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

[User]
[Breaking Bad] Did Hank's personal connection to Walt help or hurt his investigation?

So I was thinking about it and on the one hand, the guy is right under his nose, which puts him close to the situation, but on the other Walt is always screwing him up.  Would Hank have even had this officer's intuition thing/hard-on for the case if he weren't right there with Walt?

I mean, from our point of view, Hank is a total bad-ass.  But obviously, he is somewhat disgraced in the DEA after the fact.  So which one is actually true?

[Assistant]
Hurt. For sure. If Hank hadn't known Walt, if Walt was just some science teacher, Hank would have suspected him the minute those lab supplies went missing at the very beginning. But because Hank knew Walt, and believed him to be a mild-mannered, unassuming individual, Hank didn't think for a minute that Walt was the criminal he'd eventually become.

I think after it was all said and done, there was enough evidence to show that Hank tried his damnedest to catch the criminal mastermind that was Walter "Heisenberg" White, and he would be remembered as a hero.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does my heart feel heavy when I'm sad or have a major case of "the feels"?

[Assistant]
Basically, we're not really sure, but scientists think that the anterior cingulate cortex of the brain (the area that regulates blood pressure and heart rate, as well as affects reward anticipation, decision-making, empathy and impulse control) overstimulates the vagus nerve.

This causes pain, nausea and muscle tightness in the chest -- hence the feeling that your heart is heavy, or those sharp pains when you see your crush with someone else.


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

[User] [Mad Max] What do you think happens to the Citadel and it's surrounding cities after the events of Fury Road?

[Assistant]
Bullet Farm and Gas Town lack the means to assault the Citadel and both are missing leadership and the majority of their war parties, not to mention they're no longer getting food and water from the Citadel.

The Citadel's garage meanwhile is still loaded with vehicles and the Warpups would be loyal to Furiosa. The water, food, and safety would protect them until they could get to the point to where they could send war-parties to defeat the starved and dehydrated remnants of Bullet Farm and Gas Town.

At which point they are probably maintained by the wretched people who surrounded the Citadel during the events of the Movie and you have a secured area in the Australian Wasteland where food, water, gas, and bullets are in supply and lead by someone benevolent but strong.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do cars allow you to drive with the e-brake on? Isn't that just faulty design?

[Assistant]
The E-brake is intentionally designed to be separate from the primary braking system. If there is a fault in the primary brakes (pedal damaged, etc), it would affect the E-brake if they were connected.

That being said, the proper response is to shift to neutral (preventing the car from further accelerating and allowing friction to slow the car's existing motion) prior to or while using the E-brake.


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

[User]
[DC/Marvel] What keeps the DC universe earth from having their own "Civil War"?

Compared with the Marvel earth, the DC earth has just as many events of destruction, if not more because of the advanced power of their heroes and villians. In some continuities  San Diego was sunk, and a whole city (coast city) was completely destroyed as examples. What is keeping the DC earth governments from going SRA on their heroes?

[Assistant]
Consider this: Earth has an Amazon warrior, a man many times faster than the speed of light, three honest-to-God *aliens*, a man wielding the ultimate weapon in the universe, and a guy in bat-shaped pajamas that *must* be some kind of big deal if he's got a seat at the table with the big hitters.

Do *you* wanna be the guy to tell them "No"?


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

[User] ELI5: Why do so many kids hate math?

[Assistant]
Because it's taught so incredibly badly.

Traditional maths teaching involves rote-learning a bunch of algorithms (such as multiplication) and tables, then doing endless quantities of dogwork practice.

The algorithms as taught are entirely opaque, giving no insight into what's going on, no way to sanity-check if the answers are right as you go; it's horrible and bureaucratic - like copying large quantities of numbers from one part of the page to another, only with hard, fiddly transformations along the way that are easy to fuck up, which is discouraging as hell.

Most students learn to hate it with a passion; of the few that show aptitude for it, a disturbing percentage can *only* work by rote methods, and have very little insight into solving novel problems or being able to spot errors.

It's a bit like teaching kids to read via 'sight words' and never introducing them to the concept of phonics. Most would do very badly at memorising thousands of arbitrary strings of letters - and most of those that managed would be completely stumped by new words, regional dialects, phonetic spellings or the very concept of etymology.

