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

[User]
ELI5: why do some people sweat substantially quicker/more often than others?

I know someone whe sweats almost every time they sit on leather (like their legs/rear end) even when they are not necessarily hot. It might be normal room temp, but they might still be sweating... Why?

[Assistant] Your training level also plays a part in sweating. A highly trained athlete will sweat much more and much faster than an average person.  This is an adaptation their body went through because they are much active more and need more sweat to cool down. You can see this when NBA players warm up and they are already starting to sweat even before the game starts.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can spiders hang upside down for long stretches of time? When if we did that the blood would rush to our head and cause us pain.

[Assistant] Because invertebrates like arachnids and insects don't have a closed circulatory system with blood like we do. They are essentially hollow exoskeletons filled with fluid. Their "blood" is already everywhere it can be so there is no sense of it rushing to one part of their body or another.


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

[User]
Panicking: Only one course prepared out of three

I am a new assistant teaching professor and my first semester went okay, I have received the reviews yet, I am supposed to be teaching 3 different courses next term and I have spent my entire holidays studying (eat and study thats all I have done, no christmas nothing) but I have only managed to prepare one course and now I am panicking, classes start in two weeks and I am very very stressed. I never imagined but I am finding this job very very hard but this is also what I always wanted to do, I am not sure how to deal with this stress.

[Assistant] Your immediate priority should be to get your syllabus in order for each class and prep the first week's worth of lectures. This is totally doable in two weeks! Don't worry if you're rushed and the selected readings aren't perfect or the flow is a bit off. You will probably want to change a lot about the class after teaching it anyways and it's hard to know what will or won't work before you try it.


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

[User]
What senses does an ordinary house fly have? And to what extent does it use them to operate?

I'm creating a first person fly simulator game and I'm interested in getting a better understanding of how exactly an ordinary fly moves, avoids obstacles, finds food, evades danger and so forth.

The game will sacrifice authenticity for fun where needed, but I would like it to be scientifically accurate in general.

My primary points of interest are obviously vision, but also the sense of hearing/feeling? Like if something loud happens, a fly will be spooked, but through what means did it sense it? Did it hear it? Sense vibrations in the air through antennae? Is it able to distinguish the direction the sound came from? To what extent does its own flight make it harder to "hear"?

When hunting food, does it capture food particles in the air and follow them to the food?

[Assistant]
They have very effective compound eyes which give them nearly panoramic vision, which is strongly tuned to detect motion. They also are covered with hairs which terminate in chemoreceptors, so they "taste" their environment as well. When a fly lands on something, it's tasting that thing and deciding if it's good to eat, or maybe reproduce around. Their "taste" and their ability to smell chemicals in the air are essentially interchangeable too, and how they find food.

Finally, depending on the fly they may have specialized organs to sense vibrations; their version of "hearing". Often this will be the result of a tympanal organ in the legs, ganglions at the base of some hairs, and some (like the dreaded mosquito) use an organ at the base of the antenna called Johnston's organ.


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

[User]
[X-Men] Why don't Feral mutants ever seem to suffer from sensory input issues with all their enhanced superhuman senses?

Like normal people with just   slightly enhance senses like good/sensitive hearing or touch sensitivity , or a sensitive sense of snell etc have trouble with sensory input issues like loud noises and certain smells  so how is it feral mutants  like Wolverine and Sabertooth who wake up one day with superhuman variants seem to have none of these issues ? Even Psychic mutants seem to have trouble with all they're extra input from their new Psychic senses  but not ferals?

[Assistant]
Ok, so humans have one of the best senses of vision in the animal kingdom- it's really only birds of prey that outmatch us. In terms of detail, we can see more about the world then basically anyone else. Are you overwhelmed by this?

Well, no. It's not an amazing sense of vision to you, it's a normal one.

Same here. The Ferals might have had a problem at first, but for now its been years. They're used to it- as far as they're concerned, they're just getting a normal amount of sensory information.

(Sensory overload is caused by problems *processing* sensory information- it's psychological. It's not just a matter of seeing/hearing/smelling a lot.)


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

[User] [DC] Since there exist a mathematical evidence that everyone should serve Darkseid, will Martian Manhunter understand this if he reads Darkseid's mind?

[Assistant]
Well, the trick is that normally, Darkseid doesn't HAVE the anti-life equation, that his goal is to find the fragments of it that are hidden in the minds of certain humans, and that's why he's out to conquer Earth, to make acquiring the equation easier.

But yes, if Darkseid does have the Anti-Life Equation, then when the Martian Manhunter read his mind, he'd become overwhelmed with the knowledge that Darkseid Is and submit.


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

[User] [Fallout] are bottle caps good currency? if so what are the limitations of them?

[Assistant]
Bottle Caps were originally used by traders at The Hub and backed by water. IIRC, one bottle cap was originally worth a Nuka Cola bottle worth of clean water.

The technology needed to produce more bottle caps has been (kinda but not really) lost after the war. It's entirely possible to create a new bottle cap by hand but the process is so time consuming it's not worth it.

For a time, bottle caps were phased out and replaced by NCR dollars which were backed by gold. Unfortunately, the NCR gold reserves were destroyed and people reverted back to bottle caps.


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

[User] Why does lava release so many dangerous gases and particles when it touches sea water? Where are all those poisonous gases/materials exactly coming from?

[Assistant]
Water expands in volume by 1600 when it phase changes into steam. The expansion causes explosions which spray tiny shards of now hardening volcanic rock, some of which are small enough to be breathed in.

As for the chemicals, I've been reading that there is a large amount of sulphur dioxide gas being produced by the lava flows. ~~This gas is caused by the oxidation of the elemental sulfur within the lava rock. Another~~ Further, an oxidized state of sulfur is sulfuric acid, which can be formed both by elemental sulfur and sulfur dioxide when in contact with water. A similar process takes place which leaches out minerals from flooded abandoned mines in a persistent chemical process creating acid mine drainage. Because of the high heat, any acids created in the water by hydrolyzing the lava would be carried away in the steam, being dangerous to anything nearby.


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

[User] [Batman franchise] 1 If Wayne Enterprises Inc. is so successful and Bruce Wayne is such a well-known philantropist, why do people think he's a complete playboy dunce?

[Assistant] Because Lucius Fox runs the business.  Bruce Wayne is at least publicly not very involved in the business, and in most iterations I've seen he's just not involved period unless he needs to be for Batman purposes.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why would a general and hardened war veteran jump right in the middle of a densely populated enemy base and say "Hello There"

What is the strategic nous behind it?

[Assistant] He knew Commander Cody and Republic reinforcements were on the way.  By this point, Kenobi had gleaned all the information he could from spying on Grievous, so remaining hidden wasn't inherently beneficial to the mission.  Causing a distraction would be very valuable, though, as it would give Cody and his troops a chance to ambush Grievous and his droids quickly.  Knowing that Grievous was too proud to back down from a duel, but too cowardly not to keep his droids nearby in case things went south, Kenobi decided to make a grand entrance.  It worked; Grievous dueled Kenobi, and his droids kept their eyes (optical sensors?) locked on the fight in case their general needed bailing out.  If Commander Cody and his batallion were ever spotted, Grievous didn't know until it was far too late to plan something.


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

[User] [Fallout] Was there only a single Big Mountain or did the US have other top secret facilities devoted to Science! or was it purely the best of the best of the best and no other facility had even close to its resources (human and otherwise)? Did they really put all their eggs in one fruit basket?

[Assistant]
Big Mountain was not one of the only science facility, not even close.

I was going to pull up a list but, as it happens, the Fallout wiki doesn't have a category for "science labs".

If you go into any of the games, you'll find a handful of research centers, labs, military bases and vaults that the US either ran or contracted out to pursue man made horrors beyond your comprehension.

Arguably the most famous is Mariposa, the military base where the FEV was created and where the BoS first came to be.


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

[User]
[Star Trek: TNG] Question about "The Inner Light"

Did Picard know how to weave iron when he "woke up" as an iron weaver? Apparently he could speak the language (or heard it as English), but didn't know anything about the planet, culture, etc. How about his own job?

[Assistant] Since the whole experience happened in his head, I'd always assumed the background knowledge of Kataan and its Ressikan culture was similarly "downloaded" to JLP when he interfaced with the probe.  Alternatively, they (Kamin's family) could have played up his amnesia and extended it to his work as well.


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

[User]
What are the differences between Chernobyl, the Tsar Bomba and a modern day nuclear weapon / device in terms of radioactivity?

I'm curious about which would be the most dangerous post explosion. I just finished watching the Netflix show Chernobyl but I'm curious if it was hyped up a little for Hollywood or if its completely realistic, and how it compares to other nuclear events?

Thanks in advanced!

[Assistant]
The whole point of a nuclear bombs is that is uses up as much of its radioactive material as fast as possible to create an explosion (usually only 50% or so). Modern day ones then use this to initiate a fusion reaction which produces far more energy, without any more radioactive fallout.

These bombs require a minimum of 50kg of highly enriched uranium to produce an explosion (fat man had 64kg). Logically this results in a minimum of 25kg of still actively radioactive material distributed after the explosion.

In Chernobyl, there was well over a tonne of this same radioactive material, producing far far more radiation.

