be underestimated as a Jedi or as a warrior. Are there stronger Force users? Of course. Yoda, Windu, and Palpatine are all more powerful, but Kenobi is still up very high on the "all time greats" list.

Furthermore, Anakin was only starting to realize his Dark Side powers. He had been a Sith for a few *hours* when he battled Kenobi, whereas Kenobi had been a Jedi Master for *years*. So you have a guy at the top of his power fighting someone who *would become* the strongest Force user in the galaxy, but had not yet reached that level.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do so many racing video games look almost photo realistic when games from other genres don't as much?

Games like Forza, Driveclub, and Project CARS look almost indistinguishable from real life, where so many other games aren't as close. Even some amazing looking games like The Witcher 3, The Last of Us, and Ryse have plenty of things that make it obvious that they are video games.

[Assistant] Machines are easier to render than people or real animals. Nothing is linear about people or animals. There are no straight lines. On top that the pieces of a living thing change as they move. Raise your knee to your chest and observe how that changes the shape of your thigh.


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

[User]
Why are professional philosophers dismissive of Slavoj iek?Is there documentation of the former's views on the latter?

Zizek is fun to listen to (lots of videos on YouTube), but at this point I am looking for information that is able to situate his writings within (or possibly against) broader contemporary philosophy. For example, I already know Noam Chomsky is no intellectual ally of Zizek, whereas someone like Cornell West is comparatively much more supportive. However, these are just the attitudes of well-known public intellectual philosophers, out of a large and diverse field. My curiosity is around the more general question: how do the major practicing schools of philosophy view Zizek's thinking (or lack thereof)? If some (e.g.) analytic philosophers are dismissive of Zizek, what rationale do they provide? If there's an article documenting this space of views, that would be helpful.

(*Clarifications*. Please note that my question is a literature research question (boring!! [*Metaclarification*: no, this is not a homework thing, I graduated years ago]), namely if anyone might suggest any journalistic articles documenting the existing criticism of Zizek, or academic papers/articles constructing critical arguments about Zizek. They would have to be of philosophical salience and yet useful for a non-professional like myself. I can tolerate some difficulty but would prefer a text that is not overly abstruse. Also, I am emphatically not looking to debate the merits of Zizek in this thread, because that's probably been done elsewhere. My comments above should not be construed as asking to do that.)

[Assistant]
> If some (e.g.) analytic philosophers are dismissive of Zizek, what rationale do they provide?

Generally, no one is going to take the time to write an article on something they find unworthy of their consideration. If a philosopher writes a paper, they are already considering the work or person worthy of their time and consideration.

Philosophers, including academic analytic philosophers, have a finite amount of time in a day and deadlines. Even if they find Zizek's work interesting, it may not be relevant to their work and thus why they do not write on his work.


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

[User]
[Popeye the sailor man] can anyone Gain godly super strength from the spinach or is it just Popeye?

I never thought about it before but is he the only one who gets godly strength from the spinach or could anyone get strong from it? And if so why hasn't every person In the world bought that spinach by now? Why is Popeye the only one eating that stuff????

[Assistant]
It doesn't grant him godly strength. It unlocks it.

He originally gained his super strength by rubbing the head of the Whiffle Hen, which can grant powers. Usually luck, but how luck manifests is what a person needs, and Popeye generally needed strength and durability. Because this was granted so often, it sort of morphed into him needing to eat spinach to get his powers, which is a lot more convenient than having to rub a chicken's head all the time.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does pee foam when it hits the ground outside.

[Assistant] Foamy urine can be caused by rapid urination. At times, when you delay going to the washroom, large amounts of urine gets collected in the bladder. Also, proteinuria or presence of significant amounts of protein in the urine, is one of the most common cause of foamy urine.


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

[User] ELI5: is there a unit of Neuro signal to the brain, similar to "gigabit" and "megabit" and rate per second?

[Assistant] Not really, no. Some very long neurons (like one from the base of the spine to the foot) propagate signals very quickly on the order of 100+ meters per second. But as far as storage capacity, researchers use digital-world units (like petabytes)... which are basically guesstimates.


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

[User]
[Westworld] (Spoilers) What now?

So the hosts are alive, have killed many people, and are likely going to take over the facility and kill more.

So what happens now?

Is there an emergency shutdown?

Is the military called in?

Do they just EMP the area?

Can humanity survive the war with the hosts?

[Assistant]
Fair question. It's a cliffhanger, and it is *highly* unclear how they'll take it from there.

>Can humanity survive the war with the hosts?

The hosts are a handful (thousands, tops) of individuals with limited mastery of modern technology. They are not much more dangerous than a domestic terror group. Humanity can easily put up tens of millions of troops supported by combined-arms warfare.


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

[User] ELI5:What is stopping me from buying hundreds of Zimbabwe $100,000,000,000,000 bills and just sitting on them until the economy recovers?

[Assistant]
If at any point the economy actually recovers without the government collapsing the money will be revalued at significantly below face value.

What this means is that the government will come out and say "One new Zimbabwe Dollar is worth 1,000,000 old Zimbabwe Dollars" and there will be a deadline to turn in old currency for new currency, after which the old stuff will no longer be legal tender.


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

[User]
[MCU/Black Panther] How are the traitors regarded in Wakandan society?

The traitors who sided with Killmonger and W'Kabi over T'Challa lost at the end (obviously).

However, now what? Are they social pariahs? Do they have to lie and say, "No, I *totally* sided with the king when he returned, you must have me confused with someone else!"?

Are they distrusted ("They betrayed this country once, they'll do it again!"), or are they forgiven?

[Assistant] I would expect some amount of lenience because at the time they thought Killmonger was the rightful king and that they were acting in Wakanda's best interests, however misguided they were. Remember even the Dora Milaje followed Killmonger's orders at first, until they realized T'Challa was still alive and the challenge for the throne was technically still ongoing.


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

[User]
[Power Rangers] I think my teen is in a gang

A few weeks back, monsters attacked the city, and ever since then, crime has been on the rise. Recently, I've noticed my teenaged son walking around with a mysterious wristlet I don't remember buying for him, wearing only a single color, and disappearing at all hours.

Should I be worried? Is he in a gang? Should I ask the Power Rangers to talk to him?

[Assistant]
Definitely. The Power Rangers will definitely give him a good talking to.

Just be aware, they probably won't ALL be there. One of them is definitely going to be away, probably off fighting monsters by themselves.

Try to give your kid as much privacy as possible, you can trust the Power Rangers.


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

[User]
ELI5 - Why do rooms full of people suddenly seem to get quiet at the same time?

I'm sitting in a courthouse, waiting for election results to be announced. There's probably about 40 people in a medium-sized lobby, and everyone just simultaneously stopped talking for a couple of seconds. There was no stimulus to get people to stop talking. Why does this happen?

[Assistant]
It's either a random coincidence that the natural pause in everyone's conversation happened at the same time, or it's a natural part of social behavior.