This is one of the big things that the common-core maths curriculum seeks to correct.

In common-core, less emphasis is put on formal pen-and-paper methods, and more on mental maths strategies, alternate approaches, visualisations, and giving kids a lot more insight into what's going on, how to tackle the problem and *why* it works, rather than just drilling them on what to do.

From what I've seen, it could be a real game-changer.


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

[User]
[Ace Attorney] Ghosts have been legally proven to exist in a court of law. What laws should we expect to change in the near future?

For instance, if a spirit medium Alice summons Bob the Ghost once a year so he can manage his affairs, can Bob retain his property even though he's dead? Do creative works exit the public domain if a ghost continues writing books? What's our criminal justice plan when ghosts inevitably start committing more crimes?

[Assistant]
There are, what, ten people total in the entire world who can channel ghosts? You can't restructure society based on such a limited service, it wouldn't be far to the 99.99999% of the population without access to spirit mediums.

If anything, spirit mediumship is gonna be outlawed. Much easier than opening the can of worms that is a postmortem legal system. All current spirit mediums must register with the government. An unregistered medium who is possessed by a ghost and commits a crime is considered responsible for the crime.


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

[User] [MCU] Why was the government giving shit to the Avengers for civilian casualties when they were about to launch a nuke at New York?

[Assistant] They wanted a legitimate reason to be able to control the Avengers and this was it. It's why Captain America refused to register. Because it meant answering to people and organizations with their own agendas.


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

[User] Why can't our bodies limitlessly produce vital cells such as brain cells but we can practically infinitely produce more or less useless cell types like body hair?

[Assistant]
One thing to keep in mind is that your brain cells function in a complex network whereas dermal cells can basically be dumped into layers in large numbers without affecting function. They just have to be there and that's enough. Neurons are unique from all other cell types in that they have much more to do in terms of function and networking.

For this reason your brain and body actively inhibits cell growth in these network areas such as the central nervous system once the networks are in place and working properly.

When you're an infant your brain allows these networks to grow much more freely so that they can figure out how to interpret the world. Indeed neurons *can* proliferate rapidly - we see this through embryological development and infancy, they just slow down significantly as an organism matures. Once they start firing reliably you prune away (i.e. get rid of) the less active ones and then change the chemical milieu to something that inhibits growth more.

Specifically why this is the case >> It's bad for your entire brain to constantly be in growth mode.

The short version is that both brain cells and skin cells are reproduced by a progenitor cell population that stays in an undifferentiated constantly dividing state. In the skin, you can send the daughter cells away from this progenitor level and as they make it to the surface they'll wither up and die (surface-of-your-skin cells are actually dead, which shows how they're fundamentally disposable) and be perfect for wherever they are. They'll easily replace damaged or sloughed off cells from previous generations.

In the brain, you'll have a neuron that has hundreds of connections - some local, some extremely far away, each specifically nourished by different processes (glia were mentioned in another reply) and each having survived various neural-pruning events. If this neuron dies - how can it's replacement mimic it? Travel from the basal layer, find the "missing space", differentiate it from other missing spaces that simply exist or were created due to pruning events, and then start participating in a complex network? It can't just travel there and succeed by virtue of being there. It needs to make all those connections - but all those connections formed through the organism's *experience*. They can't just be programmed.

So lets assume that a new neuron can somehow figure out how to get there - a hypothetical biological alarm can allow the new cells to find exactly where the lost ones lived. It sends out growth cones to make connections. What happens if these wire up to the wrong targets? Your existing, successful networks (skills, *memories*, etc) are now screwed up. That's not good.

Thus we don't want this neuron growth constantly happening in our brains because for the 99.9999% of mature organisms that aren't actively experiencing brain injury, brain growth will actually be messing with a good thing, "fixing" something that isn't broken.

There is a molecular background to this that is more detailed and not fully understood but this essentially is a major difference in the two processes.


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

[User] [Dr. Who and the Daleks 1965]why don't The Daleks get rid of all the ancient abstract Sculptures (& lava lamps) in their city, wouldn't the Daleks just see them as pointless objects taking up space in the only environment they can live in?

[Assistant] When they need the space, sure. Taking them down without reason is as pointless to them as the statues already are. They don't restrict them until it actually need room to expand, in which case they take them down then.