There is a different type of nuke however, called a salted bomb. In these the fission core is surrounded by a material that becomes radioactive when it absorbed a lot of neutrons. Whilst it wouldn't produce the same levels of radiation as Chernobyl, it would be over a much greater area, causing more damage.


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

[User] [Marvel] What are some ways to hide your thoughts from a telepath?

[Assistant] If you have to hide something important, think about fucking them. This happened to Ultimate Spider-Man. Jean thanked him for being the only one not to think of her naked but then he started thinking about it cause she brought it up and he couldnt stop. Do that and the telepath wont be able to get the important info because youre too busy thinking about shagging them. Also theyll stop mind reading you out of disgust.


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

[User]
CMV: Stores should mark the full price of goods on the shelf.

This was something that really annoyed me when i visited America being charged a difference price to what was on the shelf for goods. I think that stores should include tax on the shelf price for items they sell, it's ridiculous that stores can advertise a product at a certain price and charge another for it. It means that customers have to do the calculations themselves rather than by themselves, and because stores usually like to advertise products at a nice round number, the product usually ends up actually costing a less convenient number.

For example a soda might be $2.99 on the shelf and really cost $3.14 giving you 76 cents in coin change rather than 1c. (Also fuck pennies but I think people won't disagree on that.)

Please change my view and explain what this systems benefits are.

[Assistant]
This system allows businesses with multiple locations to have standardized prices.  This is good fit the business, because it makes labeling inventory easier, and it means they don't have to spend time re-labeling their inventory if the tax rate changes.

It also means that there's less internal competition between nearby locations of the same business.  People are more likely to go to the location with lower sales tax if the list price of the item is lower.  This makes it harder for businesses to justify having multiple nearby locations, and will cut tax revenue from areas with higher sales tax.


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

[User]
[Batman] Do any of Batman's relations with his rogues come even as close to as deep and complex as his relation with the Joker? Do the other rogues generate any significant levels of complicated emotions in Batman (compared to the Joker)?

Are the penguin, the riddler, two face, etc even close to as integral of the mythos and personality of Batman as the Joker is? For instance I don't get the feeling the penguin and the Batman particularly evoke much feeling in each other other than when they're butting heads.

[Assistant] Harvey Dent was his best friend. Catwoman is his primary love interest. These two seem to be those he has the closest relationships with. And being friend and lover, is likely more complex than arch enemy of Joker.


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

[User] ELI5 : How come most people who lost their memories but never forget their language vocabulary?

[Assistant] Speech and memory are controlled by different areas of the brain. The hippocampus is located in the brain's temporal lobe and is involved with the formation of memory, while Broca's area in the left hemisphere is involved with language. Depending on what caused the amnesia, the speech region can remain unaffected and allow the amnesiac to still speak.


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

[User] ELI5: how do doctors/scientists determine if a tumor is benign or malignant?

[Assistant]
By its behavior, location, cellular markers, and/or appearance. It really depends on the cancer.

Just to frame, the difference between a benign and malignant tumor can look like this:

First, a cluster of cells arises that will now divide outside the normal pattern (e.g. keeping one side of the environment in one direction, etc.) Oh, but it can't form a cancer because it still responds to the immune system.

Next, it develops a mutation that expresses an immune-inactivating surface ligand. Now it can both divide in the wrong orientation, and it can deactivate the immune response to itself. Oh, but it runs out of blood supply quickly as the tumor grows.

Next, it develops a mutation that lets it release molecules that signal new vascularizaiton (e.g. veins). Now it has a fresh blood supply and plenty of nutrients to continue growing. Oh, but it still only knows how to divide within this specific tissue environment in contact with other like cells.

Next, it develops a mutation that allows it to divide without any contact. It is now a metastasizing tumor, and can spread to many different tissue types (this is usually where the host dies).

The path from normal tissue --> benign tumor --> malignancy is a spectrum. Some cells have to go through ~8 major mutations, others only have to go through ~2. There are a wide variety of tumor-promoting mutations in skin cells, for example, that are benign unless you go through a long list like above.


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

[User]
[Undertale] Two questions about things before and during the Asgore encounter... (Spoilers)

1) If you die to Asgore and try using the "Talk" option in the next fight, you tell him that he has killed you before, and then he sadly nods. Why would Asgore have any reason to understand this statement?

2) Right before the throne room, there is a storage room with seven coffins. One of them has the name [Player] on it, the name you type at the beginning. This coffin is empty. It's implied that this coffin is for the character you've been playing as, but their name isn't [Player], it's Frisk, and [Player] is actually the name of the human child adopted by the royal family years ago. So, who is the coffin for? If it is for Frisk, why is the name wrong?

[Assistant]
> Why would Asgore have any reason to understand this statement?

He's the king of the underworld, which includes being Sans and Alphys superior. One of them, of Flowey, could have told him about the ability to SAVE.

> So, who is the coffin for? If it is for Frisk, why is the name wrong?

Nobody except Frisk himself knows his name outside of the Pacifist Route, so they can't label it with his name.

To answer your question, it's meant for Frisk. Why is it labeled [Player] then? Because it *also* is the coffin in which the First Child was placed after their death.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why is older force knowledge sought after? What did they know so long ago that has since been lost?

[Assistant]
Twenty years ago, the Jedi had a massive temple on Coruscant, and were the go-to ambassadors and generals of the Republic. Today, they're regarded as a funny story your grandpa tells when he's been hitting the death sticks too hard.

Basically, no one in the *SW* universe has ever written anything down, and if they did it was in a forbidden language etched into the blade of a giant, impractical dagger. Transfer of knowledge is not great with these folks.

Anyway, there is demonstrable evidence that Force users were more powerful in the Old Old Republic. Yoda and Windu talk about how their ability to foresee future events is crumbling, to the point they might need to inform the Senate that they can't have their back anymore. And on the Sith side of things, they used to be a galactic powerhouse, conquering worlds like some kids collect pogs, or pokemon, or whatever the fuck they're wasting their allowances on these days. Now? The Sith are two guys, one who had a really shitty plastic surgeon, and the other who's a semi-mute cyborg spider demon.

The Force users running around post *RotJ* are piecing together scraps of legend and shreds of lore, trying to figure out why they used to be the most respected - and feared - warriors in the galaxy.


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

[User]
CMV: Democrats should confirm Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court.

First off, I am not going to make the ideological case for Mr. Gorsuch. He is by most experts' consideration as conservative, if not more conservative than Scalia. However, I do not think this man is naive enough to strike down the individual direct contribution limit of campaign finance - I think he is rational enough to understand what de facto bribery is and its deleterious effect on silencing the voice of the poor. I understand women, lgbt, strict 4th Amendment people, and evangelicals have different litmus tests that they are justified standing up for, but I think the onus is upon us to make the Constitution unambiguous, rather than lambast someone for doing what they honestly believe is upholding the Constitution with a lifetime of judicial expertise.

1. Moral. There is no moral high ground in responding to Republicans' childishness and irresponsible governance in kind. This is clear in theology and in law. Citizens are punished for responding to theft with theft, violence with violence, libel with libel, and eyes with eyes. In theology, Jesus, MLK, and Gandhi all believed only pleasure was to be achieved in retribution in kind, not moral satisfaction.

2. Job description. Part of our lawmakers' jobs are to make government run effectively, and make sure judicial appointments are up to the task and ethically faithful. Gorsuch seems to fulfill the latter, which thus makes Democrats responsibility to do the former. While Republicans shirked this duty, it is not D Congressmen's job to punish them for it, it is the voters' job.

3. Political gains. Democrats have the opportunity to make McConnell and Ryan jump through hoops to get this guy confirmed. They can ask McConnell to publically retract his comments about the justification for filibustering a qualified judicial nominee during the Obama administration. Democrats have the opportunity to cast the Republicans alone as hypocrites for a generation. I think Dem Congressmen and voter anger is clouding the opportunity this nomination presents.

4. Trump is a madman. Dems should make the determination if they truly want to filibuster a nominee for four years, when Republicans did it for only one. At this point, we should realize that nothing is beneath Donald Trump. The number of men appointed by Trump who seem to take the obligations of their job seriously (judging by their embracing the scientific method or not) can be counted on one hand. Gorsuch seems to be one of those. It would show internal inconsistency to oppose Sessions, Pruitt, Price, Devos because of ethical and partisan characteristics which Gorsuch does not seem to have.

[Assistant]
>Political gains. Democrats have the opportunity to make McConnell and Ryan jump through hoops to get this guy confirmed. They can ask McConnell to publically retract his comments about the justification for filibustering a qualified judicial nominee during the Obama administration. Democrats have the opportunity to cast the Republicans alone as hypocrites for a generation.

Republican voters don't care if their leaders are hypocrites. Just as Democratic voters don't care if theirs are. Your senator being a hypocrite might make you support a challenger in the primary, but it's unlikely to make you switch parties over it. The two bases draw from fundamentally opposed value sets.

That said, many Democratic voters are pushing for their leaders to use the same scorched-earth tactics that the Republicans used against Obama for 8 years. Trying to be the grown-ups in the room is likely to cost them more voters than it will gain them. Republican voters won't be impressed by the Dems maturity: they'll still hate them for being Dems.