Humans are social animals, so we pay attention to those around us. In a courthouse, there are moments when everyone is waiting to go quiet for courtroom protocol. If one person gives a subtle signal to be quiet (perhaps something as simple as someone cutting off mid sentence), everyone will follow. Once everyone realized it was a false alarm, the conversations resumed.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How does Tatooine support its megafauna?

For a desert planet, these seem to be many large herbivores on Tatooine, and at least two large predators. Rontos and banthas must require a large amount of plant matter to survive. Each banthas could probably eat as much as an Earth Elephant everyday, rontos probably more than a modern giraffe. Womp rats are said to meet or even exceed two meters in size. Krayt dragons probably feed on banthas, or even tribal Tuskens or nomadic Jawas. Shit probably fell into the Sarlaac on a semi-regular basis, and they were slowly digested, prolonging the nutritional value of prey...but what supports the base of the food chain?

[Assistant] They evolved on a desert planet with scarce resources is the simplest answer. They are biologically adapted to those conditions. Assuming a bantha would eat as much as an elephant is assuming an awful lot. The creatures could be cold blooded as they would never be short of sunlight and as a result have slow metabolism. Gators can grow to be enormous by eating a single large meal every few months and spending the rest of their time mostly sedentary.


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

[User] ELI5:If we regenerate new skin cells, why/how does our skin wrinkle?

[Assistant]
ELI5: As you age your skin becomes deficient of natural molecules that help your skin look young (collagen, which makes your skin more firm, glycosaminoglycans which provide water to your skin, and elastin which causes your skin to snap back into place). The combination (or rather lack of) of these compounds cause your skin to fold and dry out, also known as, wrinkling.

Bonus Note: Skin cells that aren't wrinkled and skin cells that are look identical under a microscope.


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

[User] [Castlevania] Simon here. Can I wait until daylight to storm Dracula's castle? It seems like that would make my job a lot easier.

[Assistant]
It won't bare much difference. It's a creature of chaos, same as any other demon inside the castle.

You could be going in at around midday and it'd still be pitch black inside. You could be around the castle about a mile away at midday and it'd be pitch black outside.


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

[User]
ELI5: When you open someone's eyes while they're sleeping, why don't they see you and immediately wake up?

I used to do this to my dad while he was sleeping on the sofa when I was a little kid. His eyes would just kind of blankly look at me with this weird, cloudy, empty look. Why didn't he wake up?

I was a creepy kid...

[Assistant] The eye doesn't do the seeing. The eye is just the thing that takes in light, bounces it off the optic nerve, and sends that message to the brain. The brain is what does the seeing. It takes in the electrical impulse and translates that into what you understand as a visual image. Unless it is asleep. Then it isn't taking in impulses, it is sleeping. No impulse, no image.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do people from the US never consider voting for a party other than the Democrats or Republicans?

I hear comments from people that lead me to believe that their choice of party essentially boils down to picking the lesser of two evils and I cannot understand why they wouldn't simply support a party who actually represents their views.
I understand that those parties are very large and powerful but that doesn't mean they're the only options.   I also understand the perspective that there's no point in voting for a third party because "they'd never get in anyway because everyone else votes for the big ones" but doesn't this miss the point entirely?  If enough people disagree with the big parties and vote for another one then the other one can win.
It seems as though people have a fundamental misunderstanding about how democracy works.

[Assistant]
Do you know how single member district plurality voting systems work? It's the voting system used for national elections in the United States.  People vote for a single person in each voting district, and votes are tallied at the district level, with the person with more votes than any other winning the election in each district. There is a principle called Duverger's law, that says that voting systems like this tend to result in 2 party systems on their own, regardless of intentions.

Smaller parties tend to fuse together or die because they only receive any recognition or power if they receive a plurality of votes.  Getting 15% of the vote is useless, so banding together even though you might disagree on some things makes sense.  A party that gets 3% of the votes will not have their voices heard at all if they poll 3% in every district.

Having multiple moderate candidates and one or two radical candidates tends to work against the moderates and for the radicals because it is easier for the radical candidates to find a base of voters.  Moderate candidates simply distract the voters.

Third parties really only have a chance at success if the voting system changes somewhat (proportional representation being a popular option) or if they have the ability to take the place of an older party, as has happened a few times in US history.


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

[User] If we can replicate the natural process for making diamonds, why can't we make petroleum?

[Assistant] If youre asking about man made fuels and oil, we can. Its very expensive though. Thats why synthetic oil for your car is more pricey. Synthetic gasoline is so cost prohibitive right now that oil prices would have to be around $150-$200 a barrel for that it to be worth producing. Mother Nature did us a huge favor in creating petroleum in the earth.


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

[User]
ELI5:How do things grow on you mentally? Why can you start to like something over time that you initially hated or disliked?

For example: I got a half finished cross-stitch kit from my MIL that was produced in 1982. I HATED the colors as of last Sunday - all dusty roses, grey-blues and browns. As I worked on it yesterday I realized I now think the colors are nice and look good together. What happened??

[Assistant]
It could be that you're avoiding cognitive dissonance - if you're going to work on it, it doesn't make sense not to like it.

It could also have to do with an inherent human dislike or mistrust of new things if they don't fit any existing categories or "schema" that we have. It's like a kind of "stranger danger" reaction. But as the new thing becomes familiar, we can better assess whether we like it or not.


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

[User]
Eli5: Why is tomato-sauce so good at coloring plastic red in your dishwasher, unlike raspberries or strawberries for example?

We like tomato sauce, but one must be careful with what to put into the dishwasher, to not have plastic bowls, storage boxes or other things dyed red...Why is tomato sauce this potent in coloring plastic. It's like it's in the fabric of the plastic itself after it comes out of the dishwasher...why not the same effect with strawberries or raspberries? And is there a way to prevent this?

Edit: Wow, this got some momentum...I see a lot of people like tomato sauces. Thanks for the awards as well!

[Assistant]
The colour in tomatoes that makes them red, and it is very concentrated in tomato sauce, is lycopene.

Lycopene loves plastic, it sticks to it and doesnt want to let go. Similar to the yellow pigment in Tumeric (that spice in curry that turns everything a funny yellow colour). When a pigment sticks to a surface that well, its essentially dyed that colour. Because the pigment has bonded with the surface. You cant just wash it off.

That red molecule isnt in raspberries or strawberries. Its different pigments that cause that and its not as adherent (sticky) to plastics.

 Prevention - most simply, use glass or ceramics instead of plastic. Its better anyway, will go in the oven, will go in the microwave, easy to clean, no roughness on the surface that germs can get stuck in, dont get scratched by knives, generally amazing stuff.

If you absolutely cannot live without plastic in your kitchen, you can try putting a thin layer of oil on the plastic, to keep the pigment from contacting the container.

