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

[User] How does dramamine work?

[Assistant] Dramamine is an antihistamine. It reduces the sensitivity of your inner ear, the part of your body that controls balance and orientation. By making your inner ear less sensitive, it means you will also be less sensitive to movements that are causing your nausea in the first place. That's why Dramamine only works for motion sickness and not other kinds of nausea.


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

[User] [Thor] is Loki a wizard/sorcerer or what? If he is a magic user, what kinds of magic does he use? What is the width and breadth of his arcane knowledge? I wanna know all about Loki!

[Assistant] Asgardians use magic, perhaps magic similar in form of the Sorcerers on Earth. His genius intellect and his Jotun origin also gives him a natural affinity and resistance for magic along with insane stamina and strength. He's also regarded as one of Asgards most brilliant and talented sorcerers, capable of tricking the entire nation into thinking he's dead or Odin.


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

[User]
ELI5 Why is there a waiting list for digital book downloads?

My mom was wondering.  She doesn't understand why, if a book is a digital download, would there be a waiting list to borrow it from the library?  I don't get it either.  Thanks Reddit!

[Assistant] Publishing companies don't like the idea of anyone being able to read their books anytime for free. So when they let libraries use their ebooks, they make the library put a limit on how many people can use it at once.


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

[User] ELI5: How do plasma globes work?

[Assistant]
The ball is filled with an inert gas at a low pressure (argon, neon, nitrogen).

The socket houses a special transformer that creates a high voltage at high frequency (but low current). That means the ball in the middle is constantly charged and discharged between + and - of a few kilovolts.

This causes an alternating electrical field to build between glass orb and metal center. This is strong enough to rip electrons of the gas atoms (low pressure means less gas, and each individual atom is exposed to more of the field)

Free electrons or gas atoms missing one have a net charge and are therefore accelerated very quickly in the field causing a cascade of more ionizations by hitting other atoms and ripping their electrons away.

This causes individual channels of ionized (glowing) gas to form.

These channels (filaments) stay together because of an instability, heat up, and slowly move upwards.

You can direct them by placing your hands on the glass because that locally grounds the glass  wich lets excess charge flow away through you, and more channels can form there.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is the skin on your face prone to blackheads and pimples so much more than the rest of your body?

[Assistant]
The sebaceous gland produces sebum, which is an oily substance that moisturizes and protects the skin. Excess sebum production can block the sebaceous gland duct causing a comedo (a clogged hair follicle or pore), commonly known as a blackhead or whitehead. Unchecked a comedo can lead to an infection  acne.

In humans, sebaceous glands occur in the greatest number on the face and scalp, but also the shoulders, upper chest, and back.


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

[User] ELI5: Why can some (US) outlets fit a plug from either way you put it in, but some plugs have a fatter and skinnier prong?

[Assistant]
This is to ensure that the plug can go into the outlet in only one orientation.

The wider blade is for the Neutral wire which is actually equal to ground. The narrower blade is for the Hot wire, or the source of electricity. Connecting a device between Hot and Neutral allows current to flow from Hot to Neutral, powering the device.

Some devices dont have a user-operable switch, so it doesnt matter which way the plug goes into the outlet, and both blades on the plug will be narrow.

Devices that do have a user-operable switch generally will have blades of different width in the devices plug. Such a plug is polarized. The purpose of a polarized plug is to ensure the devices user-operable switch is always connected to the Hot wire when the device is plugged in. This makes the device a little safer to use, and less likely to harm someone if they open the device without unplugging it first (but at least have it turned off). Most of the device wont be hot, only a small portion of the wiring inside will be Hotthat part before the switch.


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

[User] ELI5 Why is a cloud gray when raining , but white if not?

[Assistant] Clouds are just little pieces of water in the air, that have grouped up enough to start reflecting light from the sun. At first clouds are white, because they aren't very dense. Light moves through them pretty easily. As clouds gain more water mass, they start blocking some of the light, making the cloud grow darker. Then once heavy enough, the water in the cloud collects enough to rain. The cloud remains darker.


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

[User]
How come a room doesn't get brighter the longer you shine a light in it?

If I turn on a lamp or a flashlight or something in an enclosed space, the photons fill the room. But if I keep the light on, then it keeps emitting photons, so why doesn't the room just keep getting brighter? Does it have to do with how fast photons decay?

[Assistant] The photons don't decay, they get absorbed by the walls, furniture, and other things in the room. When they get absorbed, they are essentially turned into heat. If you leave a light bulb on in a room, it will get warmer. If you've ever been in a very bright room, such as a photography studio (with poor air conditioning), you may have noticed that the room is very warm.


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

[User]
What makes you wake up?

So what makes people wake up naturally? Is it our internal clock or is it just our bodies saying we've had enough rest? I ask this because I've found that sometimes if I go to bed late then I'll wake up earlier than if I went to bed early.

[Assistant] Your homeostasis sleep drive or pressure for sleep reduces the longer you sleep. After enough time it runs out and you don't feel sleepy. Another thing that helps is your internal clock or circadian rhythm which tells your pineal glands to stop producing melatonin. Melatonin being a hormone that aids sleep.


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

[User]
Does a mass particle, traveling close enough to the speed of light, appear to be a black hole?

Is it correct to think that a particle with mass, as it travels close to the speed of light, that it's mass will increase and it will contract to the observer? Thus it's density will increase. Would you expect it to behave like black hole?

[Assistant]
No, not exactly. The "relativistic mass" thing is just a (partially) useful interpretation of the physics. The fact is that when an object increases its energy, its momentum continues to grow in a way that is no longer defined by mv (mv is in fact just an approximation of momentum for sufficiently slow moving objects). This can be *thought of* as an increase in the mass part of the equation, but the particle doesn't truly gain mass.

Furthermore if you're moving alongside that massive object, it appears to be at rest and only have its "rest mass;" so it clearly doesn't look like a black hole to that observer.

tl;dr: black holes only refer to the rest mass of an object.


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

[User] [general] Who is the least effective/weakest known reality warper?

[Assistant] I might be tempted to give this to a toonforce character. In Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Roger can slip out of handcuffs and pull off other toonforce feats but only when it is funny. This caveat really hampers what he can do and when, making it inconsistent and not very helpful.


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

[User] ELI5: Why don't manufacturers of medical walkers redesign them so that people don't have to put tennis balls on the rear legs?

[Assistant] The legs are designed to have a lot of friction. Some of the elderly don't like this because it's loud, hard to slide across the floor, leaves marks, etc. But at the end of the day they're sabotaging a safety feature.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why was the 'off-camera audio' of Robert Durst not immediately evidence? Why did HBO get to create a whole show first with the evidence, then, only after it aired did Durst get in trouble?

Edit: I'm feeling like this isn't quite answered yet.
So,  you're saying that if a documentary film crew exposes evidence linking someone to a crime, the crew is not legally obligated to immediately hand over that evidence to authorities?

Edit 2: It's explained.  The producers gave the evidence to authorities long before the show's airing.

[Assistant]
HBO is under no legal obligation to notify the police that they have evidence.  Nor are they required to turn it over unless the police have a court order(subpoena or search warrant).

Additionally, the "off-camera audio" may not be sufficient for evidentiary purposes.


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

[User] ELI5: What's so special about finding liquid water on Mars?

[Assistant]
On Earth wherever there is liquid water there is life, and wherever there is no liquid water there is no life. Its a direct correlation water is the one thing that *all* life on this planet depends on.

Does that hold true on Mars? On Earth water = life. On Mars, water = life? Maybe.

Obviously it does not mean there *is* life on Mars, but the one thing we know life (Earth life anyway) is absolutely dependent on, is also on Mars. It just makes it that much more possible that there really is alien life in our solar system.


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

[User]
[Star Trek] Say I wanted to play a holodeck version of D&D/Skyrim/The Witcher. How Immersive could it get?

Say I wanted to use the holodeck to play a fantasy role playing game. Let's say we have Worf as a paladin, Riker as a ranger, Troi as a sorceress, Laforge as a wizard, Picard as a bard and Data as DM.

My question is how many of the games mechanics could the holodeck replicate? I can imagine that casting spells and hitting monsters would be easy but what about when the monsters or spells hit you? How you the holodeck magically put you to sleep or paralyze you? How would it tell Riker that he is so wounded that he needs Worf to use Lay on Hands? Is there even a way the holodeck could "safely" replicate the effect of getting caught in a cone of dragon's fire or being knocked prone by a tail whip?

[Assistant]
Keep in mind that games use hitpoints because they lack granularity, you "take two damage" when your character struck by a PnP arrowhead because you just can't abstract that pain and the resulting damage that inhibits your abilities. There's two ways to go about it.

Either you LARP it and the holodeck just keeps track of your stats (maybe displayed on a board in the sky that only you and your party can see) or you do your best to play it. The computer can project a pretty convincing amount of force in addition to various environmental effects, so yes, you'd feel heat wash over you as the dragon roared and it could absolutely knock you into a wall for 2d10 if you don't dodge. The arrow sinks to the hilt.. vanishing electron by electron as it slides into you, computer releasing its control of the force fields holding it together, scratching your clothes but not your skin.