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

[User]
[Starcraft] How comfortable was Tychus Findlay inside his suit?

And how comfortable is the CMC Powered Combat Suit in general?

[Assistant]
Tychus, like all conscripted marines, was bolted and welded into his armour.  It is mechanically connected to him and would have to be cut open to remove it.  This ensures that the marine is protected and secured if they desert.

It is something that more experienced combatants (like Tychus) get used to and become familiar with, but no one would describe it as comfortable.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is a dead car battery charged when connecting other non-dead car battery possitive to possitive and negative to negative (i.e. parallel)?

I had to jump start my car the other day, and noted that the instruction said to not connect the positive of one battery to the negative of the other (connecting in series). Why does connecting in parallel help charge the battery? What exactly happened in this process that can help the battery regain the charge? Why can't it be charged when the batteries are connected in series?

[Assistant]
When you jump start your car this way, you aren't charging the battery; you're using the non-dead  battery (instead of your dead battery) to start the car. That's why you connect the non-dead battery's positive  to the same wires normally connected to the positive side of the dead battery.

The actual charging of the dead battery is handled by the car's alternator. This is why you're supposed to leave a car running for at least 20 minutes after you jump it -- so the battery can charge.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is hospital cafeteria food so cheap?

Im eating in the hospital right now and ordered 2 cheeseburgers for $2 and fries for another $2 with a $1 drink especially in this economy how is this food so cheap??

[Assistant]
Hospital is not trying to make money from it.

Simple food can be made very cheaply, and as a hospital, they do not want their patients or medical staff to go hungry because they cannot afford to buy food.

If you eat there long enough, you will notice that there is not much variety or flavor, and everything is re-heated frozen food.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do people stop being hungry when they're sick?

[Assistant] When you get very sick your body no longer craves food to conserve energy. Digesting takes away precious energy it needs to fight off the sickness. Thats why loss of appetite lets you know you have the flu vs a cold because the flu is more serious than a cold, therefore taking more energy to eradicate.


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

[User]
Why is it that, in English, there is not a transitive verb for 'have sex' except ones with vulgar connotations?

This question came up among friends earlier- why is the non-crude vocabulary for sex limited to indirect euphemisms (made love, slept with, etc.) Is it a holdover from more prudish times? All of the options I can think of (he *fucked* her, *did*, *screwed*, *boned*, *nailed*, etc) seem to suggest that the direct-object participant is passive and being demeaned. Does any word for the act just naturally pick up this kind of meaning? Is it common in other languages? It seems plausible that a neutral word would be used derogatorily and come to pick up that kind of connotation.

[Assistant]
Transitive? Because having sex is not something you make TO another person, but WITH another person. There's not subject and object, but two subjects.

The vulgar ones are transitive because they consider one of the persons to be an object, not a subject.


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

[User]
Does hot weather bother insects?

While I find it too hot to do anything, the insects seem to be busy as always, especially the bees on the lavender. Does the heat have an influence on them?

[Assistant] Bees will gather more water when it is hot, and then assemble in ranks on the bottom board of their hive to fan air in and out of the hive, evaporate the water stored in comb cells, and thus cool the hive.  That's right, bees invented air conditioning, long before man climbed down out of the trees to walk on 2 feet.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why politicians hate imports and love exports

Whenever a politician talks about a free trade agreement, they only talk about how it's going to create jobs back home and never about how it's going to decrease tariffs on imports. Are imports bad for a country's economy? The way they talk about international commerce, it's like the exporting country benefits at the expense of the importing country. Since both countries are relatively equal in influence, it's not like one country is using imperialism on the other.

[Assistant]
Imports are things that could be made domestically but aren't.

Exports are things your country makes but other countries don't.

Therefore, imports cost your country money and exports make your country money.

This is a massively oversimplified explanation, but it does it to explain the gist.

In reality, exports and imports are both absolutely required to run a modern economy.  The proportion depends pretty heavily.


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

[User]
What kind of experiments are the astronauts doing on the ISS?

Are they doing astronomy, weather science, or just seeing how things act without gravity?

[Assistant]
The short answer is that they do all of those things. With every supply load going up to the ISS they get lots of stuff that people back on earth wants them to do experiments with.

A lot of them has to do with how we as a humans will handle living in space for longer periods, which will happen if we are to colonize Mars for example. And that is why they do such experiments as testing the grip strength of mice to study how your muscles atrophy.

But as you said it's a lot of studies on how physics behave in a micogravity environment to be able to see if there are things that can be done in space that can't be done on earth.


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

[User] Eli5 How exactly does burning cds work especially when you do it from home? And why does a scratch affect how the cd reads the information?

[Assistant]
When CDs are pressed commercially, they actually punch tiny tiny holes in the gold foil, and those punches represent the information that becomes the music.

When you burn a CD at home, you cant punch holes, but the laser in the CD burner affects the foil and burns it and discolors it, so that it looks just like a hole to the CD player.

A scratch in the plastic or in the foil destroys some of those holes, or it makes it harder for the laser to see them clearly.


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

[User]
Applying for a job as journal editor

Does anone of you have experience with this job? What qualifications of mine should I emphazise? The publishing house in question has a lot of different journals to all kinds of topics, most of them have very few articles so far though. They ask for a degree in natural sciences. I have a PhD in biology (molecular genetics) and published 2 papers as first author (and one more which is currently under review) and 3 as co-author, so I have some experience from this side of the process. What do you think, how can I make my application stand out?

edit: thanks for all your answers!!

[Assistant]
Attention to detail, organized, ability to work quickly on multiple projects, excellent communication skills (written & oral - and not just in a specialist scientific context), diplomatic, good judgement, strong networking skills, highly responsible, capable of meeting deadlines.

They're not hiring you to do science anymore, and they - more than anyone - probably realize that highly productive & impactful prestigious researchers may be the wrong people for the job. Transferable skills are where it's at.


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

[User]
Why are moose only found in northern parts of the world?

The kind of food they eat seems to be plentiful in warmer climates in the south. Why haven't they colonized lower latitudes?

[Assistant]
Evolution generally favours larger, fewer (warm-blooded) animals in very cold climates. Consider polar bears, walrus, etc. While there is large fauna in other climates, it is much more diverse (you have both large and small animals, with smaller ones in greater quantity), which is not the case in colder climates.

The reasons for this come down to evolutionary advange. It's less about whether moose could survive (in the absence of competition) in warmer climates, and more on who *cannot* compete with the moose in cold climates (and would otherwise out-compete the moose for food). Cold climates give an advantage to a large, warm blooded animal (heat is easier to keep thanks to the square-cube law). Energy reserves can also be stored longer, and spent slower, relative to muscle expenditures (again, square-cube law), useful in the frigid climate where food is very scarce.

This means that in the northern climates, smaller herbivores cannot compete with the moose due to hypothermia or insufficient food. Which means that the moose's advantages outweight its disadvantages (needs lots of food in *absolute* terms, less mobile, etc.) that it would face in warmer climates relative to other animals, with whom it would not be able to compete for food.


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

[User]
Eli5: difference WiFi booster extender vs repeater

Look to get proper WiFi signal in all rooms of my house. Large home. What to look into?

[Assistant]
The best option is an extender, which uses a wired connection. If you can run an Ethernet cable between two rooms, or if you could use a Powerline adapter, then you'll essentially have two (or more) Wifi access points that are both equally fast and powerful. If you want absolute maximum speeds, have your house wired for Ethernet and put an extender in every room.

The next best option is to get a "mesh" system like Google Wifi, Orbi, Eero, or Deco. They create a fast point-to-point wireless communication between all of the nodes throughout your home on a totally independent wireless channel (not over Wifi) and they all work together to blanket your home in Wifi. These devices are more expensive but they're super simple to set up, they require no extra wiring, and they work great.

The worst option is to get a repeater. What that does is connect to your main Wifi access point, and then broadcast a new Wifi access point from another room. When a device talks to the repeater, it has to receive that message and then send it over to your main Wifi access point over Wifi. This is better than nothing, but it actually increases the total amount of interference because that extra communication is all happening over Wifi. It tends to give you higher latency and slower bandwidth overall.

Note that any Wifi router can be configured to act as an extender or a repeater. If you have a spare, you can repurpose it.

The term "booster" is generic, it refers to any of these.


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

[User]
ELI5:How and/or why did the food portion of the rich or people in power go from a full on feast to tiny fancy portions?

I've been wondering about this since the time I was invited to go to a fancy restaurant with a cousin and their former coworkers. In movies depicting a time in the past, the king or people in power would have a full on feast or a four course meal with big portions, but in more modern ones, they're shown eating smaller meals or even just one fancy dish instead of the multiple course meal.

[Assistant]
When a king feasted his court, the average person was either starving or living on a diet of bread and whatever veggies and herbs they could scrounge up.  Meat, sugar, spices, and plenty of other modern staples were luxury goods for the merchant and upper classes.  And since food was more scarce, cooking as an art form hadn't really developed to what it is today.  So the best way to show wealth was simply "Look at all of this food!  You'll be full for days!  We have turkey, beef, pork, and fish, bet you've never seen all of those together before!"