You can try to do some research on the molecule lycopene, and work out if there is an easy way to get it to release the plastic. See if washing it in vinegar gets it to let go, or whatever.


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

[User] ELI5:How can a company sell what they say are $50 coins for $9.95 + $5 shipping?

[Assistant] There are no $50 coins in legal currency. What you are buying are "commemorative decorative currency" which isn't actually legal tender and is made by a company that is named like some official mint but actually isn't. In short it is a borderline scam for foolish people.


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

[User] ELI5 Why didn't things like polio and smallpox mutate as much or as dangerously?

[Assistant] Different types of viruses mutates at different rates. Viruses like Rhinovirus and Coronavirus is known to mutate very fast which helps them avoid the immune system. But the changes means they only last for a short while, maybe just two years, before being out-competed by a new variant of themselves. However viruses such as polio and smallpox have a much more protected way of reproducing which does not cause as much mutations and we can therefore find largely unchanged viruses a hundred years later.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does the battery in my phone that I've had for 2 years not hold a charge as well as it did when I first got it?

[Assistant] Batteries degrade over time.  The interior parts of the battery are subject to fairly intense chemical reactions...you drive it one way when you charge, and the other way when you use the device.  The chemicals and parts in the battery are not perfect, and eventually impurities cause a tiny failure. This begins to increase over time...slowly at first, but eventually it becomes significant.


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

[User]
If this was 1636, would The Fed step in to buy tulips?

Does Price stability still apply? Some jobs were probably lost too yeah?

[Assistant] The purpose of central banks isn't to maintain asset or commodity prices, it's to ensure that the economy in general, and currency in particular, is in a state that we want it to be in. For example, when the fed buys bonds, the purpose isn't to make bonds more expensive, it's to lower interest rates to stimulate inflation.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do cats feel the need to sit or nestle into things like boxes, bags or small enclosed spaces?

I've always wondered why they feel the NEED to sit in or under things. Halp?

[Assistant] For much the same reason a child will use blankets to cover themselves up even if the temperature doesn't call for it, it grants a feeling of safety and concealment. Cats are also stalking and ambush predators so any place they can hide is probably instinctivly a 'good' place.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] What kind of jobs are perfect for graduated Hufflepuffs?

[Assistant]
Hufflepuffs are hard workers and they're everyone's best friend, so anything interpersonal would be awesome - education, media, diplomacy, medicine come to mind.

While Slytherins and Gryffindors may be the more natural or ambitious leaders who are more likely to ascend to high-level posts, Hufflepuffs would probably make awesome politicians or bureaucratic managers in the Ministry, because they'd be ideal for getting different groups of people to work together without issue.

Since Hufflepuffs also are defined by inclusiveness and fairness, the law might also be a draw for them, both study and enforcement.  At least one prominent Auror - Tonks - was a Hufflepuff, which might be because she wanted to fight against the discrimination that the Death Eaters stood for.


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

[User] How does super massive black holes like Sagittarius A* come to form? Does every galaxy have such a black hole at its center? Why dont they pull each other in instead of rushing away from each other?

[Assistant]
> Why dont they pull each other in instead of rushing away from each other?

Our supermassive black hole has less than 0.01% of the mass of the Milky Way. It's very important in the center but negligible for the overall gravitational attraction between galaxies.


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

[User]
[Marvel] How is New York able to rebuild so quickly after the constant super villain attacks?

New York is constantly getting wrecked by super villains, giant monsters, invading aliens, etc.  And yet, after the story arch is over, they're able to quickly rebuild and get the city back to normal.

How is this possible?  The city is a battle ground.  Why isn't it in rubble after so many attacks?  How is it that when I pick up an issue of Spider-Man, I don't see the after effects the alien invasion that the Avengers fought last week?

[Assistant] This is covered in the Netflix run of Daredevil. New York was flooded with federal disaster relief funds, federal loans, and donations from private parties after the Chtauri invasion. Stark Enterprises also helped rebuild things. Apparently having a supervillain wreck your town evokes a lot of charitable sympathy from people.


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

[User]
What makes things sticky?

I'm guessing it's an electromagnetic interaction, but what's going on? What's different between paper and tape?

[Assistant]
It's not a simple question, but really it comes down to intermolecular forces: van der Waals, dipole, hydrogen bonding, etc.  It depends a lot on the molecules involved, both composition, position of end groups, size, sterics, etc.

E.g. polymers sort of layer on each other like a pile of spaghetti.  There is a lot of polymer-polymer contact and depending on the interaction between chains, size of the chain, solvent compatibility, etc, they will have different attractive forces.  Proteins are typically amphiphilic and as a result, they segregate the hydrophobic portions of the molecules.  These hydrophobic effects align proteins in certain ways and help dictate their attraction.


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

[User]
CMV: Management and upper management should focus on educating entry-level employees in to more advanced business practices to encourage critical thinking and improve productivity.

I always thought that entry-level employees should be encouraged to learn more about internal company processes to increase agency and bridge the gap between leadership and subordinates in the workplace.

The lack of business-oriented education on entry level employees is in my point of view a barrier to entry to management positions, which is a valued endeavor for any company attempting to grow.

More employees = more managers required

In a traditional sense, the best way to educate yourself in the process of leadership positions is to study and obtain a degree, but there should be other ways to obtain that knowledge and apply it in a more practical manner, not to mention the cost of getting an education.

In too many places I see people stuck in the same job position for years, even decades. Sure not everyone wants to be in a management position, but everyone should have the opportunity to be empowered to move up and not perceive themselves as another disposable worker drone in a given attrition rate.

The standards for management appear high but if it is in the best interests of a company to gain more leadership positions, then the standards required of the employees seeking to pursue a higher level do not seem to be clearly communicated to employees. They are only communicated to them what is expected of them as *employees* and not individuals with agency and knowledge empowered to improve the company in the future.

There should at least be a *layered* approach to the education of entry-level employees, slowly and systematically walking them through the process of understanding the *why* of business decisions and the many different functions management operates that will at least prepare them for a future role should they wish to pursue it.

[Assistant]
Any reasonably competent manager will do exactly as you are suggesting they should  but most employees have no desire to improve in these ways that are actually beneficial, so it will largely appear to any outside viewer that management doesnt put in the effort.

The employees that do want to move up and put in the effort are very, very often recognized and trained accordingly.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K] Do orks really even hate their enemies?

Their only source of pleasure is to do battle. Would that not mean that they are the least hateful race in the galaxy?

While we are on it, what is their emotional spectrum like beyond WAAAAGGGG?

[Assistant]
Essentially, no.

Orks can certainly be cruel, and they are capable of hating things (peace, boredom, a rival Ork/tribe), but due to the way they love a good fight it's hard for them to hate any race that gives that to them.


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

[User]
ELI5: What can Obama do before he leaves the presidency?

I mean, what can he do (within his power) before leaving and have that decision to stick even with incoming President, Senate, House or Supreme Court?

What are his extend of powers?