Or.. you turn the safety protocols down.. There are a large variety of compounds that when inhaled or touch the skin produce unconsciousness, paralysis, etc. First degree burns heal. You can really break ankles and wrists from being thrown into other constructs. The arrow sinks to the hilt.. tearing at your shoulder skin and the surface layer of muscles. Nothing a second or two of dermal regeneration won't fix but it hurts, a lot. (Or if the protocols are *off* it really, really hurts as it goes through to the other side and gets stuck.)

I doubt that Starfleet would let you go in for option 2. You'd have to make do with some pretty impressive computer aided effects and a healthy dose of suspension of reality. A Ferengi would just want the latinum up front.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do statistical tests prove significance?

I did a biology undergraduate degree and often did reports where would statistically analyse our results. P value of less than 0.05 shows that the results are statistically significant. How do these tests actually know the data is significant? For example we might look at correlation and get a significant positive correlation between two variables. Given that variables can be literally anything in question, how does doing a few statistical calculations determine it is significant?  I always thought there must be more nuance as the actual variables can be so many different things. It might show me a significant relationship for two sociological variables and also for two mathematical, when those variables are so different?

[Assistant]
"Significance" in this context doesn't mean "this is true", it means "The chance this is true is pretty damn high". Generally speaking, the stronger the correlation, the more true it's likely to be. The P value is essentially a value of how likely it is that the results you got were just a fluke - that there's no pattern at all and the data just happened to come out looking like there was. The tests that determine P value just look at the data in the abstract and the amount it deviates. The lower the deviation, the lower the P value, because it's very unusual for random chance to produce results with very low deviation. It could still happen, which is why the P value isn't 0, all you're doing is saying "The chance random chance produced *these* results is sufficiently low that we can decide the correlation is significant and therefore reproducible".

Also, there are cases where a P value of 0.05 is still too high to be confident the correlation is actually there. In some cases, the results won't be considered significant until the P value is 0.01, or even lower.


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

[User] ELI5: How do subcultures like punks, juggalos etc. get popular and make people change their lifestyle?

[Assistant]
It's an aesthetic. You wear the uniform, and instantly you identify yourself to other people who take issue with current societal behavior or whom wish to express a part of themselves - many of these subcultures have room for individual creative experimentation within the basic tropes.

The music is often angry, and it explores subjects taboo for children. Murder. Sex. Evil. Injustice. It can unite those who come from sheltered backgrounds, or those who survived Hell on Earth. Largely, it starts appealing in adolescence. In a time when your emotions are intense, and your worldview not expansive, it's often very introspective in a way that seems self-absorbed or even threatening to older people, but seems more real...

Also, the many cultural revolutions these styles have created have done wonders for getting us to be more accepting of one another.

It used to be that not fitting in was asking for violence, or imprisonment. Now, those who wish to take part may, visually at least, leave the herd, and those offended dismiss it as being a snowflake. Most Westerners simply don't care.

Human culture evolves, in tiny, insignificant steps.


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

[User]
I think that copyrights should expire when the creator of an original work is dead. CMV

All books, movies, TV shows, and video games should have their copyrights expire when the creator is dead. In circumstances where multiple people worked on it (it was created by a team, there are multiple authors, etc), the copyright shouldn't expire until all people who collect royalties for its creation are dead.

The reason I think this is that no one should profit off of a work that they did not have a hand in creating. George Orwell's descendants, for example, should not be profiting off of royalties from 1984 like they are.

**EDIT: I get it. if we did this, everyone would die.**

[Assistant] So if you work for fifteen years to create something incredibly valuable while being supported by your spouse, and you die the day before it comes to market (i.e., you never in your lifetime make a penny from it), your spouse shouldn't have any claim to the proceeds of your work?


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

[User] I am given to understand that vasectomies do not inhibit sperm production. So what happens to the sperm if it can't be delivered?

[Assistant] After a vasectomy, sperm cannot exit the body through the penis. Sperm are still produced by the testicles, but they are broken down and absorbed by the body. Much fluid content is absorbed by membranes in the epididymis, and much solid content is broken down and re-absorbed via the blood stream.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do directors get so much credit/disapproval if a film or T.V. show is bad/good, shouldn't it fall on the writers who have control of the show/movie?

[Assistant] Do you judge the chef or the farmer for how your meal turned out? Sometimes it's the ingredients that make or break a dish but it's the chef's job to take what they got and transform it into something tasty.


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

[User]
CMV: Life doesn't have a meaning

First of all Im on mobile and im not a native English speaker so sorry for eventual grammar and spelling errors.

  If you make a pyramid out of 100 cans and throw a ball at it it will fall. If you rebuild it again exactly like it was before and reset all conditions then throw the ball with the same angle and velocity as before you will see that the exact same thing happen again.The human brain is the same but very complex. I cant think of an explanation for something that does not work this way. With this i want to say that we dont have free will.

If this is true and the brain is pre determined then making an afterlife for a predictable supercomputer that broke is useless.This means that everything loses its meaning once it is no longer happening.

This makes life meaningless to the individum. A god might have some kind of plan and meaning but i would just be a worthless tool without a real meaning. And if you say fulfilling the plan that god has for me is my meaning then that is more of a goal than a meaning.

Dont argue with the existence of souls except if you can give proof of its existence.

Sorry for all the spelling errors and my rubbish grammar ask if you need clarification of something.

[Assistant]
> Life doesn't have a meaning

Something can only have meaning, if there is a person/mind/entity etc. who values it, or in other words, *gives* it meaning.

If there were no life and no minds existed anywhere, there could be no meaning to anything, because there's no one to whom it would be meaningful. It makes little sense to talk about meaning as if it were some inherent property/quality of things that we can detect in a similar way as weight or color.

If someone sees meaning in their life, i.e. they value it, then their life has meaning (to them).


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

[User] Why don't we snore while awake? What changes in our breathing when we fall asleep?

[Assistant]
Respiratory therapy student checking in. There are a few factors which may compound with eachother causing symptoms ranging from simple snoring, to severe sleep apnea. As mentioned earlier, the snoring sound comes from a closing airway in the back of your mouth/throat.

While we sleep we have different stages of sleep we cycle through every 90 minutes or so. The last of these is called REM sleep. During REM sleep our body is at its most relaxed and muscles that normally support the throat and tongue relax as well and collapse the airway. As air is forced past these now flappy tissues, they make sound we hear as snoring.

Other factors which we look at are usually related to things that would cause the mouth and throat to be small. A small or recessed jaw doesnt allow for as much space to begin with. Obesity fills the neck area with fat pushing in on that space.

To fix this we can use specialized mouth guards which pull the jaw forward, pulling the tongue forward with it, opening that space. CPAP machines use constant air pressure to force the airway open from the inside, enough to allow for adequate breathing.


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

[User]
[Kingsman] Why do the Kingsman not have a way to make sure failed candidates don't expose their existence.

So in Kingsman: the Golden Circle a former candidate for Kingsman, Charlie, gets the group wiped out by telling the main villain about their existence.    The fact that the group doesn't have any way to stop previous candidates from revealing them seems like a major security risk.  The whole reason Charlie failed to become a Kingsman was that he didn't pass the test to not give them up, so they even knew he couldn't be trusted.  With all the technology and resources they have, how does the Kingsman not have a way to prevent someone like Charlie from talking about them.

[Assistant] We had ways, back when Maggie was in charge and this whole outfit ran ship-shape.  If you didn't pass the tests, they were fatal, and that was that.  Wrote something up about a training accident for the families, small obituary in the papers, then brandy and cigars in the sitting room.


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

[User]
But seriously, how does the magic eraser work.?

Bought one and it removes sharpie like nobody's business.

What's up with the science behind it?

Is it just super abrasive?

[Assistant] It is made of a polymer (melamine) with a very slightly porous/abrasive surface.  It works by polishing the surface, basically removing a very small layer.  It works great on most surfaces but you definitely don't wanna try it on glass.


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

[User] [Star Wars] 1: Why was there a reactor shaft in the Emperor's throne room? 2: Why didn't Vader just use the Force to choke Palpatine instead of subjecting himself to force lightning by picking up the Emperor?

[Assistant]
The emperor was physically weak but overwhelmingly strong in the Force. He would have defended against s force attack very easily.

People forget that the Emperor could have used his entire strength and killed Luke almost instantly but decided to play and enjoy it. His hubris gave Vader long enough to find Anakin and Anakin's love for his children.


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

[User]
How is laze formed by lava mixing with sea water?

Thank you for the great answers everybody.

[Assistant] The high-temperature steam produced by the lava entering the ocean hydrolizes the various salts present in seawater, primarily chloride salts.  This results in hydrogen from the steam combining with chloride ions, producing significant quantities of hydrogen chloride.  As the steam recondenses it picks up this HCl to form hydrochloric acid droplets.


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

[User]
ELI5:How did cartographers make maps back in the day?

How did they know what the shapes of the continents were without satellite imagery looking down on the planet?

[Assistant] If you have a way of figuring out latitude and longitude of points where you are (doesn't require a satellite network) you can sail along a coast and take readings every so often.  The same thing is true if you just have a way of measuring directions reliably (e.g. if north is 0 degrees and we go counterclockwise 90 degrees would be west you would need to be able to give the direction in degrees to a certain level of accuracy) and distances.