Now, in developed countries, scarcity isn't as much of an issue, and most people know what being full feels like - and they've probably seen most of the common foods.  So now a better indicator of wealth is "Look at this really unique food, prepared by the best chef ever."  The meal isn't about being full, it's about experiencing something new and delicious, so a lot more work goes into comparatively little food.  And of course, if the food is small, you have more room to try more courses and even *more* unique and interesting foods.

And just to add to that - plenty of fancy, expensive meals will fill you full to bursting.  It's just not a requirement any more!


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

[User] [Star Wars] How come Kylo Ren can use the Force to get into people's mind yet Vader needed the help of the IT-O Interrogator?

[Assistant] Vader can use the Force to get into people's minds.  But it only works on the weak minded.  Leia is not weak minded.  Kylo Ren couldn't get much info from Rey either, and her strapped to a table ready for an Interrogator if it proved necessary.


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

[User]
[Buffy] Inconsistent magical help for physical injuries

I never quite understood why Xander's facial injuries in the last season never got magical help. Buffy got magical help when a demon tore off some of her skin. I'm theorizing that skin -tries- to grow back so that might have been it but I'm wondering what other people think.

TL;DR: Why not use magic to heal injuries always?

[Assistant]
I can think of two or three main reasons.

As you stated 1) Eyeballs do not naturally grow back, once you lose them they are gone.

2) Magic can be used to repair "supernatural" problems and injuries, but having a human preacher take your eye out isn't close enough.  Also healing spells might actually be dark magic, because they go against the natural order of things.

3) Conscious decision not to use magic to heal everything, because then the sacrifices have less meaning (this is slightly a not in-universe answer, might be a writers answer)


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

[User]
Why is Java More Popular Than C#?

I understand that Java is older than C#, but C# seems like overall a nicer language. It seems like the performance is pretty much the same, too, if not slightly better.

Thanks for all of the replies! It seems that the reason is not only that java is older, but also because it has supported cross-platform *way* before C#.

[Assistant]
I'd assume that most companies run their servers on Linux and at least in the beginning that wasn't really an option for C# server applications.

Once a company chose such a technology stack, it's pretty hard to switch to something else.


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

[User] [Warhammer 40K] What are the worst possible fates (not necessarily deaths) that you can be doomed to in this universe?

[Assistant]
Being turned into a servitor (lobotomized cyborg)

Being born on a world that Chaos is taking over

Being born on a Hive world (extreme poverty)

Being born on a death world (if you survive long enough then most of the people you know will be dead)

Being born a Xenos (disgusting)

Being born an Eldar (tragedy waiting to happen)

Being born in general (it's 40k; even God is suffering)


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

[User]
[Red Dead Redemption 2] In the side mission "The Noblest Of Men And A Woman", why is Arthur unfamiliar with any of the 'legendary' gunslingers if he and his gang spent much of their time in the West and the life of crime they lived?

And why is the author unfamiliar with Arthur, considering how notorious the van der Linde gang is? Shouldn't they have a legendary status of their own?

[Assistant]
The legendary gunslingers were quite a bit older than Arthur, and have been around long enough to have their crimes romanticized. The Van Der Linde gang is still very much a current nuisance.

On that note, Arthur doesn't seem like the type to have kept up or read romanticized western novels or stories. Since its not a current event or direct competition, he could just be unaware of those specific outlaws.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How would Star Wars not be a post-scarcity society?

This kind of applies to any SciFi setting where an entire galaxy has been colonized and exploited. With the sheer number of planets and resources in a galaxy, how come there isn't just plenty of everything for everyone? I ask about Star Wars in particular because one of the most iconic aspects of Star Wars is the lived-in feel that many of the planets and ships have. Could there be any real explanation in-universe?

[Assistant] Because even with hundreds of thousands of planets, there are quadrillions of sentients to provide for, and they've reached peak technology relative to their knowledge of physics-- they're already producing at the greatest level of efficiency possible for them.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why didn't more Jedi/Sith use Dual-bladed sabers?

Why didn't the Jedi teach in the use of dual bladed light sabers? Yes, single bladed has it's uses, but if you have a dual emitter lightsaber, you can switch between both.

[Assistant] They do, it's just a combat-focused discipline that is overkill for most of the regular duties of the Jedi before the Clone Wars. Therefore only a select few Jedi & the Temple Guardians train in the use of the dual-bladed lightsaber.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What if when engaging Qui-Gon on Tatooine, Maul ran over Anakin with his weird floaty bike thing and murdered the rest of Team Good?

I'm sorry if the premise is implausible. I'm a Maul fanboy and I like to think about how things would have gone down if he had the chance to really excel as the Emperor's apprentice.

[Assistant]
Then Anakin either gets grabbed by Maul and brought to Palpatine, or gets left on Tatooine.

Either way, Maul can't serve as the public face for the Separatists like Dooku could, and Dooku was already being courted by Palpatine by that time anyway.

If Anakin goes with Palpatine, then Palpatine teaches him and raises him to become a Jedi killer just like he is in canon. But without Padme, there's nothing to turn Anakin back to the light except what little fragments of good there might be left after Palpatine is done with him. It's a much, much darker timeline.


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

[User]
Why dont more people in the US get illnesses from mosquitoes even though the same mosquito may extract blood from several hosts?

If a mosquito extracts blood from a squirrel, and then gets blood from you, and then gets blood from some other person, and so on, wouldnt their be a prevalence of some kind of disease spreading from host to host?

[Assistant]
To spread via mosquitos, pathogens need to be pretty specialized. Mosquitos don't take all that much blood from one host, and transfer far less to the next host, so if the pathogen is just in the blood, it's very unlikely that there will even be a single pathogen particle in the transferred blood.

Vector-borne pathogens, like yellow fever or malaria or dengue, overcome this by replicating in the mosquito and often by entering the mosquito's salivary glands. Mosquitos transfer more saliva than blood, and if the pathogen has replicated there and is present in high concentrations, it's easier to spread.

But look at the challenges this presents to the pathogen. It has to be equally effective at replicating in a mammal and in an insect. In the mammal it has to spread into the blood and be there in high concentrations, and then it has to follow a completely different pattern in the mosquito. The body temperatures, the receptors, the cell types - everything is different, so the pathogen basically has to carry double sets of everything.

So just generic pathogens don't do this. In the US, there are a handful of the specialized pathogens that are arthropod-born. West Nile virus is well known. There are several types of viral encephalitis (Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis, Western EE, Eastern EE). There are some tick-borne diseases like Lyme Disease and Colorado Tick Fever and so on.

Some of the other diseases used to be present in the US, but were eradicated. Malaria was eliminated by the precursor of the CDC in the 1950s. The process reduced the number of the worst types of mosquitos, the ones that spread some of the worst diseases. That's helped as well.

Currently of course there are some mosquito-born diseases that are trying to move back into the US, as climate change makes larger regions more attractive to the mosquitos. Zika was found in Florida. Chikunungya has been found spreading locally in Florida.


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

[User] If an orangutan was raised by a gorilla or chimp, would it knuckle walk, or is there a biological reason that orangutans walk on fists?

[Assistant]
interesting question...
i found this:
'Only chimpanzees and gorillas are specially adapted for supporting weight on the dorsal aspects of middle phalanges of flexed hand digits IIV. When forced to the ground, most orangutans assume one of a variety of flexed hand postures, but they cannot knuckle-walk. Some orangutans place their hands in palmigrade postures which are impossible to African apes. The knuckle-walking hands and plantigrade feet of African apes are both morphologically and adaptively distinct from those of Pongo, their nearest relative among extant apes. These features are associated with a common adaptive shift to terrestrial locomotion and support placing chimpanzees and gorillas in the same genus Pan.' --an excerpt from the article: knuckle walking and the evolution of hominoid hands by Russell H. Tuttle (American Journal of Physical Anthropology)

...orangs are almost always in the trees, so they don't do too much walking on their hands anyways....so it makes sense that they don't have the adaptation of knuckle walking (seen in the terrestrial african apes) which requires more strength from the middle phalanges.


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

[User] Eli5: How do our brains shut out familiar sounds from waking us up such as a spouse getting ready for work or their alarm?

[Assistant] In neurobiology and psychology, this is called habituation, which is caused by desensitization of neurons to a stimuli. It is an evolutionary adaptation where our bodies realize that some stimuli aren't dangerous. We would simply be overwhelmed if our bodies reacted to everything. So our bodies block out unimportant stimuli so that we can better pick out signals that indicate something worth paying attention to. Dishabituation is the process when the original stimulus is noticed again, and can be caused when the stimulus is stronger, unexpected, etc. Habituation applies to all senses, not just for what we hear.


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

[User]
Do different wavelengths of electromagnetic radiation have different stabilities?

We all know that matter can be unstable or stable, hence things like high reactivity and decay. Would different types of waves such as a high energy gamma ray be more prone to decomposition compared to say visible light?

[Assistant]
Photons do not decay; they are all stable.

One way to see that there cannot be an energy dependence is that there is no absolute meaning to the energy of a photon.  A photon that is a low energy radio wave photon in one frame of reference can be a high energy gamma ray photon in another.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Did Barty Crouch Jr teach (almost) a full academic year at Hogwarts?