[Assistant]
Nothing beyond his current Article 2 authorities. And that's the point. Imagine 4 or 8 years from now... would you want the outgoing president to have unlimited, autocratic power? Peaceful transitions of power are essential to our nation. Those unhappy with the result of the election get another chance to vote for a president in 4 years. And, get another crack at shaping Congress in 2 years. Maybe it's going to be a wild ride. Or, maybe nothing of consequence will happen. Who knows.

Edit: Other posters mention Executive Order. They do have the force of law, but only after they are codified in the Code of Federal Regulations. That takes a lot longer than 60 days.


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

[User] ELI5: What exactly does Narcan do in the body to stop an overdose?

[Assistant] In the simplest terms: think of Narcan and an opioid as magnets vying for the same space on a magnetic surface. During its potency Narcan has a stronger pull to the receptors than the opiate and pushes it out of the way so that the Narcan can sit in that magnetic spot. However it only lasts for a little while which is why someone can get high again after Narcan is administered and why medical treatment is still needed in emergency timing.


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

[User] [Lord of the Rings] In say, Rivendell, what kinds of food/drink do the elves eat? Do they believe in hunting and eating meat?

[Assistant]
From the Hobbit, when they meet the "Elvish looking folk": "The smell of the roast meats was so enchanting that, without waiting to consult one another, every one of them got up and scrambled forwards into the ring with the one idea of begging for some food."

So the wood elves definitely ate meat.


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

[User]
How much voltage deviation is acceptable?

Like if you have an USB Stick, which needs 5V, but your System only provides 4.8V. Why does it still work?
Similarly, when is a battery 'empty' or 'loaded'? If you try to measure battery voltage, you get a result, but how do you find out, if the voltage is sufficient to operate the system?

[Assistant]
Well, you can never get a voltage to be *exactly* 5V, because there will always be some noise and measurement error. So as a matter of good engineering practice, we try to design circuits so that their behavior is stable even if the supply voltage varies slightly. Of course, this has to be balanced against all of the other design requirements.

For example, digital electronics use transistors, which (to drastically oversimplify) switch on or off at a particular gate threshold voltage. But that's not an instantaneous on/off process; if you take a transistor that's just barely on, and decrease the voltage a bit, it will still conduct but not quite as effectively. Eventually you reach the point where the device doesn't function properly or at all, because some internal component is too far out of its expected state.

As another example, anything with capacitance (either capacitors that were explicitly added to the design, or the internal capacitance of other components) will charge/discharge more slowly when the applied voltage is lower. Some components (e.g. microprocessors) can operate at lower voltages if the clock speed is reduced.

The allowable voltage range of a particular component is one of many parameters listed in its datasheet; that's how the designer knows that they're using it correctly. As a general rule of thumb, most designs can tolerate at least a 5% variation in supply voltage, and some can handle a lot more.


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

[User]
ELI5:Why do we never have any mist in the eyes during a sudden temperature change?

Excuse me for my english, this is not my first language.

[Assistant]
Are you asking why eyes don't fog up like glasses do when you go from cold to warm and humid?

That's because our eyes are already warmed by our body so they aren't really at condensing temperatures, also there are wet so any condensation that formed would just become part of the film of water that covers our eyes anyway.


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

[User]
[SW] You're a middling Jedi knight who just landed on Coruscant after a two-year service in the front lines of the Clone Wars.

After spending some time in the capital, you begin to sense some strange things. The Chancellor in particular gives an unsettling feeling, like something's not quite right with him, in a way that could suggest a Force interference of some sort. Not only that, but that Anakin guy he hangs out with looks a little too... intense for a Jedi. You don't know anything for certain yet, but you feel you need to investigate further or at least alert someone. How do you act?

[Assistant]
This likely means you're exceptionally powerful in the Force, because Palpatine's dark side Force shroud was enough to hinder even the likes of Yoda and Mace Windu, without anyone the wiser.  Similarly, most people didn't sense Anakin's gradual transition to darkness, not even Obi-Wan Kenobi (though Kenobi's blindness would probably be attributed to his inappropriately brotherly feelings towards Anakin).

However, if you're so perceptive with the Force but are still only considered a "middling" Jedi Knight (and not even a Master) then that likely means you are lazy and/or inexperienced, which likely means you're not very good at hiding your own Force presence, which likely means *Palpatine is now aware that there's a very powerful Force user on the planet*.  A Force user who can resist his dark side shroud.  A Force user who could possibly throw a wrench in his plans.  A Force user who must, therefore, be eliminated as soon as possible.

So, basically, to answer your question, you're about to have an unfortunate accident.


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

[User]
ELI5: How does the meat industry worsen climate change?

I know I sound like an utter idiot to most of you guys right about now, but I have no idea what the correlation is between meat and climate change. I read people on here typing "Don't eat meat" when talking about how to slow climate change, and It confuses me. When I googled it, I honestly got the impression that "Meat = climate change" was just a given fact that people are expected to know, no explanation needed.

So, once you're done laughing at my ignorance, I would much appreciate an easy to understand explanation that shows how the meat industry accelerates climate change.

Edit: I think this might be Biology-related, but I assigned the Other tag because I'm not sure.

[Assistant] A cattle farm produces as much waste as a small city.  Meat production is highly inefficient; they have to grow grain to feed to the cattle, and the animals produce waste and gaseous emissions.  It takes 3 times as much crops to feed the animals we eat than if we just ate the plants we grow.  Animal farms use a third of the world's fresh water and 30% of all the land on Earth, which generally means people have cleared out forests which leads to higher levels of carbon dioxide, which leads to global warming etc.


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

[User]
[ASOIAF] What are the Westerosi laws and customs regarding homosexuality?

It doesn't seem to be forbidden exactly, because everyone seems to know that Renly and Loras are gay yet Stannis never used that to argue against Renly becoming king.

On the other hand, people are hesitant to talk about how Whoresbane Umber got his nickname, because the whore in question was a man. This suggests it is still considered shameful.

Is there any other information out there?

[Assistant] Consistent with a lot of historical Western culture, from Alexander the Great to (maybe) James Buchanan: it's considered a perversion, but people tend to look the other way if the homosexual in question is a person of power.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are TV car commercials so formulaic?

A list of features, some feel good background narrative, some prices at the end. Almost as formulaic as drug commercials, presumably without the same regulatory restrictions.

[Assistant]
Many car commercials are actually only local broadcast.  Local dealers run commercials using stock car footage supplied by the manufacturer's marketing dept and plug in the VO and titles... they have no budget for anything more complex.

National campaigns are less formulaic.  The Lincoln commercials with Mconaghey are weird as fuck.  Kia used to have man-size hamsters driving their cars.


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

[User] Eli5: I once heard that the relative size of spiders is related to the amount of oxygen in the atmosphere, is this true, and why?