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

[User]
9 years' experience teaching at the community college level, only have a master's degree. Should I bother applying for lecturer/instructor positions at four-year schools?

I've been seeing job postings that say something like "PhD preferred, ABD will be considered". Is it worth it to submit an application due to my college teaching experience, or will I be immediately disqualified? For reference, my teaching experience had been in anatomy/physiology and microbiology.

[Assistant]
> "PhD preferred, ABD will be considered"

If the job ad says this, then you will not be considered.  This is meant for someone that it toward the end of their doctorate and would be expected to complete their doctorate within the first year of employment (typically).  A common example is someone that defends their dissertation over the summer before starting a job in August, but the university does not officially grant the degree until the December graduation.

Of course, there is nothing wrong with shooting off an email to the search committee chair and ask if they are willing to consider someone with a MS.  It would not be uncommon at all to see a person with a terminal MS teaching A&P at a four-year school, so keep looking.


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

[User]
What would happen if sea levels DROPPED?

We always hear about the social/economic/environmental problems and side effects of worldwide rising sea levels, but out of curiosity, what would one expect if the opposite was true? How would things change if sea level dropped, say, 10-20 metres. More, if that's more interesting.

Thanks in advance!

Edit: thanks everyone for the thought out and informative comments, dnd setting inbound ;)

[Assistant]
Well ... it happened before, of course, and within the previous few hundred thousand years no less ... litterally within human memory, during the last ice age. The Lascaux paintings are documentary evidence from that time period.

Just as global warming leads to rising sea levels as the ice caps melt, global cooling is the mechanism linked to sea level decrease and growing icesheets.

When the last glaciation was at its height the area between Alaska and Kamtchatska was above sea level, and formed a landmass known as Beringia. Sea level went down 100 meters relative to the present. The ancestors of American Indians and Inuit crossed that land bridge on foot, as did a lot of wildlife that went either East or West. The shores of southern Spain and France were covered by subarctic tundra-like vegetation, and the icesheet reached all the way down to Central Park and Wisconsin.

And the effects of a climatic regime where such a sea level decrease would occur would be those of going back to a global ice age ... much of currently inhabited Europe, Asia and North America would become uninhabitable, as 2-3 kilometer thick icesheets came thundering towards the equator (geologically speaking). Areas amenable to agriculture would shrink due to a shortened growing season. Inhabitable areas would migrate closer to the equator, and shrink. Economies would collapse, massive socio-economic disruptions, extinctions, possibly our own, would occur ... yadda yadda yadda, as they say... it would be apocalyptic.


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

[User] Eli5 How does inducing a coma help save a life but if someone is dying you sometimes try to keep them awake?

[Assistant]
Different methods for different situations. For instance, you want to keep someone focused and awake on you if you're trying to prevent them from going into shock, falling asleep while in the stages of hypothermia, that kind of thing.

Medically induced comas are largely used when dealing with brain issues. Perhaps a major artery was damaged and you need to induce a coma so you can actually operate on it. Maybe you want brain activity and blood flow very low so the brain can be less active, and perhaps recover from swelling or simply buy more time.


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

[User] ELI5: Who creates computer viruses and why do they do it?

[Assistant] Programmers do, and for a variety of reasons. You can sell peoples personal information for a decent amount, or steal their bank account number, or turn their computer into a proxy for attacking something else.


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

[User] [Harry Potter] When the 3rd year class faced off against the boggart, why didnt it transform into the basilisk for any of them? Was it just by coincidence that none of its victims were in that class?

[Assistant]
It was a class of Gryffindors, so the only people in the room who actually saw the Basilisk were Harry and Hermione.

Harry's Boggart was a dementor for obvious reasons, and Hermione's was Professor McGonagall telling her she'd failed her final exams... So either Hermione takes tests *very* seriously, or the Basilisk just wasn't as traumatic an incident as we would expect.


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

[User] [Marvel] How would opinions change on Deadpool, if they realized that he was right about the fourth wall?

[Assistant]
Honestly, people's opinions of Deadpool would be the least significant topic if it was determined that the entire Marvel universe is a work of fiction. Once a character discovers this "truth", their entire world view gets turned on it's head. Any concept of free will is an illusion (as their every word is written by an author). Every tragedy that befell them now has definite person(s) responsible. Imagine Scott Summers realizing that Jean Grey was killed and resurrected with the Phoenix Force because she was "boring" and comic sales needed to be higher. Or Peter Parker coming to the conclusion that Gwen Stacy died not because of his failures, or the Green Goblin's malice, but because the editors didn't want their young hero to get married.

And then of course, Deadpool tells them about "retconning" and giant flash of light from Doctor Doom's new time travel experiment envelopes the Earth and it's suddenly 2 hours earlier.


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

[User] [Super Smash Brothers] How is Jigglypuff's Rest so devastating?

[Assistant]
Contrary to *Rest* as seen in most Pokemon battles, Jigglypuff's *Rest* is something extremely dangerous and very risky for her to use.

Observational data suggests that Jigglypuff releases a tremendous amount of energy for only a very brief moment during the beginning of the attack. The energy released will transfer to anyone who is in physical contact with Jigglypuff (i.e. touching her). The resulting energy transfer generates a moderate amount of damage but *very* high knockbacksending enemies soaring away from Jigglypuff.

The attack is not without drawbacks though. Use of *Rest* will instantly force Jigglypuff into a minor resting period to recoverleaving her wide open to any counters. The extremely short range also makes it very difficult to use in combatparticularly when facing a ranged opponent or anyone who has knowledge of Jigglypuff's abilities.


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

[User] [Command and Conquer] Does Nod have any legitimate grievances against GDI or are they purely evil?

[Assistant]
In the beginning, Nod claimed to speak for the underprivileged, broken, and ignored third world nations. The countries left behind following the cold war, and basically left to rot while the rich western world would go on to unite and prosper like never before. So in a sense, they did begin life as a way for the powerless to gain a voice on the global scale, and to bring attention to the fact that the United Nations had been ignoring legitimate issues in favor of their own interests.

When Tiberium first began to spread across the planet, it was Nod that pioneered safe harvesting methods, and they put a portion of their unimaginable profits toward some of these undeveloped nations, garnering goodwill and putting a black stain on the first world which was unable or unwilling to do the same thing. But it was nothing more than a ploy to increase their media attention and make the people that Nod DIDN'T directly aid get even more upset at the western world.

They used that boiling anger to fill their ranks and sow the seeds of religious fanaticism that would fuel Nod forward through the decades.

So... the TLDR in the early years is that it's complicated. In a sense, they did bring to light a lot of legitimate problems and mistakes made over the 80s and 90s by the big players of the world. But they only did so to further their plans for war and conquest.

In later years, it could be argued that Nod's lack of fear toward Tiberium, and their superior technology related to it, gave the people on their side a slightly better standard of living. At least, those in the upper echelons and inner circles of Kane's power. If GDI had put the same amount of resources and thought into Tiberium as they did standard military hardware and old-world construction in the face of armageddon, they might have made much better progress in eradicating it.

But really, by the time of the second war and beyond, Nod's only real reason to be angry at GDI was religious fervor and the fact that it was the only real competition they had for people, territory, and resources. And to be fair, in a world falling apart due to tiberium, those are some very legitimate problems. But Kane used the spiritual devotion his followers showed to him to whip them into an ever-deeper frenzy, to make them fight harder and better, and ensure his final goals.


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

[User]
[Hitchhiker's Guide] What will 30 Altairian dollars a day buy me?

I figure I should know what kind of lifestyle I'm in for when I go hitchhiking with the guide in tow.

[Assistant] about half a sandwich in the average galactic spaceport, but with thirty dollars worth of materials available at most major interplanetary grocery outlets you can make *two* sandwiches.  From there you'll only need a towel to briefly commandeer an empty food stand at the spaceport, sell your to sandwiches and then buy standby tickets to whatever destination you could want!


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

[User] [Star Wars:ANH] Whatever became of sand crawler after the Jawas were slaughtered?

[Assistant]
Presumably other Jawas repaired it and moved in.
Jawas are *really* good at repairing things. The sandcrawlers were actually brought to Tatooine by miners thousands of years ago. After the mining operation failed, the Jawas took the sandcrawlers for themselves, and have kept them going ever since.


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

[User] Eli5: why do I have to "restart computer to finish installing"?

[Assistant]
You usually don't anymore, especially if it's a third party program, it's just a holdover from an older era.

 If it's system related updates? Usually because it wants to update files that can't be updated in place as they're always in use. Imagine trying to upgrade a car engine while it's driving, for example. Restarting gives in the chance to do the updates before bringing the whole of the system up.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do they make bubly, lacroix and the like 0 calories with natural flavour.

Shouldnt natural flavour have calories?