In book 4, is Mad Eye Moody locked up in that trunk for the whole year? Or did Barty Crouch Jr just show up as Mad Eye for certain things (like helping Harry with Triwizard stuff)?

[Assistant] Mad Eye Moody is locked in the trunk for the entirety of term. Barty Crouch Jr. is the person everyone interacts with for the entirety of term. Crouch, with magical aid, is just that good at playing the role.


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

[User] ELI5: How does pleading the fifth not equate to an admission of guilt to a jury?

[Assistant]
Because the jury is not permitted to consider taking the fifth as an admission of guilt.

Also, it's important to remember that the jury will never hear a defendant assert his Fifth Amendment rights on the stand, because the defendant won't even be on the stand unless they have already waived their Fifth Amendment rights. The only people who they will hear take the Fifth are other witnesses who are not charged in that proceeding.


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

[User] How did some species (i.e, humans) come to require proteins that they could not produce themselves?

[Assistant]
I think what you meant to ask is why some species have come to lose the ability to synthesize certain amino acids - not proteins. Amino acids are the building blocks of proteins. In the process of digestion, any protein that you consume are actually decomposed into the amino acid building blocks, which are then absorbed by your body for whatever use.

Now, as for why species have come to lose the ability to produce certain amino acids? Well, that's kind of a tricky question to answer. The really unsatisfactory answer is that at some point in our past, our diet had these amino acids in sufficiently consistent and large enough supply that when our genes that conferred us the ability to synthesize the amino acids were damaged or lost, the impact on our fitness was minor enough that it wasn't really a problem.


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

[User] [Star Wars] If Yoda can lift an X Wing and size doesnt matter, why cant Darth Vader crush entire cruisers the way he force chokes? Why cant Emp Palps throw stars?

[Assistant]
Yoda was exaggerating a bit in that instant (and also referencing the size difference between himself and Luke).

The reason is because the force takes immense focus and effort. Also because as luke says, it's not a power Jedi have. It's an energy field, and moving something with the force is sort of like "asking" the force to move it.


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

[User] Do glasses improve vision over time or will vision deteriorate over time?

[Assistant]
Ophthalmologist here.
Pertaining to adults, eyeglasses will not harm or improve your eyes. Eyeglasses will not change your prescription if you wear them or if you don't.

There are essentially three ways that our refraction (eyeglass prescription) changes over time:
1. The length of the eye can change.
2. The shape of the cornea can change.
3. The shape of the lens can change.

The length of the eye does not change after we reach adulthood, but it does change during childhood.
When we do close work, we focus the lens in our eye by using the ciliary muscle.  This exerts a "squeezing" force on the white of the eye, lengthening the eye over time, making nearsightedness worse in children.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why arent missiles used more in starfighter dogfights?

I saw Top Gun Maverick this week (great flick, BTW), and in that movie middle lock means likely kill. But the third act gave me A New Hope vibes, and made me realize that dogfights in Star Wars almost never involve missiles. The only example I can think of are the missiles with the buzz droids in Revenge of the Sith.

I know that the Doyalist reason for this is because Lucas based his dogfights on WWII movies, but what is the in universe reason why missiles arent the go to weapons in Star Wars dogfights?

[Assistant] We see some use during the Clone Wars series. But the main draw back to missiles is the limited ammo. You can only carry so many missiles on the ship, but you can have basically unlimited ammo with blasters. And given the existence of shields, Star Wars dogfights are more likely to last longer, so relying on limited ammo weapon is not a good idea.


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

[User]
How is it that both SSRIs and SSREs are both effective antidepressants, despite having the exact opposite mechanism of action?

Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs) supposedly increase the extracellular level of serotonin, while Selective Serotonin Reuptake Enhancers (SSREs) supposedly do the exact opposite. Yet both classes of drugs have been effectively used as antidepressants. What's going on here?

This seemingly paradoxical effect makes me wonder if perhaps we're getting this entire mechanism of action wrong. It's commonly believed that SSRIs treat depression and anxiety by increasing serotonin levels, which makes us feel better. In other words, more serotonin = better. But it's also known that SSRIs can often make things worse before they slowly get better. What if the real cause of eventual relief is **habituation** of serotonin receptors after being inundated with extra serotonin? What if serotonin is actually causing the problem?

This theory would explain why SSREs (or more specifically Tianeptine, the only SSRE currently on the market) have a much faster onset of action... they're addressing the problem by reducing serotonin levels. In other words, too much serotonin = bad, and SSREs attack this issue directly.

Of course, this is all a wild conspiracy theory on my part, and I'd love for someone to prove me wrong and explain how all this really works.

What say you, AskScience?

[Assistant] Theyre not necessarily opposite function. Ssri's increase the amount of serotonin in the synapse, which allows more serotonin to saturate receptors. Ssre's however, despite their name, do not increase serotonin to be removed from the synapse, they increase the sensitivity of serotonin receptors, meaning more serotonin is taken up which would other wise not be utilized by the receptors.


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

[User]
If the solubility of CO2 decreases as temperature increases, then why is global warming causing ocean acidification?

I've read that the CO2 becomes less soluble in water the hotter it gets, but I've also read that the ocean is absorbing more CO2, causing its pH to decrease. Are both of these statements true? If so, how?

[Assistant]
For simple solutions, the relationship between the partial pressure of a gas and the concentration of it in a solvent is proportional,

>p = kc

This is called Henry's law. k can be a function of temperature. For CO2, k becomes smaller at higher temperatures, so at the same partial pressure, less gas can dissolve. However, the amount dissolved always increases with the amount in the air.

Even though the solvency of the gas can decrease, we can still dissolve more total gas by simply pumping up the atmospheric concentration.


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

[User] Why can't we make a camera that captures images that look the same as how we see them?

[Assistant]
What you should be asking is, "why can't we make a camera that captures images exactly how we see them and reproduce them in a medium which is visually indistinguishable from the original scene?"

Designing a camera that captures information identical to the photoreceptor layer of your retina is simply a matter of engineering four sensors with the same sensitivity vs wavelength functions as your photoreceptors.  This isn't perfectly accurate due to temporal effects, but suffices as a first approximation.  Difficulty of engineering aside, this is perfectly feasible from a theoretical standpoint.

Reproduction, on the other hand, is a much more daunting task.  Current display or printing methods rely on representing different perceptual hues, which are the result of activation levels for each of three different cones, as the weighted sum of three or more components, each of which has its own distinct spectral characteristics.  Disregarding rods for the moment due to their relative absence in the fovea, the implication of this is that each has a single, 3-dimensional response vector which represents the activation of your different photoreceptors to that particular component.  You might think that any three components with linearly independent response vectors would suffice to produce the full gamut of colors that we can observe, but this fails due to the fact that we cannot have negative coefficients when mixing.  Because of the overlap of the wavelength response curves for different cones, it is very difficult to choose a limited number of components that can reproduce any photoreceptor response.  For example, violet is impossible to reproduce in the RGB color space.  Two solutions to this would be to either to design a technology capable of reproducing exact spectra in the visible range, or to use direct stimulation of photoreceptors, which would in effect give you the component bases [1, 0, 0], [0, 1, 0], and [0, 0, 1].


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

[User]
ELI5:Dungeons and Dragons alignments.

Hey this is my first time asking something on Reddit and i hope I ask this well. I've been a player of D&D for about a year now, and when i first started my uncle who introduced me to it walked me through the basics and when we got to alignments he told me it wasn't important unless I played a priest or a paladin so I never bothered. With the group i played with before rp (role playing) wasn't as big a deal. But now with my new group i wanted to play a cleric and looking in on it seems like more of a big deal with certain classes. So i've looked around and I still don't have a good idea on how this works.
I understand law-full good and Chaotic evil but the others i really don't understand how they work. True Neutral really confuses me with the whole maintain balance thing in the rule book. Also how is law-full evil even a thing?  If it makes a difference we are playing advanced D&D 3rd addition. If someone can explain this to me in a simple way I would appreciate it. Thanks in advance.

Edit: O.K. With the help of everyone here i think i have a fair understanding of it all. I hope this helps out others as confused as i was on this. Thanks everyone for the fast responses. :)

[Assistant]
Lawful good does good things but follows the rules. Think goody two shoes. Chaotic good does the right thing regardless of the rules. Think robin hood. Neutral good is somewhere in between.

Lawful neutral just sees rules, and follows them regardless of what they say. Think Supreme Court. Chaotic neutral does whatever it wants. Think what the Joker thinks of himself. True neutral just doesn't care.

Lawful evil does bad things but in an organized way. Think dictator. Chaotic evil does bad things randomly. Think serial killer. Neutral evil is in between.


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

[User]
[LotR]Was Saruman planning on claiming the Ring for himself?

At the end of Fellowship of the Ring and the beginning of The Two Towers, was Saruman attempting to claim the Ring for himself?  I know he lusted after the Ring; but by this point was he too enthralled to Sauron?  Would he have turned it over?  *Could* Saruman have successfully wielded the Ring himself, or was he too diminished already?

[Assistant]
Yep. He was looking for it a lot. He even tried to make a few magical rings for himself, but none of them really worked out.