[Assistant]
Yes, generally speaking. Spiders (arachnids) and insects don't have lungs like you and I. The way spiders and insects breathe are slightly different, but in both cases they are limited by how much oxygen in the air is available.

For insects, they get oxygen through tiny holes in their bodies that are connected to a network of tubes. The tubes let the oxygen get into the rest of the bug, oxygen passes through the walls of the tubes, so the farther you get down the tube, the more oxygen has been taken out. More oxygen in the air lets it get further into the bug, meaning that the bug can be bigger and still get enough oxygen. Reduce the oxygen, and it can't reach as far into the bug, so the bug must be smaller to make sure that oxygen can get everywhere.

Spiders have what's called a "book lung" which has little flat sheets that look like the pages of a book, and each little sheet has blood (hemolymph) that circulates through it to carry oxygen away. This eliminates the network of tubes that insects have, but there's no muscles to expand and compress the lung to push air in and out like you or me. It still relies on air passively flowing through a few tiny holes in the abdomen that lead to book lung. Similar to the insects, the oxygen levels decrease from where it enters to the end of the "pages" in the lung. Increase the amount of oxygen, and the book lung could have longer pages and support a bigger spider; decrease the amount of oxygen, and longer pages can't get enough oxygen so the spider needs to be smaller.

Most insects' and most spiders' sizes are not limited only by oxygen, but also by their body shape. The way they breathe sets something of an upper limit to their size based on available oxygen, but all of them are below that limit.


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

[User] ELI5: Are rolling blackouts absolutely necessary, or are they a way for the electric companies to save money during trying times? Why are some residences affected but others aren't?

[Assistant]
Rolling blackouts become necessary when there is far more demand than supply of electric power.

In developed countries with stable and reliable grids they are rare, but in places where the infrastructure is not really fit for purpose you may end up in situations where there is more demand for electricity than you can supply with the power plants you have.

Normally you have vast interconnected power grids where these things can be even out across many different countries and also have power plants that stand by and can be brought online to make up for the shortfall.

In some cases such as isolated power grids on islands, places with poorly maintained infrastructure and developing countries you may find yourself in a situation where there simply is not more power to be had.

If the operators in this case the operators have a choice. If they do nothing, physics happen, the frequency of the electricity on the grid goes down and either breaks a lot of stuff or causes things to automatically shut down to prevent being broken. This would mean no electricity for anyone for a long time.

The other choice is to cut of some customers until the remaining demand matches what you can supply. Critical infrastructure like hospitals etc and things necessary to keep the grid itself running are not going to be cut of.

You could either pick a neighborhood to have no power for a day or you can pick 24 neighborhoods to have no power for an hour each one after the other to lessen the misery by spreading it around.

That is a rolling blackout. The are that gets blacked out rolls around and affects most people for a short time.

It is not good but better then the alternative.

However many people in many places especially ones where corruption is rampant will pointed out that poor neighborhoods seems to be more likely to be hit by that supposedly equal spread of the blackout.

There are also odd cases like the whole Enron thing in California in the US a while back where fraudsters deliberately caused a problem with supply by shutting down plants that were perfectly fine and thus caused the need for blackouts  to make money. They had manged to exploit the electricity was paid for make money from shortages they cause themselves.

Regulations and oversight prevent that sort of thing in most places though.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are we not literally shitting the bed often?

Since being married I've learned that we all fart in our sleep. My wife does it, but she claims I do it a lot.

At the same time, I'm sure we've all trusted a fart we shouldn't have in our lives. So how is it our unconscious self has better control over our bodies than our conscious self?

At first I thought the answer was simply pressure. Enough pressure builds up and just forces it's way out, while our waking self usually tries to force it. But I'm sure there's times #2 has plenty of pressure to force it's way out also.

[Assistant]
Essentially you kind of do.  When you fart, tiny bits will fly out.  However, it's easier for gas to accelerate quickly out of the opening in the sphincter than large solids that are easily seen.   If you blow on a paper wad or something, you'll see how much air you have to blow to propel a solid forward.  It really doesn't take much gas leaving the bowel to relieve the pressure.

If you have enough pure solid in your Colon to force it's way out without gas, you're likely going to wake up, unless you are drunk/drugged, which is why those folks do occasionally shit themself.


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

[User] ELI5: When you lose sleep you feel your body being heavy. What happens inside your body when you don't sleep enough ?

[Assistant]
We really don't know much about sleep. Scientists really don't understand the mechanisms by which it works, why it's important, or even its real purpose - which is crazy considering how important it is to our health.

We know some of the side effects of lacking sleep - your brain cells have a hard time communicating with each other, and your hormone secretion gets out of whack - this is largely what causes the effects you listed in your question.

As for WHY those things happen, we really just don't know. It's really pretty crazy how poorly sleep is understood.


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

[User]
[WH40K] What if every Chaos God became "good"

Just like instead of being the pure face of sin they became the pure face of love and joy?

[Assistant]
The Chaos gods are a corrupting influence. Sure there are would be cultists who go in with deranged murderfucking as their goal from the get go but often the Chaos gods attract the unwary, the bereft, the shorn.

So what if instead of primordial annihilators they were benevolent? Instead of corrupting the weak and impure they absolved them, redeemed them?

In this mirror universe the mindless and violent find themselves put on a path towards righteousness, with Khorne repairing broken men into stoic warriors who wield their weapons in the service of the weak and downtrodden.

Slaanesh would purify mindless hedonists into agents of love, spreading tranquility and grace throughout the galaxy.

Nurgle would take the cynical and stagnant and turn them into heralds of hope, fighting against entropy and bringing healing and salvation to the galaxy.

Tzeentch would take the plotters, conspirators, manipulators and turn them into torchbearers; bringing truth and order to a galaxy long denied both.


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

[User]
ELI5: how do outside temperature readings in cars not be impacted by windchill, engine heat, or being baked by the sun?

I know its not linked to a satellite or radio reading as it reads the temperature from the garage and it changes fast once the car is outside.

[Assistant]
First, wind actually makes a thermometer more accurate. Windchill is something warm people feel because they want to be warm, and the wind makes the skin closer to air temperature, so we say wind chill because it makes our skin colder. But really wind makes things get closer to air temperature, and get to that temperature faster. For a thermometer, that means wind makes it approach the correct reading quicker, and it also means that nearby heat sources put less error into the thermometer.

With that in mind, car manufacturers put the thermometer in the most windy spot of the car they can find. So yes, the sun bakes it and the engine heats it up, but as soon as you move the wind blows on it, and it quickly changes to the right number.


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

[User] ELI5. How can car dealerships be selling 2016 models already when it's only May of 2015?

[Assistant]
The "model year" of a car is mostly a marketing thing, and not an actual description of when the car was made.  A "20XX model" car is generally used to mean "the model that will be on sale for the majority of the year 20XX."  In the US, there is only one regulation surrounding which year number they can use:

>In the United States, for regulation purposes, government authorities allow cars of a given model year to be sold starting on January 2 of the previous calendar year. For example, this means that a 2017 model year vehicle can legally go on sale on January 2, 2016.