[Assistant]
All kinds of fruit juice have calories in them, and most of the calories come from sugars. But it's possible, using various tricks of chemistry, to separate the sugars from the other compounds which give the fruit its distinctive flavour and aroma. (Generally these are compounds detected by scent, rather than taste.) So if you get those fruit flavour chemicals separated out on their own, and add them to carbonated water with some no-calorie sweetener, then you've got a lacroix. And if you got those chemicals from a fruit in the first place, then you're allowed to call it a natural flavour. (often there are also some other rules you must stick to in order to use that label, but it depends where you live.)

edit: Also, it's sometimes possible to extract flavour-bearing compounds from other parts of the fruit than the sugary juicy part. Lots of natural orange extracts, for instance, are made from the peel.


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

[User]
[MCU] When Mordo takes Jonathans magic back, what is actually happening there?

Jonathan gets an injury and seeks out the Ancient One.  She teaches him how to use magic and he learns how to heal himself and regain the use of his legs.

Mordo comes along and takes his magic back and now Jonathan is back to being crippled again.

Ok.. I get all of that; but why doesnt Jonathan just redo the spells that gave him ability to walk again?  He learned them once... he obviously was skilled enough to pull off the difficult incantations... shouldnt this just be a matter of mediation and hand motions again?

Throughout all of Doctor Stranges training montage, it shows him reading all these spell books and hand motions and growing in knowledge... I think he even comments on how he has eidetic memory.

Was Mordo taking Jonathans knowledge of the magic or is magic something completely different? Like crippling a Jedi by stealing his midichlorians?

[Assistant]
In essence, Pangborn was using his magic as an extremely sophisticated crutch; he did not cast a spell that permanently changed his body, he was actively using magic to keep his body running at his pre-crippling level. This is the reason he essentially dropped out of Kamar-Taj, since he was tying up his power and abilities in mending his physical form instead of probing the supernatural deeper, and with the prime driver for his magical journey fulfilled didn't feel a pressing need to keep pushing the envelope of his potential.

He has the knowledge and the skills, but Mordo's attack severed Pangborn's connection to the power that fueled the sort of magic taught at Kamar-Taj. He no longer has the energy to do the magical workings that kept his body mended and functional. If he got that energy back, he could reapply what the Ancient One taught him and stand up, but the suggestion is that getting that power back is not a natural or automatic process.


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

[User] ELI5: How have the galaxies not poached one another by this point and formed a massive super galaxy?

[Assistant]
There are two answers: one for why this has not *yet* happened, and one for why this will not *ever* happen.

The answer to why it hasn't happened *yet* is simple: the Universe is quite young, relative to the time it takes for galaxies to collide and merge. Some of them have (our own Milky Way is known to have absorbed several smaller galaxies in the past) or will in the near future (we're expected to collide and merge with Andromeda, the other large galaxy of our local group, in the relatively near astronomical future), but not enough time has passed for this to bring all of the galaxies even in small clusters together, much less the entire Universe, even if that were their ultimate fate.

The answer to why it won't *ever* happen is twofold:

* The Universe is probably infinite and roughly homogeneous, in which case each galaxy feels (on average) the same pull in every direction. That means that while local clusters will merge, there isn't any "net center" for galaxies to concentrate at, even over infinite time (and over any finite time, of course, only a finite portion of the galaxies in the Universe can even interact with one another because gravity travels at the speed of light).

* The Universe's expansion is currently outpacing gravitational attraction on the largest scales. Outside of relatively nearby galaxies, everything in the Universe is "moving" away from us at high speeds (I say "moving" in quotes because it's more proper to say "the distance between us is changing as space itself changes" - it's not motion in the normal sense). The same is true, as far as we know, for every *other* point in the Universe: a few local galaxies moving closer, but the Universe as a whole moving rapidly away.


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

[User]
[WH40k] Does Chaos even want to beat the humans or are they just playing around?

Without humans what would be left for Chaos to do? I mean, do they really strive to beat the humans in some sort of final victory or are they more interested in a never ending fight to justify their existence? Also with every sjngle human whiped out what happens to the webway and the chaos gods? Aren't they sort of running on human emotions?

[Assistant]
Chaos don't really have any goals; it is Chaos. They are quite content fighting other denizens of the Eye.
The only exeptions are when someone somehow manages to unite them, but even then the "alliances" quickly fall apart to infightning if that "great leader" dies, or their advance gets blunted.


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

[User] ELI5:  Why do bees become less aggressive/fall asleep when beekeepers pour smoke into their hives?

[Assistant] Bees communicate using chemicals called pheromones. The smoke blocks the pheromones so communications between bees are essentially cut. While it does calm the bees, it can also set hive production back a day or two until the smoke wears off and communications are restored. For this reason, some beekeepers prefer to spray their bees with sugar water. It keeps the bees busy licking it off one another and since it is a food source, hive production isn't interrupted very much.


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

[User]
ELI5- Why are you not supposed to squeeze a teabag after you let it steep in water?

After looking at the packing for my tea at home I saw that they tell you not to squeeze the bag after it steeps. I have been doing this my whole life... ELI5 why shouldnt I be doing this.

Edit: thanks for the International assistance.  I posted this on saturday at around noon here in America, and it only started getting attention as the crazy Britts woke up for their fist of 20 cups for the day.

Also, for the record it is an Earl Grey by Bigelow.  I use 2 bags for what would be 14 oz (freedom units).  I squeeze the piss out of both bags, using only my fingers, not a spoon or the strings.  I also dunk the crap out of the bags while it steeps...

[Assistant] Squeezing the teabag can release additional tannins or flavors into the cup which, depending on the type of tea, could be considered undesirable toward the overall flavor profile.  But whether or not the flavors are undesirable is ultimately personal preference.


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

[User] How are babies born with heroin (or any drug) addiction medically treated? And what are their symptoms that lead to the diagnosis?

[Assistant]
This is called Neonatal Abstinence Syndrome. Generally, treatment is based on the drug in question and the severity of symptoms. In most cases the child is simply calmed and allowed to run through the withdrawal period, while supervised medically. For more potent drugs such as heroin and similar, dosage of methadone, morphine or a similar drug is used to treat the withdrawal which can be very painful and stressful to adults and outright dangerous for infants. This dosage is gradually weened like you would expect.

Otherwise, the advice is generally to be patient, quiet and soothing to the infant; a common symptom is being a very fussy eater.

TL;DR cold turkey, except for cases where the withdrawal is too severe to leave be.

EDIT: Spelling corrections, It should be noted that infants with severe symptoms requiring opiate dosage will almost always remain hospitalized from several weeks to months.


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

[User]
[40K] I'm always hearing about these Space Marine Chaos lords. What about the rest of us?

Is there any chance for me, an exceptional human psyker, to ever become powerful enough to lead for the dark gods and get their gifts?

[Assistant]
There's always a chance. Space Marines by their very nature have a better chance on paper; they're stronger, faster, smarter, and more killy than the average human being.

But you don't need two hearts or an acid spitting tongue to be severely *fucked* up. Some of the Chaos god's greatest champions have been ordinary men; just look at Doombreed- one of Khorne's mightiest Bloodthirsters and implied to be Genghis Khan.


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

[User]
How does brain control heart rhythm in people that are from neck down paralyzed?

If a person is paralyzed due to serious injury to their spinal cord around neck, how does the brain still control the heart or even simple breathing is possible?

[Assistant] It doesn't, at least not directly. The heart has its own internal pacing system that takes over. This is actually a real problem around the time of the injury, as the patient may be in shock from their trauma but the body can't manage to mount a high heart rate because the nerves have been severed. The brain can influence certain hormones that affect heart rate and blood pressure, though. Also, breathing is also affected by high spinal cord injuries. The phrenic nerve, which controls most of breathing, receives input from below the C4 area of the spinal cord (roughly speaking). An injury higher than that results in an inability to breathe, and the person will be ventilator-dependent.


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

[User] ELI5: What is the discomfort that I feel when I'm really hungry? Is there an actual physical cause, or is it psychosomatic?

[Assistant] Its kind of both. When the body really wants food (usually 12-24 hours after ingestion of food) it causes muscle contractions in the stomach. This can be accelerated by low blood sugar and other factors.  Most of the responses/reflexes involved in this are mediated by the brain. These contractions are not usually painful, per se. however, they can be uncomfortable by the exact same mechanism that makes you feel uncomfortable when youve eaten too much (stretch reflex). Your brain can also suppress these based on emotional state. If your body gets to the point where its convinced you arent going to get food for a while (starvation mode) it will turn this response off entirely, because these contractions burn additional energy that the body is trying to conserve in this state. Your brain can also trigger these early if youre extremely routine in your meals because it will sort of prepare for food it expects is coming by shifting glucose and other things into the cells in advance to mitigate the homeostatic shift that happens when ingesting food (glucose and certain nutrients spike very quickly). So this shift below baseline (which is protective, because it makes the post-meal peak less dramatically above baseline) can trigger this reflex early (due to low blood glucose and other factors).


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people create computer viruses?

[Assistant]
Lots of reasons.  Originally, back in the day, it was simply to do it.  It gave the author a feeling of power and/or accomplishment.  Sometimes it is motivated by the same things that motivate any vandalism.

These days it is more and more profit driven.  Malware is a huge business now, bringing in billions of dollars to the perpetrators.


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

[User]
[X-MEN] what is a mutant power you definitely wouldnt want?