Im pretty sure he however couldnt have claimed the ring for himself, tolkein said in a letter that the only one in middle earth who had a shot of claiming the ring was gandalf. Saruman, if he found the ring, would try to use it against sauron, only to be defeated. You cant get access to the full power of the ring untill you wrestle it from saurons control, and to do that you need to face him.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some spicy foods (like Jalapeo Peppers) cause a burning sensation on your tongue, and other spicy foods (like Wasabi) cause a burning sensation in your nose?

?????

[Assistant]
Both flavors are caused by chemical irritants, but different chemical irritants. Chili peppers contain capsaicin, which stimulates heat receptors in mucous membranes, giving the sensation of burning without any actual heat. This compound is stored in the pepper itself and will sit on your tongue/in your mouth, causing irritation.

Wasabi, horseradish, and mustard contain allyl isothiocyanate. Breaking the cell walls of the plant generates a irritating gas that you inhale, which is why you feel it more in your nose/ This is also why it's important to use fresh wasabi/horseradish, while chili products can stay pungent for years.


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

[User] ELI5: How gas masks' air filters can safely hold back toxic gasses but let air through?

[Assistant]
The simplest filter out using very fine fabrics or composites, more complicated versions have layers of varying materials and activated charcoal, which acts like a magnet to particles and sucks them in, whilst fabric filters stop things like dust or spores getting through.

Air is small enough to be dragged through the gaps with the power of your lungs alone

Eventually the charcoal is full or the fabric filter is clogged and the mask no longer effective.

There are different types of masks and this type cannot protect you against gasses that would kill you. For that you require an oxygen supply.


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

[User]
ELI5:When did banking go from "knowing the local bankers" and getting loans based on trust to everything being formalized?

My dad, who is 70, told me growing up they'd go to the bank and get loans and deal with items very casually compared to now-a-days when the processed is formalized everywhere.  I would assume the same thing is true with things like hardware stores and auto shops, etc.

When did we go from the more trusting casual version to the more intense process we have today?

Does our style of living have anything to do with it - meaning everyone in the suburbs uses corporate chains instead of mom and pop stores?

[Assistant]
How would you like to not be able to get a loan till you have lived in a city for 10 years and gotten to know the people at the bank personally at church and social events as well as personal interaction going into said bank? The modern world no longer works in that fashion. We live in too large of communities and travel/move far too often for that to work. As such they have come up with a formalized system that ascertains how trustworthy you are to pay back a loan and how much you can reasonably afford to take on.

Suburbs also rarely have any stores. Suburbs are not the cities and towns absorbed by larger cities as they grown. The Suburbs are the residential housing division built outside the city limits of a city. They never had mom and pop to shop at. Those are things that existed in town, and in cities.


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

[User]
Is the distance between atoms in a molecule like hydrogen gas constant? If yes, how is it kept constant?

I read in a high school chemistry textbook that the distance between the protons of a H2 (hydrogen-gas) molecule is constant. It didn't explain why.
It confuses me, as I always thought, since the electrons are constantly moving the coloumbic force on the nuclei should force like a tandem motion.
At least it's what I always imagined that they all hold each other in place like they're connected by jelly strings.

[Assistant] The truth is that they dont have well-defined positions, because theyre quantum systems. But you can imagine in a classical version of a molecule, that the two atomic nuclei could vibrate around their equilibrium position. There are vibrational excitations of molecules, and they can be described quantum-mechanically.


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

[User] What makes misfolding a protein dangerous? Why are prions functionally different from their original form?

[Assistant]
There is nothing inherently dangerous about misfolded proteins. Proteins misfold all the time. All proteins start out as a somewhat 1 dimensional string of amino acids and then sample many different conformational states before reaching their "folded" state. Even then, a folded state is not necessarily static, nor is it necessarily unique.

Function of a protein is very much related to the structure of the protein because function is chemically determined, and the chemistry a given protein can do is precisely controlled by the arrangement of its amino acids (or the electrons within them). This is a general tenet of all chemistry, not just biochemistry, since we classify molecules based on their structure. So, if for a protein to perform its function, a nitrogen from amino acid 23 has to be able to hydrogen bond to a substrate which then has to hydrogen bond 2 angtroms away at a 30 degree angle to an oxygen in amino acid 347, then if the protein does not allow for that specific arrangement, the chemistry will not be performed.

The proteins in all cells start out unfolded, sample some states, and in general adopt a folded conformation. The folded conformation may not be the most energetically favorable one, but it is usually a local energy minimum. Over time, since the temperature of all living systems is well above 0K, the protein may jigger to a different state that may be more energetically favorable but may not be the functional conformation. There are mechanisms in all cells to slowly degrade proteins, and often to even find proteins that look misfolded and degrade those preferentially. Meanwhile, new proteins are synthesized from the remnants of old ones.

What makes prions unique, is 3 things. First, the prion conformation is incredibly hardy. It is in a very deep energy well, which means it is very difficult to unfold it. So when the protein ends up in that state, it is likely to remain there and never fold properly again. Second, the prion state often exposes hydrophobic residues such that it acts as a nucleation site for more unfolding. So when a prion is around the properly folded protein, it facilitates the misfolding of the other protein into the prion confirmation. And lastly, the combination of the first 2 issues makes the prion able to be transmitted from cell to cell or even dead tissue to living tissue.

If you take into account all of the various proteins that exist, prions are very very very rare, but once they show up, they are difficult to get rid of.


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

[User] Eli5: Why are many toilet seats designed with only three sides instead of four? What is the advantage to removing the frontmost face?

[Assistant]
It's for sanitary reasons and no other.

It makes it easier to wipe for both sexes and it gives and little more breathing room so your junk doesn't hit the seat. This is the same reason public toilets in the US are elongated and ones in your home are sometimes round or elongated.

Uniform Plumbing Code Section 409.2.2 requires an open front seat: "All water closet seats, except those within dwelling units or for private use, shall be of the open front type.

The IPC and UPC care about keeping people safe and systems functioning correctly. They don't care about how much you pee, or toilet seat strength, or anything else you can come up with. They care about keeping people safe and setting a standard for installation.


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

[User] ELi5: Why do credit and debit cards have an expiration date?

[Assistant] To protect from fraud. Firstly it just adds another data point to check when paying online or remotely. Secondly it prevents really old or forgotten cards from being used if someone else discovers them.And lastly, the components break down and over time, so after more than several years they can't guarantee that the card will still work.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do insurance companies survive disasters like the hurricanes in Florida?

The amount of damage must be in the 10/100's of millions, do they just have that cash ready in the bank?

[Assistant]
They do maintain fairly large liquid holdings vs. corporations of similar sizes in other sectors (although not by comparison to a lot of tech companies like Apple, interestingly enough)

More importantly they also spread their risk through re-insurers (insurance for insurance companies) such that they are only on the hook for a small percentage of the total claims.  Both insurers and reinsurers are also pretty careful about how much total exposure they allow themselves to any particular area (like Florida) and have done a lot of analysis of the risks (like hurricanes) so that they have a pretty accurate estimate of how much liquid cash they need to keep. Their risk models take into account much more in the way of global warming risks than do, say, the US government's. Plus they often manage immediate cash flow by delaying payment for lower-tier premiums etc.

This doesn't always work, but after hundreds of years of insuring people they generally know what formulas will keep them afloat. As a last resort they can often go raise debt or equity from the public and private markets, although doing so when you're "under water" (pun intended) can result in shareholders taking a bath...


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

[User]
If a electron is in constant motion, how can two atoms bind it at the same time?

I'm confused, because I heard on several occasions the absolute statment, that you can't locate a single electron. But when 2 atoms attract the same valence electron, shouldn't it balance out with a very limited space left for vibrations?

[Assistant] Electrons are not solid little balls. They are quantum objects that are somewhat wave-like and somewhat particle-like, but actually something more complex. When bound stably in an atom or molecule, an electron acts mostly like a wave. The electron's wavefunction of an electron in a stable state oscillates like a string, but the magnitude-squared of the wavefunction is constant in time. Therefore, when you hear a statement like "an electron in an atom is in constant motion", you should have a mental picture more like a wave on a guitar string as it vibrates, and not that of a solid little ball flying around in circles. When an electron is shared by two atoms, it simply takes a 3D wave shape that spreads out over both atoms. This wave shape to the electron is called a "molecular orbital".


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

[User] How tough are Superman's 'soft areas', eg eyes, mucal membranes and, ahem, 'exposed organs'?

[Assistant]
Superman's durability isn't (just) a property of his flesh. He is surrounded by some sort of bio-generated field, which makes everything within it invulnerable. That's why he's able to fly into the sun without losing his skin-tight costume, but his cape gets incinerated. That's also why a shot that tears his costume is a pretty big deal: it means the attacker is generating enough force to pierce the outer layers of his invincibility aura, which is only a few steps away from injuring the Man of Steel himself.

Superman's eyes and giggly bits are protected by this same aura, and enjoy the same levels of protection as the rest of his body.


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

[User]
Does rinsing fruits/vegetables with just water really clean them?

So I buy an apple, bring it home, rinse it and rub it a little with my hands, dry it off and then eat it. Does this really take everything off that should worry me? I've heard of a "vegetable wash" for this task.. Is that necessary?