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

[User] [Donnie Darko] What did the FAA conclude after investigating a jet engine (with no apparent origin) falling onto a house in Middlesex, Virginia? What about the second investigation 4 weeks later when a jet flying over Middlesex loses an identical engine that is never found?

[Assistant]
The second investigation never happens; that only occurs in the "pocket universe", which ends once the loop is complete. So that point is moot.

As for the first investigation, however, that one takes place after it crushes Donnie. That investigation would be taken even more seriously than it was in the pocket universe, due to the fact that there was a fatality. Eventually, its "twin" would be located and the FAA would be forced to confront a true impossibility. So like all good government agencies, it would eventually close the investigation and classify the entire thing. This lack of answers would eventually destroy the Darko family, never to recover.


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

[User]
Ligo gravitational observatory and nuclear bombs?

Could a nuclear bomb trigger ligo? Would we know what it was?

[Assistant]
Yes it would trigger ligo but they back check all their data with siesmologists because nuclear explosions will read on the richter scale like an earthquake.

And fun fact even large trucks can set off ligo which is one reason they constantly check with each other to eliminate the possibility of false positives.


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

[User]
can exposure to small viral loads of covid-19 provide immunity?

I read that in order to contract the disease you must be exposed to a certain level of viral load, i.e. by spending more than a few seconds with a sick person. this implies that if a small amount of the virus finds its way to someone's body his immune system an defend itself from it. does this also imply that if an individual gets exposed to small viral loads could develop antibodies against covid-19 ?

[Assistant] When we talk about developing immunity were talking about developing memory t and b cells. During an immune reaction, some sentinel immune cells recognize danger and activate your t and B cells. After the virus gets cleared by a successful immune reaction, most of your t and B cells die off but a few of them hunker down and remember the disease. Then the next time they see the disease, they have a jump start and can quickly ignite a really good immune reaction way faster than last time and clear things before theres enough virus to cause a problem. But the first time it takes t and B cells a week to get activated fully activated after exposure and then some more time to turn into good memory cells. If you only get exposed to a tiny amount of virus it will get dealt with by the other immune cells that are responsible for initial containment, and those cells wont pass the info on to start your t and B cells to get fully activated because they arent needed. So for that reason, you dont get the kind of immunity youd get from getting the disease or a vaccine by just a tiny dose of virus.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why are two different species capable of breeding fertile offspring not considered the same species?

From what I learned at school, one of the criteria to differentiate species was that two different species couldn't produce fertile offspring. For example, a donkey and a mare can produce a mule, but it's sterile. Our canine friends and a wolf can breed fertile offspring, but one (Canis lupus familiaris) is a subspecies of the other(Canis lupus).

But I found out about the Beefalo, the offspring of a cow and a bison, which is said to be a fertile hybrid. But those are two different species, two different genera actually (Bos Taurus x Bison bison). How can they breed fertile offspring and not be considered the same species?

[Assistant] That is one definition of a species. It does have the benefit of being quite simple to understand and test. However as you points out it does not always fit. Your example of cows and bison is one example. And even cross bread animals like mules can sometimes be fertile. Then there are so called ring species where one species can bread with two other but those two can not bread with each other. So biologists nowadays use other definitions that are more complex but work better. But your definition is still being taught in a lot of schools because it is more simple.


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

[User]
ELI5: What gives art its value?

Whats stopping me from painting a blue square and selling it for thousands? obviously i'd get zilch but proper artists can get away with it?

[Assistant]
We give art its value.

Its primary value is in what the art says. In 1917, an art museum was running a promotion in which they advertised that they would accept any form of art in their museum. Duchamp challenged this notion by submitting a urinal, signing it, and submitting it as a piece. The museum tried to protest against it, but Duchamp maintained that it was 'art', as there was no other criteria by which they defined art.

It's now classified under 'Dadaism', which basically means that nonsense can be in itself an art form. Humans have a tendency to assign meaning to things even if they are nonsensical, which is what the art form draws on.

The art in itself doesn't have to make sense, but we can pull meaning from it simply from the context in which it is being displayed.