Like i know a vast amount of mutants have powers that wouldnt be considered superpowers at all and more like curses kind of like Rogues killing touch I guess.

What are some of the worst?

[Assistant] ForgetMeNot's power. He creates a psychic field that means everyone who interacts with him forgets he ever existed. He's helped the X-Men out a ton of times, but none of them knew it. He's pretty much always going to be alone.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is it that baked good containing eggs like cookies dont have to be refrigerated when eggs themselves or hard boiled eggs do?

[Assistant]
Bacteria needs a specific environment to grow the following 6 things contribute to its growth
1. Food
2. Acid
3. Time
4. Temperature
5. Oxygen
6. Moisture

Take away any of these factors (or add to much in the case of acid and temperature) and bacteria cannot grow.
So a fresh egg has food (the egg itself), low ph level,  moisture (whether from humidity in the air or the egg itself) , and if sitting out oxygen and temperature also acting against it to help create a perfect environment for bacteria to grow.

Add that egg to a dough and bake it. For a cookie to rise you either use baking soda or baking powder, baking powder has a leavening agent as well as an acid to make it rise, baking soda needs to react with an acid to cause it to rise (usually cocoa powder in cookies but can also be numerous other ingredients) acid will help kill the bacteria although these small amounts aren't enough to make it safe. Baking does something else to that cookie it heats it up. Most bacteria die around 160 degrees feirnheight you bake your cookies at 350 feirnheight this kills any bacteria that may have been present in that egg/dough mixture. The baking process also takes away moisture and dry out the dough significantly. So we have added acid, added temperature and removed moisture. These 3 things inhibate the growth of that bacteria and allow you to keep your baked goods sitting on your counter.


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

[User]
Whats the minimum density needed to form a black hole?

Is this a stupid question? Or does it depend? I thought that the answer is constant, but when I googled it I couldnt find the answer, only irrelevant things, can someone answer this question?

Edit: aight guys this is solved thanks for the help.

[Assistant]
To *form* a black hole, you need to squish some mass into a volume less than its Schwarzschild radius. This doesn't actually correspond to any specific density. In fact, the more mass you have, the *lower* average density you need to squish something small enough for it to form a black hole. If you double the mass of an object, you double its Schwarzschild radius, and it comes out that you then only need 1/4 of the density.

Once a black hole has formed, its density becomes a bit of a trickier concept - you can talk about its "average" density (mass divided by volume within the event horizon), or the density of the singularity (which is infinite), but that's different to the density required to *form* a black hole.


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

[User]
I think that cases of female-on-male rape are an incredible minority of overall rapes. And those who wish us to reconnoiter our thinking on rape as a more gender-neutral crime are misguided, and merely arguing their own political agenda. CMV.

Can we leave male-on-male rape aside for this one? Yes, its a serious problem and yes it happens far too often. But I hope that can be a separate discussion. I hope we can stick to female-on-male rape and whether its a cause for alarm. As I said, I think its a minor drop in the sea of overall rapes committed.

The comments that inspired this post kept pointing out that women can rape men by drugging their drink, blackmailing them into sex, or simply overpowering them. And while, yes, this has likely happened before, it hardly seems like the order of the day. Like I said, CMV.

Maybe it's just me, but this seems to be coming up a lot on reddit recently. Some seem to wish to change any conversation of rape towards the notion that woman rape just like men do. They constantly point to something called tumblr feminism, or SRS  which are apparently things  as trying to cover this up. It seems to have become an argument about who the *real* bad people are.

More-often-than-not it seems fights between the hardcore feminists and the vehement anti-feminists come across like listening to an argument between Donald Trump and Rosie ODonnell  in other words, maybe its my fault for even tuning in. Or am I wrong, and Im just ignorant of what a problem female-on-rape is?

The other phenomenon often cited is when a female school teacher has sex with a high school boy. While clearly statutory rape, this seems to me as somewhat trivial compared to when a woman is violently raped by a man. Again, CMV.

By the way, Im sure that we can all agree that statistics for such a topic are woefully problematic.  And I certainly know that not having data at hand doesnt make your contribution invalid. But it would be great if people could mention any studies that have sought to examine this.

Finally, I just want to say that I am not trying to minimize or turn a blind eye to *any* form of rape. Rape is rape and rape is bad; I think we all know that. I certainly dont want to suggest that any males who have been a victim to female rape should just walk it off, or whatever. Just that theyre in an incredible minority of rape victims, statistically speaking. Mostly, Im just hoping to learn a thing or two. Thanks.

[Assistant] The fact that something occurs more or less often statistically makes no difference to any individual victim, so they should all be given equal access to the proper care and help they need, and shouldn't be shunned or portrayed negatively by media and culture.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How did Jar Jar Binks become a Senator?

Especially in The Clone Wars, we see how others know Jar Jar to be silly and awkward. How did he come to a position of power?

Edit: Representative, not Senator. I should have known that one.

[Assistant]
So first off, Jar Jar wasn't a Senator. A planet only gets one senator, and so Padme was Naboo's senator.

However when a planet has an alien minority of significant size, that species is allowed to have a representative in the Senate.

The Gungans are isolationist, so they really don't like dealing with humans. They also don't like dealing with Jar Jar. Giving him a position far, far away from them killed two birds with one stone.


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

[User]
Eli5: How did carrier pigeons work?

How did they know where to go? Are their abilities exaggerated in books and films? Do you need a specific pigeon to go to a specific person?

[Assistant]
They are just like most coop pigeons. They remember where they are fed. You take a carrier pigeon from their coop to the mission, writes a letter and attaches it to the pigeon. The pigeon flys to it's food supply.

Media has definitely over-exaggerated their abilities. It's not liking the movies where people can send pigeons back and forth to each other, except for those that are returning to their home coop. So, technically, you could transport multiple birds from one coop to another base, and transfer that second base is pigeons to the first base. You could then send a limited number of messages back and forth until the pigeons all returned to their own coops.


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

[User]
If the vacuum of space is a poor conductor of heat, how do stars give off so much of it?

Mostly interested on if this principle could be used in spacecraft to get rid of excess heat?

[Assistant]
Heat transfer happens through 3 primary methods: Conduction, convection and radiation.

As the name implies, the property "conductivity" only applies to the first of these three methods. In space, there is no heat conduction (or convection for that matter), so we say that the conductivity of vacuum is very low (essentially 0).

Stars give off their heat through the third method: radiation. Stars emit massive amounts of electromagnetic radiation (visible light, infrared, UV, etc... the spectrum depends on the temperature of the star).

Radiation is also the only way for a spacecraft to shed its excess heat. Unfortunately, radiation is not very effective at doing so (but since stars are so large, they still emit a lot of heat that way), but it's the only practical solution available.


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

[User] [General] I'm an up and coming wizard. Am I better off with a staff or a wand? Why?

[Assistant]
In urban settings a wand is better. You can carry it with you anywhere, and it's concealable, if you want to keep your skills secret.

In wilderness staff might be more useful, as it can be a mundane walking tool or a weapon, as well as be your spellcasting focus. And superstitious peasants would know to leave you alone, if your staff is impressive enough. Or burn you at stake. That's 50/50.

All this of course goes out of the window when you get wands or staves with specific magical powers of their own. Then everyone is out for themselves.


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

[User] [DC]Why does the Green Power Battery look like a primitive light source whose unique design was only used on earth for like a century?

[Assistant] Because the earth lanterns you are referring to were also developed by other races at other times.  They represent a design which was independently developed many times throughout the universe.  They were a successful design because it performs a needed function (providing directional light) using a wide range of power sources and portability.


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

[User]
Why did the 2008 crisis affect the entire economy when the bubbly was only in the housing market?

I don't understand how did the crisis affect markets that seem to have nothing in common with housing. I've heard that all  different markets are connected, what does that mean?

[Assistant] A lot of the banks were severely overleveraged in the housing market. It reached the point where banks stopped lending to eachother and were on the brink of failing when the housing market was on a downturn and people were not paying their loans. It then got kicked up a level where many companies were not able to meet their payroll deadlines.


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

[User]
ELI5:Can sitting in water kill you eventually?

You hear of stories from WW2 and stuff where they get trench foot and the foot would have to be amputated.  Can this kill you and if so how long to do so?

[Assistant]
Trench foot can progress to gangrene when enough tissues of your body die.

The dead and dying tissue is a very good environment for bacteria or fungal infections. Eventually, these infections can get into your blood supply. The infections or the toxic byproducts circulate through your blood which causes a whole body-wide immune response (sepsis) which can lead to death.

Amputations are done to prevent this from happening. The time it takes to kill you really depends on how fast your cells are dying and the type of infection.


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

[User]
[Spoilers] MCU's Captain Marvel and the Cree - cultural and medical questions.

When Vers/Carol has her initial flashbacks, those memories have been tampered with by the Intelligence.

In these initial flashbacks, she see's herself bleeding blue blood.
It seems they intended to convince *Vers* that she was Kree.
Apparently, after being taken from C-53 by the Kree, she awakes to see herself getting a transfusion of Kree blood.

I think we know from seeing TAHITI in AoS that being given Kree blood alone doesn't permanently turn your blood blue.