[Assistant]
Sort of. It'll get rid of any pesticide residue and dirt on the outside, but it's not the best at removing bacteria. Bacteria aren't all that water soluble in the first place - there's a reason you use soap when washing your hands, and it's not because it smells good. Worse yet, a lot of produce has nooks and crannies that you can't really clean well just by rinsing it, most notably leafy stuff like spinach. There was just a big listeria recall for bagged, prewashed spinach. So, it's better than nothing, but not exactly sterile.

The good news is that most produce is perfectly safe, and even if it isn't, it takes a huge load of bacteria to make it through your stomach to make you sick. With the Listeria above, it's unlikely to cause any problems, Listeria isn't much of a risk to anyone with a functioning immune system.


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

[User] ELI5: How does shazam recognize a song from any part, and how does it do that so fast?

[Assistant]
ELI5 version:

They run a program that listens to a bunch of songs. By taking samples of the song at different points and convert this into a unique key. The song is then stored in a huge list of songs, each labeled with that unique key. When you want to find the name of a song, you tell the Shazam app to sample the song you are listening to, it creates a key and then finds a matching key in the huge list of songs, along with the song you are looking for.

ELIprogram:

Algorithm that scans a large catalog of songs, samples peak frequency of song at sudo-random intervals, converts samples into a hash, stores song in hash-table. Similar algorithm for look-up.


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

[User]
Which species of dinosaurs had feathers, and how much do we know about them?

Was it only the one family of raptors that survived the extinction and evolved into modern birds? Did only small dinosaurs have feathers? Are dinosaurs all birds or reptiles?

[Assistant]
Welcome to one of the most hotly debated topics in palaeontology. Feathers, hair, skin, etc rarely survive as fossils, so evidence is sparse. Some people will argue that keratin filaments (not really modern feathers, but more like single strands of fiber that later developed into feathers in some species) are a basal feature of dinosaurs, and so potentially all of them could have been 'feathered' at least on parts of their body, or at certain stages in their life. Others will argue that this feature has developed multiple times, and that features actually related to feathers are restricted to a fairly small group of dinosaurs

Just about all you can conclusively say is that some families were predominantly covered in feathers, and others were predominantly covered in scaly hide similar to reptiles (sidenote: reptile doesn't really have a scientific meaning, as any formal definition would probably have to include birds as well)


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

[User]
What makes water such a good solvent?

What is it about water that means so many different substances dissolve in it?

EDIT: Wow, I didn't expect so many answers! Thank you for taking the time to explain it to me (and maybe others)!

[Assistant]
It has to do with polarity. The small water molecules have different electrical charges at each end which means that other polar molecules can dissolve in it.

Apolar molecules, like oil, cannot dissolve in water but will dissolve in other apolar liquids like gasoline. Apolar molecules do not have different electrical charges at each end.

This is why oil and water don't mix.


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

[User] ELI5: The sky is blue because blue light is scattered the most. What makes blue light scatter more than other lights?

[Assistant]
The Short Answer:

 Gases and particles in Earth's atmosphere scatter sunlight in all directions. Blue light is scattered more than other colors because it travels as shorter, smaller waves. This is why we see a blue sky most of the time.


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

[User]
ELI5: If we sweat excessively during exercise does it eliminate the need to urinate?

Is it even possible to sweat from our skin so much that we don't have to urinate at all?

[Assistant]
Yes and no?  You can sweat so much you dehydrate.  Part of this is your body pulling any water it can and it can do this from the kidneys too.  What's left however is all the chemicals your body normally flushes in urine(notice how sometimes it is yellow or even VERY yellow?) and these will build up to unhealthy levels if you are dehydrated for a long time.

tl:dr you won't need to urinate in the short term but you still need to in the long term.


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

[User] ELI5:Why does it feel better when somebody else rubs us, scratches us, etc. as opposed to when we do it ourselves?

[Assistant]
When you touch yourself the wiring in your brain already anticipates that movement/action as well as the brain is telling the person's hand or foot to make the movement that leads to touch. When these movements are anticipated due to the same thing happening everyday for years and are simultaneously done together (both movement and the result of touching) it has a different feel then when someone else touches you. Here is why:

When a person experiences touch, two copies of this information are sent; one that enables the person's body to move and the other where the person experiences the touch. Because this happens all the time, there is no 'surprise' with the action and it is a coordinated effort, meaning movement must be performed followed by a touch. However, when someone touches that person, there are no planned responses to the stimulation and the person being touched experiences that much more stimulation because it is new.

You can get a similar, but less pronounced effect when you numb your hand while sitting on it, and then touching your skin. Since the nerves are numbed and are not signaling the brain as quickly, there is a slight surprise and thus increase stimulation.


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

[User]
Do we currently have any way to detect planets whose orbits do not intersect the light between it's host star and Earth?

From what I understand the way we go about detecting exoplanets is by measuring fluctuation in a star's light indicating that a planet is passing through the light given from it's host star blocking a portion of it from reaching earth.

My question is, is there another method to discover exoplanets which does not rely on the planet having that particular type of orbit, for all we know there could be thousands of planets which orbit around the Z axis of a star relative to our position which would never pass through the light between the star and earth.

**A followup question**: Have we discovered any object which rotate this way around their star?

[Assistant] Unless they are perfectly perpendicular to our line of sight in their orbits, they will still cause a small periodic radial velocity shift, and could be detected through the star's spectrum. They could also be imaged directly, but that is difficult.


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

[User]
Between Eusthenopteron and Panderichthys what happened to the anal fin?

Looking at the charts of evolution of land animals the anal fin disappears between Eusthenopteron and Panderichthys. Do they become part of the pelvis? Do the bones of the anal fin simply stop being being created? Some combination or do they change in some other way all together?

[Assistant] The dorsal and anal fins are unpaired fins, and form separately from the pelvic girdle from which the paired pelvic fins are attached.  In the Elpistostegalia, the dorsal and anal fin are lost and dont reappear in any later tetrapods.  The tail (caudal) fin is retained in some forms, and still observed in some larval amphibians. The loss of the unpaired fins was a developmental (genetic) event during the evolution of the lineage.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do some people have opposite reactions to caffeine and drowsy medicine?

My sister can drink coffee and energy drinks, and she'll fall asleep almost instantly, but drowsy medicine will keep her up. I always thought it had something to do with dyslexia...what's the real reason?

[Assistant]
This is actually a fairly common occurence, especially with certain types of drugs, and it's often referred to as a "paradoxical reaction."

Diphenhydramine (Benadryl) is especially well known for having these sort of side effects; it will cause drowsiness for most users, but will cause hyperactivity in some patients. The reason for these paradoxical reactions vary from drug to drug and person to person, and can be complex (especially if they affect the brain).

Generally, these reactions are caused by genetic differences involving metabolic chemical processes or brain structure or chemistry or all three.

Diphenhydramine hyperactivity, for example, is thought to be generally caused by the presence of an extra or altered copy of a gene for a metabolic enzyme (Im pretty sure its related to either CYP450 2D6 or 3A4). This mutation causes the body to sort of "over react" when that metabolic pathway is activated, which results in "ultra rapid metabolization" of all 2D6 substrates, including diphenhydramine (and a huge variety of other things, including chemicals which affect brain chemistry and mood).

This breaks down the diphenhydramine very quickly, and leaves the metabolic pathway in an excited state for some time. This ultimately changes brain chemistry and mood, temporarily. If you want the specifics, ask and ye shall receive.

Other "different reactions" can be caused by tolerance/exhaustion, or interactions with food and other drugs, and in some cases even mental state or environmental stimuli.

TL;DR / ELIactually5
Some people have different reactions to the same medicine. This happens because not everyone is the same. Sometimes two people can even have the exact opposite reaction!


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

[User]
[The Boys] Was there any investigation into why there were only American Supes?

I know the actual answer, but before that was public, and before there were "supe terrorists" did people question why there didn't seem to be many or any non American supes?

Edit: the show includes Love Sausage, who is a Russian supe. They also pointed out that superheroes are disproportionately white. Did people never ask about that either?

[Assistant]
Here's one speculation;

They were told to be blessings of God. Maybe they manipulated that part such that only Americans were blessed?

Or maybe..just maybe there were non American supes that  are not on show.


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

[User] ELI5 why do crabs that live in colder temperatures have more prominent spikes whereas crabs that live in warmer climates tend to have smoother shells?

[Assistant]
You could make some argument about the spikes on King crabs acting like hair to keep them warmer .... but It's apparently a more boring aspect of evolution that gives them defense where they need more from cold-water predators, and spiky/smooth is more due to chance.

It's more obvious when you look more broadly: lobsters have developed mostly the opposite traits - spiny in warm water, and smooth but with large claws in colder water.

In both cases, though, the more delicious variety is found in colder water.


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

[User] I read that coronaviruses are all zoonotic, they come from animals and now infect humans, are there any examples of the reverse, human native viruses that affect animals?

[Assistant] Ferrets, minks, primates, pigs and other species are vulnerable to many human respiratory viruses. Human tourists have spread viruses to wild gorilla and primate populations, infected zoo animals, livestock and pets.


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

[User]
ELI5: What caused segregated recycling to disappear?