So you can't sell a "2017 model" car in 2015.


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

[User] [40k] I have just woken up on a hive world transported from my comfy life here in our time to the 40th millennia. i am not in the underhive but somewhere in the middle. How long do i have left to live ?

[Assistant]
It depends.  If you survive past the first few hours you'll probably live a few decades.

You'll be undocumented, have a peculiar accent, and not know the first thing about how to survive in the hive world, but many of the lower classes in Hive worlds suffer from similar handicaps and they get along just fine.  You will likely be swept up like any other indigent, run through the bureaucracy until it realizes you have no idea where you are, and have no skills relevant to the 40k hive world.    Hive bureaucracy isn't trigger happy about heresy the way the Inquisition is, so even if you accidentally say something out of place, it'll be chalked up to stupidity instead of malice.

You will eventually be assigned to a work factory where you will perform some kind of manual labor 12-15 hours per day in exchange for enough food to live and a cot to sleep on.  This life will continue until you die of exhaustion or disease.

The high level of pollution in the Hive will cut your lifespan to a fraction of what it would be here on earth, but they do keep things clean enough to ensure the workforce is able to survive and produce long enough to bring up another generation.


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

[User] [DC] Why doesnt Powergirl wear the House of El S symbol anywhere on her?

[Assistant]
At one point she mentioned that she wanted to create her own symbol to put on her costume, but could never come up with anything, so she just left the hole there.
She fully admits she knows people think she's being lewd but she can't think of anything. The hole is both literal and a symbolism of the emptiness she feels inside.


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

[User]
CMV: Astrology is fake

Astrology and horoscopes makes no sense. It is statistically innacurate to describe peoples traits based on their birth date and time. Theres no valid science behind it. It makes absolutely no sense to read daily horoscopes in newspapers. There is no rational way to explain how 1/12 of the population will inexplicably meet the woman of your dreams the same day. It is just smoke and mirrors. The people who write that nonsense basically overshoot and try to layout multiple guesses for gullible people to believe. Most the time it doesnt hit anything and when it does most people are like OMG! How did he knew!? and right away completely ignore that 99% of the time it is wrong.

I also hate it when people ask my sign and when I tell them usually (specially women) put this face like oh I figured! And they frame me into a stupid stereotype.

I think people take it for granted that astrology is a fact, and never stop to think about it.

I wont tell you my sun sign. Want to guess?

Edit: I may sound a bit upset, but it is not my intention.

Edit #2: some people have suggested to say false instead of fake. I do agree false may be more appropiate/precise in the sense of holding truth. Does not change much the intention of the idea.

[Assistant]
This is like fortune telling, ofc its fake, but its fun... No reason to get upset.

However, assigning traits to birth months can have some merit.

Think of it this way, when kids enter a social construct, lets say school, each class will have all the kids that were born in the same calendar year.

So a kid born in January, will be in the same class as a kid born in December. They will be almost a year apart! Thats huge for 5-6 year olds.
So that kid who was born in January, will probably be more developed physically than the December kid.
But they will be taught the same material so seeing as they cant compete physically, December kids will focus more on studies.

You can come up with many more theories regarding the time of year a person was born and how it effects his  school life and therefore development as a person.


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

[User]
What is the theoretical limit to lossless data compression?

Binary (digital) information is represented as 1s and 0s. Obviously with only two potential states, you can't store the information of an entire photograph.

Assuming unlimited processing power, what's the smallest possible compression ratio for any type of lossless compression?

[Assistant]
Lossless compression makes use of known patterns in the data to reduce the number of symbols required to describe the data.  All lossless compression schemes either *do nothing* or *expand* most of their possible inputs. It's easy to see why: with *n* symbols, each of which can take any of *b* values, you can represent any of *b^n* possible patterns.  If you shrink the input to some number *m*, with *m*<*n*, then you can only represent *b^m* possible patterns, leaving *b^n - b^m* patterns unrepresented in the smaller space.  If the scheme is lossless, then it has to represent those patterns somehow, and the only way to do it is to use additional symbols (i.e. to expand the input).

The trick in designing a compression scheme is to notice that some patterns are more likely to occur than others.  The likeliest ones get the shortest representation and the unlikely ones can get long representations, because they don't turn up very often.

That line of thought leads to *Huffman coding*, which is a scheme that  dynamically identifies the most common symbol sequences in a stream, and represents them with short compressed representations, while uncommon ones get longer representations.  The term "Huffman coding" is colloquially used to describe anything that carries out that kind of optimization -- for example, many coding environments abbreviate common commands.

There's a whole body of mathematical theory (information and coding theory) that has developed around questions like yours, and it centers on the amount of "entropy" in a block of data.  This information-theoretic entropy is closely related to thermodynamic entropy -- it formalizes the concept of ignorance:  a system about which you have (or can glean) a lot of knowledge has low or no entropy, while a system about which you have little knowledge has high entropy.

In the very unlikely event that you know *exactly* what you want to represent in advance, then you can perform lossless compression at staggeringly high ratios.  For example, if you know that you're about to receive an MP4 video stream of either the Star Wars initial trilogy or the first season of Star Trek, you can compress all 10^13 or so bits of the stream into a single bit (1 for Star Wars, 0 for Star Trek).  But if even one bit of either video stream is different than you expect, you will need to add more bits to represent that change.

In less absurd cases you can compress to the entropy limit of the stream.  English text coded as ASCII has about 1 bit of entropy per character, so you can compress about 8:1 in most cases.  ASCII anime have considerably less entropy and can be compressed losslessly much more than that.  Uniform-probability random bitstreams have 8 bits of entropy per byte and you can't actually compress them losslessly at all (on average).

**Edit:**  the information-theoretic entropy *is* the message being carried by the data -- it's the good part.  This is backwards for people who are used to thermodynamics, but it makes sense. The part of the coded symbol stream that is *predictable* carries no new information, since (after all) you could predict it.  The "message" is the new knowledge you glean by examining the symbol stream, that you couldn't predict in advance -- i.e. the entropy.  The point of lossless compression, then, is to pile as much entropy onto as few symbols as possible, so that it's very hard to predict the next symbol of a message stream while receiving the message.


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

[User] Is the Sun Radioactive?

[Assistant] The fusion in the sun produces a lot of radioactivity: positrons, gamma rays, neutrinos. The neutrinos leave quickly but the positrons and photons interact quickly with the surroundings in the solar interior. Because of its heat the sun emits a lot of thermal radiation, some of which is in the x-ray/gamma-ray end of the spectrum. It also shoots out a lot of protons and electrons as solar wind.


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

[User]
How would the water cycle be affected if we were to switch to hydrogen as a fuel for the majority of cars?

Would there be a net change in the amount of water on the planet? What would be the ramifications long term (100 years, or more into the future)?