Now that all that's been said to frame my questions, let us begin:

- Is Kree blood *naturally* blue, or is there a technological component, like nanotech?
- Do all Kree have blue blood, or just those who serve the glorious Empire as warrior heroes?
- Does anyone adopted into the glorious Kree Empire automatically get an upgrade to Kree blood?
- Biologically, how similar are Terrans to Kree?
- Compatible enough to interbreed?
- Aside from the blue blood, would Terran medical equipment immediately detect a difference between a black or pink Kree and a Terran?  Or would they need to look at DNA?
- Are Kree physically superior to Terrans on top of being morally and culturally superior in every way?
- How/Why and in what ways?
- What kind of procedure would it take to make a Terran produce blue Kree blood?  Are we talking bone marrow transplant?  Or, again, is there tech in Kree blood?
- Would this be enough to convince a mind-wiped Terran she was Kree?
- Is it just the blood, or was she further modified to be *more* Kree?  (Vers *did* seem stronger and more resilient than a normal pitiful Terran)
- Like, were these standard Star Force modifications intended for warrior heroes, or are Kree naturally that tough and Vers was actually a bit of a physical weakling?

One more question about the Kree, mostly cultural...
When Carol/Vers goes Last Dragon and gets *the Glow*, both Yonn-Rogg and Ronan seem quite smitten with her.

- Do Kree men fetishize weaponized women?

Edit:
Sorry about the spelling mistake.  I know, it's *Kree* with a *K*.

[Assistant]
1. It's naturally blue.
2. All of them, including the Pink Kree.
3. No.
4. Rather similar, but this sort of thing is common in Marvel.  There are species that are even more similar.
5. Unknown.
6. Yes, there are more internal differences than the color of blood.
7. Yes.  The average Kree is Captain America tier.
8. Physically stronger and tougher.
9. We don't know the details, but it's pretty advanced even by Kree standards.  The standard transfusion works more like what happened to Coulson, he doesn't produce blue blood.
10. Apparently.
11. It seems that she was further modified yes, though how much of that was on purpose by the Supreme Intelligence and how much was the accident that gave her her powers is unknown.
12. Kree are naturally pretty tough.  Those that enter active military service are tougher in the same way that human military members tend to be tougher.
13. Kree, being a warrior culture, see proficiency in battle as a desirable trait.  It's not a fetish if it's mainstream.


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

[User]
Dropping out of a master's program to pursue a PhD

This might be a bit of a weird question, but I'm wondering if anyone's been in similar shoes or knows about this.

I'm a master's student who applied for PhD programs this round. I didn't think I was going to get in anywhere and my advisor suggested the idea of extending my master's by one semester and applying again.

It turns out that I recently got contacted by a POI who I've been really keen working with. The problem is that this contact was much later than the period for students to apply for their thesis defense, which I didn't apply for because I was pretty set on the idea of staying one more semester.

I'd really like to pursue a PhD under this professor but my graduation schedule is a little tangled. Some options I have are to discuss the possibility of deferral, but I'm wondering about the hypothetical option of dropping out of my master's program completely and going ahead with the PhD starting from this fall semester. Is this scenario unheard of? Is it even typically allowed?

Thanks for any opinions/feedback.

[Assistant] Could you defend over the summer and graduate in August? Most schools technically have summer term graduations, but there probably wouldn't be a ceremony. It'd be nice to wrap up your masters work and it's better for your program's and PI's metrics to have you in the books as a graduate rather than a transfer out.


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

[User]
In the show Sliders, why don't the sliders take weapons from more advanced worlds with them?

I've never understood why they wouldn't carry some sort of weapon with them. With all the world's they have traveled and all the trouble they've been in, you'd think they'd try to be prepared.

[Assistant]
First, ammo.  Any advanced weapon is only going to work for a limited time on a new Earth, and then what do they do with it?

Second, technological contamination.  For all they know, they're about to slide onto an Earth ruled by some sort of super-Hitler but who only has access to Dark Ages-level technology.  Showing up with advanced weaponry could have some seriously negative consequences.

Third, the Sliders need to travel light.  They don't know what they're going to run into, and bringing along unnecessary baggage is inviting trouble they don't necessarily need.  There are *much* more important supplies than weapons.

Finally, weapons make you dangerous, which draws attention and keeps people from trusting you.  If you're going to show up on someone's doorstep and try to blend in with their strange culture or tell them you're from another dimension, having a raygun strapped to your hip isn't going to do you any favors.


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

[User]
ELI5: since Light can move from one location to another, does that mean it's movement carries a Force from the momentum?

ELI5: since Light can move from one location to another, does that mean it's movement carries a Force from the momentum?
I was looking into Solar Sails, and how they use light to push off the sail, but if light carries a Force from momentum, shouldn't a flashlight be able to propel itself without any solar Sails?

[Assistant]
Light has momentum.

However, the momentum of the light is very small in comparison to the mass of the flashlight.  Sure, a flashlight would propel itself across outer space, it's just a lot slower than other things of that mass.

Solar Sails have to be very, very large and very, very light.  Such things can be built in space.  Then you can make them go with a massive laser on the ground, or a star.  Both of those power sources are much too massive to take with you.


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

[User]
Why does Schopenhauer think that the highest ethical aim is to deny the will to live?

"According to Schopenhauer, moral freedomthe highest ethical aimis to be obtained only by a denial of the will to live." - translator's footnote in Schopenhauer's "Studies in Pessimism"

I'm very confused. Is it even referring to morality, or is it referring to "ethics" as in the ancient Greek sense? Why did Schopenhauer believe this?

I'm becoming a big fan of his work so far.

[Assistant]
He was heavily influenced by Indian philosophy (particularly the Upanishads) and his views on this subject are closely related to Hindu and Buddhist thought (I would guess he likely drew much of this line of thought directly from those sources, then used his own manner of explanation).

In Buddhism you have "tanha" the "thirst for life" and in Hinduism "kama" or desire plays into the same idea. The heart of Krishna's teachings (Bhagavad Gita) is what some have termed "actionless action" or "disinterested action", that is to say one ought to live without desiring anything from the results of your actions (only the act rightly belongs to the sage, not the results of the act, as Krishna explains). Indian texts bring forward the same essential moral conclusions from these as Schopenhauer.

So, the main connection between the "will to live" and moral freedom is that thirst for life influences our actions (in the most basic sense, we avoid pain and seek pleasure), and this interferes with our morality because the right thing to do might cause us pain or reduce our pleasure. Having a thirst for life (or will to live) and desiring pleasure / avoiding pain becomes a non moral factor in our decision making and provides a (at least potential) counter force to moral choice. To have absolute moral freedom would require that one not have this factor present in decision making so that one is capable of approaching any given situation with a *purely* moral consideration.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is it supposed to be "safer" for cyclists to be on the edge of a busy street as opposed to a sidewalk?

I cycle recreationally from time to time, and in my area the dedicated bike lanes are right along the side of 60-80 km/h streets that are usually very busy. Why is it safer for a cyclist to be there as opposed to on a sidewalk?

As a driver, I find it frustrating to try to dodge cyclists (especially if they aren't as far over as they can go), and as a cyclist, I hate having to watch over my shoulder every five seconds to see if a car or truck is coming.

Edit: Thanks for all the information, everyone. Some information I hadn't considered. Thank you!

[Assistant]
In California, cyclists who ride slower than other traffic are supposed to ride 'as close as practicable' to the right-hand curb or edge of the roadway.
A cyclist, being closer to the road, is a better judge of the actual road condition (glass, stones, other debris, etc.) than a motorist driving a car, and so a cyclist will typically ride farther away from the curb than you may think is appropriate.


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

[User]
Why don't we see any main sequence Red Giants or Blue Dwarfs?

Pretty simple question, probably with a pretty simple answer. Blue Dwarfs are a theoretical stage of life for Red Dwarfs, that much I know, but why don't we see any small main sequence Blue stars? Is it just not possible to get that hot and that small? And the same goes for Red Giants - all the big stars seem to be Blue. Why are none of them Red? Why is that only the dying stage of a larger star?

[Assistant]
A star's evolution is mostly driven by just two numbers: its initial mass, and its age. Almost all stars of the same mass will go through the same evolutionary stages at the same ages. We see a diversity of stars because stars were formed at different times and with different masses. There are other effects, but they are secondary effects, and you can understand most of what's going on by just looking at mass and age.

In the "main sequence", a star burns hydrogen in the core through nuclear fusion. This process is *extremely* sensitive to temperature: doubling the temperature can produce 100x as much power (and consume Hydrogen 100x faster). A more massive star has a higher pressure and temperature in the centre, and produces a *lot* more heat than a less massive star. This sets the colour of the star. A cool star is red. A warmer star is orange or yellow. The hottest stars are white, then blue. This also sets the age of the star. A massive star will burn its fuel *much* faster than a low mass star - so fast that it completely overwhelms the fact that it has more fuel to start with. Our Sun has a life-time of maybe 10 billion years. A star 8x the mass of our Sun will only live for *millions* of years - thousands of times shorter. A star 10% of the mass of our Sun will live for *trillions* of years - no red dwarf star has died "of old age" in the history of the universe.