Growing up (90-2000s) all recycling was separated. Glass in one, cardboard in another, and aluminium in a third. I moved for uni and ever since I've only seen mixed recycle bins. What made this become the norm?

[Assistant] It's easier and more cost efficient to do the sorting at the recycling center.  You only need one collection vehicle with one single space, rather than devote space to each type.  Also, people who recycle are notoriously bad at separating things.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are tires black in color? Why not green or blue?

[Assistant] Carbon black is added to the rubber in tires to add durability.  Its possible to make tires in lots of colors, but they lack some of the durable features such as heat dissipation that tires with carbon black have.


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

[User]
Can I use a copyright product without a license in a program?

I want to create a "game" more like a build program in which you can build with Lego bricks. I obviously don't have a license for them, but I also don't want to make it monetized or put ads in it. Is it okay to do so or can I get in trouble if I put it out for download?

[Assistant]
Why not just call it "Brick Builder" rather than "Lego"?

Even if you don't make money on it, you can't create a work and represent it as an official work of another person or company. You may be small and obscure enough to fly under the radar but it's still not something you can do.

As an example, Nintendo recently sent a C&D to the creator of a free online porn game involving Mario and Peach. It may be free but you still can't do that.


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

[User]
How long does it take for my body to convert what I eat into energy that I can use?

Say that I have a very physically demanding task ahead of me, is there an optimal time beforehand that I should eat to make the most of the energy that is provided by my food?

[Assistant]
Yes. The shorter the metabolic pathway that faster you will get energy.

Simple sugars can be used by your body very quickly. Endurance athletes bring small packs of sugar with them to hit the system fast.

More complex molecules that need to be processed take longer and will often slow you down as your body diverts energy to process them. Oils and proteins need to be broken down first. An interesting side note, cooking meat increases the effective calories of it as the heat is breaking down the proteins vs. your body!

Look up the Glycemic Index for more helpful information! :) It measures how long food takes once ingested to increase your blood sugar levels.


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

[User]
In his time, Hegel was called "the Protestant Aquinas", but I rarely hear him talked about as a theologian. Is Hegel's theology still considered an important part of his philosophy or not?

I assume the main reason for this is probably that most modern-day Hegelians are atheists, yet even some atheist Hegelians like Slavoj Zizek (although I'm not sure how seriously he's taken) are apparently also interested in theology. Is there any great significance to Hegel's theological work beyond the purely religious or is it considered to be only of tertiary importance to modern Hegelians?

[Assistant]
> Is Hegel's theology still considered an important part of his philosophy or not?

Yes. His early theological works are extremely important for the history of atheism, while his mature theological works are extremely important for the history of Protestantism.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] "We never use transfiguration as a form of punishment!"

I was wondering if a wizard can get out of this if you are transfigured by an enemy?

[Assistant]
No. Transfiguration rewrites the mind as well as the body.

Concievably, a horcruxed wizard coul partially survive the process, and then find a way to re-transfigure his body, but this would be extraordinarily difficult.


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

[User] [LoTR] Why Gothmog, crippled commander of orcs attacking Minas Tirith, wasn't killed after his birth?

[Assistant]
He might not have always been that way.

Disease, injury, and accidents could all have left him in the condition we first saw him in. By the time he got to that point, though, he was already a proven and valuable commander, and an asset to Mordor.


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

[User]
[WarioWare] How does Wario manage to keep his friends?

Hes incredibly full of himself, greedy to a fault, his hygiene is terrible he constantly tries to cheat them and one occasion he put them in actual danger! So why do they always come back when he rings them?

[Assistant] Hanging out with Wario may not be a *good* time, but at least it's an *interesting* time.  If you don't have a lot else going on, and you *know* W has some crazy shit up his sleeve, might as well.  Beats doing laundry, and gets you out of the house.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are different eye colors more common in Caucasians than other races?

In short, why is it nigh impossible for blacks or Asians that don't have an ounce of European in their blood to have blue eyes?

Edit: Thank you everyone for your answers! Can I no longer mark these as explained?

[Assistant] All people alive today who have blue eyes share a common ancestor who had the mutated gene that caused it sometime between 6 and 10 thousand years ago in the caucus mountains. Not very many Africans or East Asians have any ancestors that lived in this place, but Arabs and Persians do, which is why you'll sometimes see blue eyes from them as well.


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

[User]
[Half-Life] Why is Freeman so good?

Freeman is just one man. How is he able to disrupt so much of the combine. the same empire that conquered the planet? I do realize it's what g man says about being in the right place in the right time. But even with the help of the vorties and the resistance it seems like an impossible task.

[Assistant]
Scientifically speaking, he's a statistical outlier among humanity. Same as Adrian Shepherd or Barney. If successful alien kills are plotted on a bellcurve, with billions of data points you're guaranteed to eventually get a data point somewhere far, far off to the right. And, funny enough, the Combine are all about *avoiding* statistical outliers in their cyborgs and soldiers.

Practically speaking, he just had the right combination of physical stamina, intelligence, reflexes, hand-eye coordination, and willpower. Also, you're forgetting that the G-Man (a nigh-omniscient being) constantly meddled with his environment to ensure his success.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are commercials cost-effective to a company? Has anyone ever seen a comercial and thought, "Wow! I'm going to go buy that."

I'm thinking about Superbowl ads...millions of dollars for 30 seconds of glory.  Do companies just have an absurd amount of money to spend?

[Assistant]
It's not about pushing units.

Well it is... but not always.  Commercials and marketing have a lot to do with brand recognition and outreach.

So when Bud Light is paying millions to show you a super bowl ad, they aren't expecting you to leap up and buy more bud light.  They are trying to give you a positive view of their brand (hence why those ads are usually funny/heartwarming) so that the next time you are in the market buying beer Bud Light will stick out to you.


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

[User]
If plasmid has two sites of the same type of restriction enzyme. If we add that type of enzyme, then we will cut the plasmid in both sites, or just cut one ?

If plasmid has two sites of the same type of restriction enzyme. If we add that type of enzyme, then we will cut the plasmid in both sites, or just cut one ?

[Assistant]
Think about it on a small scale, you have a ton of DNA floating around you with a bunch of enzymes mixed in. They will cut anything they have specificity for, and it will happen. Some of the DNA will be cut once, some twice, etc.. all of these fragments would appear in separate bands through electrophoresis. But, assuming a good mixture and perfect reaction, all sites would be cut. Either way, through electrophoresis the size of the fragments can be calculated.

Tl;Dr It's important, for me at least, to visualize the mixture (it's all a crazy busy mess at a small scale)


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

[User] [General Comics] Why are so many people with superpowers coincidentally skilled at fitting and making clothing?

[Assistant]
Very few, actually.

Only Spider-Man is shown making his own outfit.

Thor gets his through magic, Dr. Strange get's his from the Ancient One's minions, Captain america's was made by the government, Iron Man, Black Widow, Hawkeye and Ant-Man have large industrial organizations behind them, Daredevil and Luke Cage both went to costume shops to get theirs.


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

[User] ELI5: If sound waves travel by pushing particles back and forth, then how exactly do electromagnetic/radio waves travel through the vacuum of space and dense matter? Are they emitting... stuff? Or is there some... stuff even in the empty space that they push?

[Assistant]
Sound is only a wave form transmitted by the oscillation of atoms. They can be any atoms. It's not a fundamental force.

Electromagnetism is a fundamental force transmitted by its very own special particle called a photon. However, the true nature of the photon is that it exhibits both wavelike and particle-like properties (called wave-particle duality).

So the answer is that photons move through space. They actually do go from point A to point B. They also are a wave at the same time. Photons that move one at a time still can exhibit wave like behavior (e.g., creating wavelike interference patterns despite having only been sent one at a time).

How a point particle can also be a wave seems contradictory. Really, it's just our inability to conceptualize such a thing. Just like a fully colorblind person can't imagine the color red, we have difficult imagining how a photon can be both point particle and wave.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] Why is Dumbledore insistent that they need to destroy all horcruxes first and kill Voldemort second, when they should be killing him first, then doing the horcrux detective work between then and his next resurrection?

[Assistant]
A few reasons.

Firstly, Dumbledore's plan was to destroy the horcuxes without Voldemort knowing he had done so, to prevent him from making more. If he killed Voldemort first and he returns and finds out that some of his horcruxes have been destroyed, then the game is up for Dumbledore.

Secondly, Voldemort ain't that easy to kill. It was imperative that as few people know about the horcruxes as possible for the reason stated above. If all the horcruxes are destroyed and Dumbledore dies fighting Voldemort, someone else might be able to still kill him. If Dumbledore dies fighting Voldie *first*, then it's going to make it far less likely that he will ever be defeated.

Finally, when Voldemort died the first time, it was in very specific circumstances. It is impossible for Dumbledore to tell whether or not it was those circumstances that caused Voldemort's spiritual limbo; dying under more normal circumstances might cause him to have a far more rapid resurrection. On top of that, even if the same thing would happen, Dumbledore has to assume that Voldemort has learnt his lesson from Godric's Hollow, and put in place a much more reliable method of being resurrected if he ever dies again.

Basically, there are just too many risks associated with attempting to destroy Voldemort first.