[Assistant]
It depends on the source of the hydrogen. If hydrogen is obtained through electrolysis of water then the net change would be zero. However electrolysis of water is a relatively expensive way of obtaining hydrogen.

Currently the most common way of obtaining hydrogen is through refining natural gas (natural gas reforming) or biomass gasification. Both process requires water in their chemical process However neither is carbon neutral and the refining process produces CO and CO2 so neither process really abates the accumulation of greenhouse gases.

The hope is that renewable energy can be made cheap enough that electrolysis of water can be done economically to displace fossil or biomass sources of hydrogen. There are possibilities of genetic engineering bacterias that produces hydrogen as a byproduct through some kind of biological process which would be carbon neutral but this is still an area of active research.

All of that is the preface and context needed to answer your question. The amount of changes to the water cycle depends on how the hydrogen is primarily going to be sourced in the future. Both natural gas reforming and biomass gasification are water intensive chemical processes and may have impact on the local water source near where the refineries are located. On a planetary scale the consumption of natural gas derived hydrogen means an effective mass transfer of hydrogen in the form of hydrocarbons to the form of water. The amount of hydrocarbons on the earth is pretty insignificant compared to the amount of water on the planet so the net change in water through these process would be negligible (my assumption as Im an engineer and not a geologist; please correct me if Im wrong here).

If hydrogen is sourced from electrolysis using renewable energy then the local impact on the water cycle will again be dependent on where the water sources are drawn from. On a planetary scale there will be no net change in the amount of water on the planet. The water to hydrogen+water back to water cycle is essentially a means to store and transport the energy used for electrolysis.


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

[User]
Fellowship says "annual salary of X, including fringe and indirect" -- what is fringe and indirect?

What the title says.

I was awarded a postdoc fellowship that says the above. What does it mean by fringe and indirect?

I'm new to the world of fellowships.

Edit: Ok, I found that in a different place they mention it as:

>cover an annual postdoc salary of $XYZ, plus fringe and indirect costs (capped at 35%)

So I guess that means that the $XYZ is entirely the salary paycheck I'll get (before taxes)?

Edit: Thanks everyone, I'm seeing that they seem to say two different things at two places on their website. I'll just email and ask.

[Assistant] Fringe is insurance and other non-salary benefits that you receive. Indirects are charges the university adds to grants to cover its costs of administering grants and supporting research. The agency is saying that it will cover your salary plus up to 35% for these other things. Fringe and indirects are typically much higher than that, so the institution will have to eat some of the costs. That is something you will have to get pre-approved through your sponsored projects office at proposal submission time.


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

[User]
[Iron Giant] What is the world like after the movie ends?

A talking 100 ft. tall metal robot from space got blown up by a nuclear missile. News had to travel fast.

What is the world view on this? How does it affect national and economic relations?

[Assistant]
Obviously, the military had time to examine and analyze that piece they found. Using rudimentary techniques, they eventually extrapolate the rough designs of the machine and begin construction. In this universe, it's more than likely the transistor isn't invented. Computers remain large and bulky. Nuclear energy is utilized and compartmentalized and the two techs are brought together to realize a weapon of enormous value.

Liberty Prime. Democracy is non-negotiable.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the US college tuition so high?

And where is the money going? Are all colleges private?

[Assistant]
Price discrimination. Those who can afford to pay, do so. Those who can't are given various amounts of financial aid to lower the price to a more reasonable amount.

At least it works like that ideally. In actuality many people have to take out loans, although by going to state schools you can limit those loans to well under $50k. But making all college free would just help the rich more than anyone else, since they pay by far the most college tuition.


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

[User]
[DC] How come Superman doesn't have a blue lantern ring?

There have been more than a few occasions where he's been personified as hope incarnate. So why doesn't the man who believes that everyone could be the best version of their self have the lantern ring that reflects what he embodies?

[Assistant] It is shown in the Blackest Night that Superman actually represents the entire emotional Spectrum equally. With hope, you have to both inspire and feel a great amount of it which is why Flash becomes a Blue Lantern. Flash inspires so much hope that it is mentioned that Batman actually looks up to Barry.


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

[User]
[Vampires] What if I invite a vampire into my house and then get evicted?

The bank forecloses and repossesses my house.  What happens to any vampires?  When, exactly, does it happen?

[Assistant] If you are evicted *and* you move out, then the place is no longer your home and the vampire is free to move in and out as (s)he please. If the landlord rents it out to somebody else *and* the new tenants see it as their homes, the vampire will be forced out and unable to come back in unless invited.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Why can't dead people be brought back to life, while transfigurating into an inanimate object and back was?

We saw in the movies, that you can turn animals and other living creatures into inanimate objects, like trinkets, and turn them back into the animals they were before. Yet, in this inanimate object form, they are basically dead, since a trinket isn't a living creature, but you can still turn them back into their former self, which means you basically take a living creature, kill it with the transfiguration spell and then bring it back to live.

And if you can do that, why can't you bring back people and animals that died in other ways, like from the Kedavra spell. Or asked differently, when Dumbledore dies, what stops Harry from turning his corpse into a rock and then back into a living Dumbledore?

[Assistant]
Dumbledore's soul would move onto the afterlife, so if you did manage to make a technically alive Dumbledore, it would be a soulless husk without any of the personality of Dumbledore.

You could turn Dumbledore's corpse into some sort of magically animated object like an Inferi, but it wouldn't return his magic or personality in a meaningful way.

We have seen that some very rare magics can return spirits of the dead from the afterlife, so if you can do that you might be able to bind their souls back into their bodies somehow. This necromancy was not expanded on in the Harry Potter books, as they were not written from the perspective of Voldemort.


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

[User]
Why is it common for humans and other animals to freeze when panicking?

When a person ends up in a situation where he panics, the body's reaction is to release adrenaline and react quickly, run away or fight etc. Your response time is shorter and your reflexes are better.
But when facing a speeding train that will definitely kill you you freeze, unable to move. Other animals does this too, stopping in front of a speeding car for example.
Why is this? Does it always happen?

[Assistant] There is also the watchful waiting theory. You hear a noise.  Do you run, investigate, or stay put? Often you are waiting for more information, so you stay put. Calorically, you should not expend energy with curiosity or flight unless absolutely required. Any single person who hears a strange noise late at night has probably experienced this.  You pause, sometimes even pause breathing, straining to hear something more. You are not in flight or fight, yet, but you are very alert.


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

[User]
Is ironoxide soluble in water?

If so, what is it that makes it soluble? If not, what is the that makes it nonsoluble?
I looked at the difference in electronegativity between iron and oxide and figured it was polar. Since water also is polar I thought it would be soluble in water, but when I later on was looking at ironoxide on wikipedia it said it was nonsouble in water. I'm pretty bad at chemistry, would be great if someone could explain.