This is a tight and very strong relation. You have long-lived low-mass cool red stars, short-lived high-mass hot blue stars, and everything in the middle. You don't get small bright blue stars (on the main sequence) because small stars don't have enough gravity to produce enough pressure to get that hot.

Late in life, things get more complicated, and this tight relation breaks down. Stars will run out of hydrogen fuel in the core, and go through stages of burning helium and heavier elements, and/or burning fuel in a shell *around* the core. These tend to puff up the star through increased pressure, and you end up with bright burning core or shell, surrounded by very large but low density "atmosphere", which is somewhat cool just because it's so spread out that each chunk of gas isn't getting that much heat going through it. Because they are large in size (although note they haven't gained any mass), and are cool, they are "red giants".

Once a star completely runs out of fuel, it will run out of pressure and collapse. This can be accompanied by a dramatic explosion as new reactions occur at the extreme densities you get from stuff collapsing without support. That's where you get supernovae and so on. The compression also generates a lot of heat, so you're left with an extremely hot and dense remnant. These are neutron stars and white dwarfs and so on.

Just to sum up: during the "main sequence", stars have a very simple evolution that depends almost entirely on the starting mass, which sets the pressure and temperature, and therefore reaction rate, at the core of the star. Massive stars are hot and blue and short-lived, low mass stars are cool and red and long-lived. But once the hydrogen in the core is used up, the simple relationship is broken, and all sorts of interesting things happen.


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

[User] [Buffyverse] Who was the better fighter, Angel or Spike?

[Assistant] In terms of straight-out combat, Spike is the better of the two. At his absolute worst (read: as Angelus) Angel is probably better at *ruining lives*, but generally is less direct than Spike, focusing on psychological harm rather than actually beating your face with a shovel.


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

[User] [The Purge] could those at high risk of being targeted during the purge (minorities, poor people, the homeless, etc) apply for asylum in Canada or another country?

[Assistant] Probably not full asylum, since they'd essentially be tweaking the New Founding Father's noses by undermining their f'd up murder regime, but Canada and Mexico's "vacation" industry would probably see a big boom that just happens to coincide with the Purge. Especially dirt cheap camping/hostel trips.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why does Yoda seem to struggle more with the force than his opponents?

I'm thinking of his fights with Dooku and Sidious. Both of the sith seem to manipulate physical objects easier than Yoda (Dooku with the pillar, Sidious with the circular platforms). Isn't Yoda supposed to be the most powerful force user ever though? Or is it becausd the dark side of the force gives greater force power?

[Assistant] When Dooku and Sidious are using the force to throw the pillars and seat, they're doing so violently, aggresively and out of rage. It's what Sith do well at. Yoda, on the other hand, isn't. Yoda waits, evades, protects Anakin and Obi Wan from the pillar (stopping a falling load is much easier than pushing it) and does a precise surgical strike with a single chair, waiting to catch Sidious unaware. It's not weaker, it's a visual sign of the two philosophies in action.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do Canadian websites end in .ca and U.K. Websites end in .UK but United States websites don't end in .us?

[Assistant]
Basically because the US created the internet and the US government controlled all the non-country specific Top Level Domans (TLDs) in the early days (.com, .net, .org, etc). Some of them are still controlled by the US only like .mil and .gov.

Countries had more control over their specific TLDs like .ca and .uk, so were more easily able to give them to businesses in their country. However the US had more strict rules for getting .us in the beginning while .com and .org had fewer restrictions. So the US got used to not using .us even though it is available (and more open) today.


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

[User]
[DBZ] Why was the Kamehameha so popular?

Sure it was strong, but was it that strong? I mean there are plenty of other beam attacks, but it seemed that most people who knew this one defaulted to it.

[Assistant]
Not really, yamcha, krillin, tien and goku knew it + roshi who created it.

Yamcha has his controlled ball thingy, krillin has the destructo disk, tien has the tri beam.

Which leaves us with goku who didn't actually get any other signature energy attacks, it was the first one he managed to do and just stuck with it out of respect for his tutor, like how he's stuck with roshi's uniform and gi for most of his life, even when the symbol changes the outfit is mostly the same.


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

[User]
How do games like Roller Coaster Tycoon manage/pathfind for so many entities?

Games like RCT, starcraft, etc. seem to cram so many objects into the scene, and they are all pathing somewhere and updating with values. I know some basics of pathfinding algorithms, but applying them to EVERY object that is looking to go somewhere seems so taxing. How can games like these manage to cram so much without any noticeable effects?

Obviously RCT doesn't have much data to actually process, being fairly simple and dated.

But is it just efficient algorithms alone? Or are most games not updating every entity all the time to cleverly space out the processing?

[Assistant] One thing you can do is pre-compute the paths and store that data somewhere. That way, when you want to know the quickest path from p0 to p1, you are just looking up the answer (which is O(1)) instead of computing it when needed.


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

[User] ELI5 how when you have cold, your nose has almost endless amount of mucus, no matter how many times you blow your nose.

[Assistant] You have glands in your nose that produce mucus. Typically this is a slow production meant to keep your nostrils moist amongst other things. When you get an infection like a cold which finds its way into the nasal tissue, your body signals those glands to go into overdrive in an attempt to wash away and expel the invading microorganisms. The production of mucus stays high until the immune response slows down due to not finding any more invaders to fight.


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

[User] ELI5: If there's so many people who absolutely despise Comcast/TW for the monsters that they are, why can't we do something about their unethical ways of business?

[Assistant] Sure, you can all refuse to purchase their services. You can lobby your local governments to break their monopoly. You can petition your state and national government to reclassify them as public utilities. You can move to an area that they don't operate in.


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

[User] How is nuclear fission controlled in atomic weapons? Whats stopping the fission process from ongoing and continuously creating the reaction indefinitely?

[Assistant]
>How is nuclear fission controlled in atomic weapons?

It's not really controlled, other than the fact that you want the system to be subcritical until you're ready to produce yield, and then you want the system to become as deeply supercritical as possible when you set it off.

>Whats stopping the fission process from ongoing and continuously creating the reaction indefinitely?

The weapon physically blows itself apart, spreading the fissile material out, and making it subcritical again. (And furthermore, the fuel isn't infinite; even if you could cause every single fissile nucleus to undergo fission, it still wouldn't go forever.)


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

[User]
Why can't two snow flakes be identical?

If it is statistically possible for your laundry to come out of the dryer already folded, shouldn't it be possible that two snowflakes somewhere can be identical?

[Assistant] There is a difference between "Can't" and "Unlikely to the point that it will almost certainly not occur in a measurable amount of time". At a certain level of statistical insignificance "Yeah, but it's possible" is more rhetorical technicality than a counter argument.


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

[User] [Marvel] How does Heaven and Hell work? Is the One Above All the judgment of good and evil? Is The One Above All the god told in the bible or is that a less being?

[Assistant]
There is no god of the Bible in marvel.

Toaa is literally the editors made manifest, all powerful within the marvel universe.

Sometimes good, usually nuetral.

Very occasionally a dues ex machina if they wrote themselves into a corner.


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

[User]
CMV: I should start eating meat again

I've been vegan for about a year. But recently I've changed my moral beliefs from deontological to utilitarian. My love for animals hasn't changed but now, instead of wanting them to have the same rights as humans (e.g. the right to life) and believing that we don't have the right to farm them, I think my moral goals should instead be to maximize the happiness-to-suffering ratio of farm animals.

Because of this, I am considering eating meat again. Ending farming won't actually make farm animals any happier. All the suffering that's come before will still have happened, and there'll be no more happiness to make up for it. I don't think we should stop breeding farm animals (although for the environment we should reduce it). Instead I think the goal should be to move to more ethical farming, so that farm animals can be as happy as possible.

I might soon give up veganism and start occasionally eating meat from ethical farmers. I'm going to be very careful in my farmer-screening-process. I want to only encourage farming that will result in the average happiness-to-suffering ratio of farm animals going up. The animals shouldn't be killed at a young age, because that would mean they don't have time to experience enough happiness to make their slaughter worth it. They should be free range - ACTUALLY free range, not the government's dumb minimum free range criteria. They should lead happy lives. They should be treated kindly by the farmer. Nothing cruel should ever be done to them. They shouldn't have to travel long distances to reach their place of slaughter. The slaughter itself should be stress free - they shouldn't have to see another animal die ahead of them, and they should either be killed with a quick and pain free method or stunned into unconsciousness beforehand. The animal breed shouldn't be one that has been bred to grow in an extremely fast manner that puts stress on the animal's body. I intend to get in contact with any farmer I am considering purchasing meat from to make sure their farming practices fit with my idea of what is ethical.

I'm not going to be one of those ethical omnivores who pats themselves on the back for buying pasture-raised steak and then goes and buys lollies full of gelatin from factory farmed animals. I don't want to support ANY unethical farming practises in ANY way. I'm still going to be just as strict about reading ingredients and avoiding gelatin, milk powder, whey, and any other trace amounts of animal products. Literally the only animal products in my diet will be the occasional, maybe once a week, carefully selected piece of meat from an ethical breeder.

But I am worried that I'm about to make a very big mistake. It still feels so wrong, to eat an animal, to pay a farmer to kill one of the sweet innocent beings I love so much. Logically, it seems right, but emotionally, it seems wrong. So change my view! If I'm about to do something wrong, I want to be talked out of it.

[Assistant]
You shouldnt start eating again, simply by virtue of the fact that by far, the meat industry is one of, if not the biggest contributors of greenhouse gasses.

Between cow farts, and all the resources that are dumped into creating feed for animals farmed for their meat, eating meat is one of the worst things you can do for the environment and climate change.


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

[User]
ELI5: Right before the mortgage crises, why were Americans taking out housing loans they knew they would be unable to afford?

I remember back in 2006, I was bagging groceries as a high school and I had teachers who were buying housing in the $700k range when they were only making 40k a year.

[Assistant] People were under the impression that a bank simply wouldn't give you a loan if they didn't think you would pay it back. Since they got loans they naively assumed that meant that they would be able to afford it. Banks were encouraging people to take out these loans while persuading them they could afford it all.


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

[User] ELI5:How do we know not to roll out of the bed when asleep?

[Assistant]
When we are in the REM phase of sleep (when we dream) we are paralysed, otherwise we would act out our dreams in our sleep.  While we move a little in the other phases of sleep, muscle action is limited and we tend not to shift too much.  It's not so much that we know not to roll out of bed, more that we cannot.

People who fall out of bed in the night often do so because they are beginning to wake up but are not yet fully conscious again.


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

[User]
ELI5: A question about probability

I recently had a disagreement with a friend about what it means for an event to have a probability of happening every X times.
Take for example a coin that if flipped has a 50%  probability of landing heads and a 50% probability of landing tails.
My understanding is that while the probability of landing tails 3 consecutive times is smaller than that of landing it 2 consecutive times, if in the last two flips you got tails it has no effect on the probability of you getting tails in the following coin flip.it stays 50-50.

But he seems to believe that the probability of you getting tails gets smaller and smaller the more you land multiple consecutive tails.which sounds very counter intuitive to me.

For a more concrete example, he seems to think that if an event has a probability of occuring every 10 years, and it's been more than 10 years since the last time it occured, we are living on borrowed time and the probability of it happening now is extremely high while I think it had the same probability of occuring today than it had of occuring 9 years ago.

Which one of us is wrong, please give examples.

[Assistant]
For the coin toss, you're right. Each coin toss is independent from the previous one. You have a 50% chance of getting tails each time. Imagine you tossed the coin 3 times but hid the results from him. Then he tossed it once. Does he have a lower chance of getting heads just because your previous tosses were all tails? Does him knowing whether they were heads or tails change how the coin flips in the air? Does the coin have a memory of all the times it's been tossed in the past? If not, then by what mechanism is it going to know that it did heads the past 3 tosses and should do tails now? It doesn't really make any sense to think that the previous events here could affect future events. Each time you throw the coin up there's a 50/50 chance it will land on either side.

With the event that happens every 10 years it's a bit trickier because that's an expected value not a probability. Without more context, we don't know how that expected value was calculated, so it could be imminent or it could be random depending on what it is. For example, imagine you're filling a cup with water and it generally takes 5 seconds to fill it up. If it's currently been 6 seconds, the chance that the cup will overflow is imminent, and is increasing over time, and so in that case you are on "borrowed time". But if it's something like a weather event or something random that isn't directly tied to duration since the last event then you're not on borrowed time for that. The 10 year value is just based on averages, not how long it takes to build up to the event. So it depends entirely on what it is and why the event is likely to occur "every 10 years".


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

[User] ELI5: why do some of us do certain actions (snapping, winking, hand gestures, etc...) better with one side of our body than the other?

[Assistant]
TDLR: One side of the brain works harder than the other.

The right side of your brain controls the left side of your body, the left side of your brain controls the right side of your body, so one side our brain is just working harder than the other causing dominance on one side.
E.g. if your right handed, footed e.t.c. the left side of your brain is working harder.
Sometimes, both sides of the brain work in sync, so you don't have a dominant side.


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

[User] Does Pluto have a liquid nitrogen ocean under it's frozen nitrogen surface?

[Assistant] The reason we find liquid water oceans under the ice of certain worlds is because solid water ice is less dense than liquid water, and so ice can float over a water ocean and both maintain its pressure and insulate it to retain some heat. If there were somehow a liquid nitrogen ocean under Pluto's surface, the solid surface would sink below it, and the liquid nitrogen exposed to vacuum would either freeze or evaporate.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are we trying to get in contact with aliens if messages will take millions or billions of years to go back and forth? (And they might not even be able to catch it or decipher it then)

It just doesn't make a lot of sense to me to waste any time doing that. If I send a message today and I receive the response millions of years from today, how is humanity going to keep track of the conversation?

[Assistant]
I don't think anyone is trying to find a *conversation* here.

Any sign of intelligent life present elsewhere in the universe would be interesting, even if it was just alien sitcom broadcasts we accidentally receive.


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

[User]
Do you think we could turn plastic waste into a currency?

As you probably already noticed I don't really know anything about economics but here's my thinking: If you could pay for things with otherwise useless plastic, directly or indirectly, that would encourage companies to recycle a larger amount of their products with less plastic ending up in nature.

Also there would be more plastic collected out of the sea and other places where it ends up. Recycling would take in an important role because oil is of course limited.

But the most important thing is that there wouldn't be any more plastic waste because it has value to people. they wouldn't just let a piece of plastic which can actually feed their family lie on the ground and walk past it.

As I said I'm a zero in economics and my idea is probably not possible in reality. I would like to know why it isn't possible.

Edit: Thanks a lot for your answers! I think I can understand now.

[Assistant]
What i think you are suggesting is a Pigouvian subsidy. That people get paid to gather plastics.

I know that this is done in small scales like festivals and smaller cities. And on a larger scale with contracts But it is very difficult to do on a larger scale on a voluntary basis as you risk creating perverse incentives making people dump plastics in nature so that they can get rewarded for picking it up.

Making all plastics into redeemable currency would not work as plastic is extremely common and it would make every vendor have to try and figure out what each piece would be worth and then somehow sort and store it, too complicated.


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

[User] ELI5:Why do people blackout when they drink too much?

[Assistant] Blackouts happens because alcohol affects the hippocampus (the memory part of our brain.) Blackouts usually happens when you consume alcohol very quickly like shots. The hippocampus essentially shuts down during a blackout and no longer creates memories. Think of it like a tivo. Your tv shows still runs as time goes by, but the recording has stopped.


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

[User]
ELI5: are people born with a sweet tooth or do they develop it due to easy access to sugary foods in their childhood

Basically the title. I have seen many times that within the same family, some like sweets while others can barely stand them. Now assumimg all family members have equal access to the same foods, I want to believe its the former, but not entirely sure. Can somebody explain?

[Assistant]
We are all hard wired to like calorically dense food, it is part of human evolution as it means we had to hunt less to survive.

There is also a gene variant called FGF21 that codes for a liver hormone which is produced after eating sweet food. People with particular variants were 20% more likely to be top ranking eaters of sweet food than people without according to a study in Denmark  it has not been completely elucidated yet though.


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

[User]
Does Horseshoe Crab Blue-Blood used in Medicine contain allergens of Shellfish for those with allergies?

Hi everyone,

I came across a post about Horseshoe Crabs and how we leverage their blood (limulus amebocyte lysate) for use in the medicine field.

I have an extremely severe shellfish allergy - would I be allergic to those amebocyte's that are separated when used in FDA testing?

I am not sure if they are present in the actual administered injections, but I was wondering.

[Assistant]
I've done LAL testing in the past and its not used as an administered injection into the body.

Instead, a *sample* of a substance being tested has LAL added to it and if agglutination is detected, endotoxin is present within the sample. The actual concentration is compared to a standard curve made from a diluted E coli solution.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is the Mona Lisa considered to be such a masterpiece?

Just visited the Louvre and was underwhelmed. It doesn't seem much different in quality to the paintings around it, to my untrained eye.

[Assistant]
Along with special techniques with composition, The Mona Lisa gets a lot of its attention from its historical background, or more specficially, the lack thereof.

- Most paintings at that time took several months at most to complete. The Mona Lisa took 10 years. Why did Leonardo da Vinci take so long?

- It is said that da Vinci was working on it once, and he saw something in the painting that scared him and made him hide it for 10 years. If the story is true, what did he see?

- At that time, paintings had elaborate reasoning behind them. So why did da Vinci paint Mona Lisa in the first place? And why is she smiling so smugly?

- Continuing on that line of questioning, what is up with her background?

- Why does she have extremely faint, if any, eyebrows?

- And who is the woman painted, anyway?


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

[User]
ELI5: Generally speaking, how do architects and engineers design multi story buildings knowing that they will withstand the weight burden?

Watching the MLB all star game and the thought occurred to me. How do we know that the upper deck of a stadium will hold the weight without collapsing?

[Assistant]
Ive heard it this way, you build it from the top down. Lets say the top floor is 100 tons so the next floor down has to support that weight and is 120 tons itself. Now the floor below that has to support 220 tons, etc.

Part of the weight of each floor is all the stuff that goes in it; furniture, people, etc and each floor is rated to support X times its real life load.