[Assistant]
When a material dissolves in water, three main things must happen.  First, the material must be broken up into its consitutent ions or molecules.  Second, water has to spread apart to make room for the individual pieces in solution.  Third, the individual pieces must be surrounded by water (solvated).

It always is unfavorable to break a solid up into pieces because those interactions were doing a good job holding the solid together.  It is also always unfavorable to spread water apart because water molecules are strongly attracted to other water molecules.  The solvation process that occurs after this is always favorable because new attractive solvent-solute interactions are forming.  Whether or not something is soluble is dependent mainly on how unfavorable the first step is compared to how favorable the third step is (the second step is pretty much the same all the time).

For iron oxide, the bonds holding together the solid are very strong.  In solution, iron oxide exists as hydrated iron hydroxide, a neutral species that is capable of forming extremely favorable bonds with water.  Unfortunately, those interactions are not as strong as those that iron hydroxide can form with itself, and it does not dissolve in water to any significant extent.


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

[User]
ELI5: What happens to your fart when you hold it in and it 'passes'?

Yeah so does it just stay in there or what? How come I don't need to fart after it passes? I know it has to come out again, but where does it go?

[Assistant] Your colon is an air tight tube.  The ONLY way a fart is getting out is through the anus.  When you hold a fart in, you pushing it back up above the internal anal sphincter.  Pressure below the internal anal sphincter and around the external anal sphincter is that "i have to fart" or "i gotta poop" sensation.  More pressure around the external sphincter leads to greater stretching of the sphincter.  Greater stretching = greater urge.  The fart will eventually come back down, you've just temporarily forced it further up "inside", beyond the physical point in the colon where you can feel the urge to let it out.


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

[User]
MacOS No Longer Supports 32-Bit Programs

I know this is not news, but whatever.

Since MacOS no longer supports 32-bit programs, I cannot play certain games on Steam on it (ik, Macs are not for gaming, but BL2 runs fine). My question is, why is it not as simple as adding 32 0s to the beginning of everything in order to convert it into 64-bit? If it *is* that simple, why doesn't the computer just do that automatically whenever a 32-bit program is opened?

[Assistant] You are correct. If it was as simple as adding the extra zeroes for padding then you could do just that. The issue is that what we call 32 bit and 64 bit are actually not really the same instruction set. 32 bit is Intel x86 and 64 bit is AMD64 (which can also be considered an extension of x86). AMD64 has different calling conventions as well as different memory modes from x86 which means that they arent 100% compatible and running 32 bit apps on a 64 bit processor was always going through a translation layer even if you didnt realize (look up WOW64)


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

[User] ELI5: Why do we pay ISPs for internet speed, but mobile network operators for the amount of transferred data?

[Assistant]
there are more bottlenecks in a mobile (radio) network, due both to technology and cost and available radio spectrum (a lot of it is used for other stuff already, a lot of it just isn't suitable for high data rates)

There are physical limits on how much data (to and from all users at once) can be handled on the set of frequencies the networks are allowed to use.

Those bottle necks do improve over time, as smaller cells, or better ways to squash and encode data are developed but it's a much more lumpy or punctuated process of evolution than say just sticking a fatter internet pipe, or more pipes in the ground.

If you want to introduce a new way of squashing data onto a radio signal, as well as updating the backbone you need to get every phone or device manufacturer on board and ready for a new standard as well as continue to run older networks alongside newer ones for everyone's existing devices, still using the same set of frequencies and capacities... gradually phasing from one standard to another over time... If you want to use different frequencies, you need to get multiple nation states and goverments to agree which is a massive pain in the bum to do and takes time.

basically mobile networks have a different priority because they have harder limits on resources (bandwidth).

in reality both networks  are constantly improving speed and capacity and both have caps, the caps are just more visible for mobile networks because of the physics of radio.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Why didn't Doctor Manhattan "see" any of this coming.

From my understand, DR Manhattan perceives time all at once, not so much as "hey can you look in the future for me" but more of he experiences the past present and future all happening at once around him. Now they explain that Ozymandias uses some sciencey stuff to blocks Manhattan from seeing what exactly he was doing. But this begs the question, wouldn't he have always been unable to see that period of time, wouldn't that be kinda sus?  Better yet, would he be able to see after that period of time?

[Assistant] Dr. Manhattan didn't see it coming because he saw himself that he never saw it coming. He might have actually known how the whole thing would play out, but can't do anything to stop it. To him the future is set in stone.


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

[User]
Integral of (x+1) can be solved in 2 ways and gets 2 solutions, why?

When solving the integral of (x+1) i get to solutions.

When i solve it by just splitting up x and 1, I get x/2 + x + c.

When i solve it with substitution i get  x/2 + x + 1/2 +  c.

So why do i get 2 differnt solutions and are they the same cause of  the c?

edit: Thanks alot guys!!!

[Assistant]
They're still the same. The two constants you've given the same name aren't really the same. If you call the second *c* for *d*, then you should find that *d* = *c*  .

The *c* just means that integrals are defined uniquely only up to constants. Two different antideravatives may differ by a constant.


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

[User] mass-energy equivalence or E=mc2...why the speed of light squared?

[Assistant]
This is a frequently asked question.

Here's one part of the answer: "c" is not really just the speed of light. "c" is the fastest speed anything can achieve in the universe. It's the universal speed limit. Light moves really fast. At the speed limit (in a vacuum). It isn't the only thing that moves that fast, but it's the most famous thing.

But for example changes in gravity also propagate at that speed. So you could also call "c" "the speed of changes of gravity."


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

[User] ELI5: I'm black. Why are my palms and the bottoms of my feet white?

[Assistant] Essentially it is a different type of skin (glabrous) which doesn't normally have the cells (melanocytes) which produce the dark pigment (melanin) and is hence much lighter than the rest of your skin.


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

[User] [Star Trek] If replicators turn matter into energy, do you get any energy back when you de-replicate something? (like all those extra dishes and silverware that come with replicated food)

[Assistant]
When replicators are being used, we see frequent references to matter reserves. This implies that there isn't a *pure* energy -> matter conversion going on, and there is some dematerialised matter held in the replicator system, used during the replication process.

It makes sense. It'd be far more energy efficient to dematerialise a bunch of base elements, hold them in storage, then rearrange them into set patterns. Doing it pure energy -> matter would use up orders of magnitude more energy.


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

[User] ELI5: How do we know that smaller Hominid species like Homo Floriensis arent just misidentified juvenile members of other Hominid species?

[Assistant] You can tell people are still growing by if their bones are fused or not.  For example if the femur is still growing the caps wont be attached, if they are attached you know they've reached their adult height for that bone.


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

[User] How are sutures dissolved if they are made of chitin and if chitin has beta-glycosidic bonds like cellulose?

[Assistant] Humans have two functional chitinases (enzymes that break down chitin molecules) that can break down the chitin in the sutures your describe.  They may take longer to dissolve than other types of dissolvable sutures, however.