That's why people who go to museums try to stare at the art until they can figure out what it means to them; it draws on the context of the situation (i.e being displayed in a building specifically designed to display things of explicit and implicit meaning) to provide its value.

'Conventional' art like paintings of people or places also carry meaning, but in a different way; it's about the presentation, perspective, or detail involved in a specific scene. 'Abstract' art bases its meaning on drawing your attention to things you might not have considered, which is why it's harder for most people to understand.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Are there special types of lightsabers designed for Jedi with strange anatomies?

For example, what if a Jedi was quadrapedal or had tentacles instead of hands?

[Assistant]
Yes.

Jedi make their own lightsaber, though off of a more or less standardized template.  A Jedi with an unusual body configuration would simply adapt that template to better fit with their anatomy.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the stock market work and what exactly is the DOW.

[Assistant]
Shares of a company (sometimes called "stock in a company" or just "stock") are ownership of specified percentages of a company.  The "stock market" is like a yard sale - people that want to buy shares ask people that own them what the price is, and they haggle.  If somebody at the next table over just sold something for $10, you'd want to pay about $10 for it too, right?

Now, if you expect to be able to sell it to your buddy later for $11, you might offer $10.05 so the guy will sell to you rather than all the other guys offering $10.  Others know that, and might be offering $10.10.  It depends on what they're comfortable paying and how much they think the price will rise before they sell it.

Or maybe you don't think it's worth $10.  There might be not a lot of people buying but several people selling.  You'd be crazy to pay more than you had to, right?  So you shop around and find somebody willing to sell to you for $9.75.

That's the stock market.  The DOW (or "Dow Jones Industrial Average") is an "index" or fund made up of a group of 30 large US companies.  There are other indices, like the S&P500 (500 largest companies traded on the NY Stock Exchange or NASDAQ Stock Exchange).


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

[User] Sci-fi films often show a backdrop of an entire galaxy, perfectly visible. Wouldn't that be an impossible sight to see without a telescope? Isn't the light too faint to see all those stars so well without long exposures?

[Assistant] It depends where the observer is relative to the galaxy. The Milky Way is visible to the naked eye even from Earth's surface, despite atmospheric scattering. Conceivably, a starship located near a galaxy, but not in the galactic plane as Earth is, would be able to see its spiral structure with clarity.


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

[User] [Spiderman] How much faster can Spiderman swing through New York on his webs (in km/h)?

[Assistant] Probably over the speed limit (Manhattan's got a speed limit of 25 MPH in most places, which is 40 KM/H, he could probably push like 75 if he was really exerting himself) but the main advantage is more in the navigation options it gives him since he can basically bounce between buildings and over obstacles.


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

[User] ELI5: How come when a camera is pointed at a monitor, it looks like there are lines in the picture?

[Assistant] Your monitor has what's called a refresh rate, measured in hertz (which is just number of times something happens per second).  60 Hz is a fairly common setting.  That means it redraws what's on the screen 60 times every second, but when it does it doesn't refresh the entire screen at the same time.  Instead it will rotate through the rows continually.  So at any given time a few of the rows are being actively redrawn, while others are up to 1/60th of a second behind.  This all happens too fast for the human eye to detect, but when you take a picture it freezes the screen image at the state it was at that exact moment, so you can see where the redraw (the bright part of the picture) is occurring and the darker parts are the area that hasn't been redrawn as recently.


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

[User]
ELI5: What prevents us from harnessing the full potential of thunderstorms for electricity?

having thought about it and researched it briefly there seems to be a consensus that it is possible but implausible at this point in time, to harvest the energy of lightning.

[Assistant] An average lightning bolt has ~1.5 GJ of energy, there are ~1.6 billion lightning strikes a year, resulting in a total energy of ~2.4 * 10^9 J, world energy consumption is 5.4 * 10^20 J. So, if you could capture every single lightning bolt with %100 efficiency, you could supply less than half a percent (%0.44) of world energy consumption. It's just not worth it.


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

[User]
[Attack of the Clones] Why did Jango Fett sub contract the assination of Amidala?

It's clear this other bounty hunter is nowhere near as good as Jango so why would he subcontract? Anonymity? Deniability?

If Fett had done it himself, Padme would be dead and the Trade Fed would take over the Senate as a front for the sith, Anakin wouldn't become Vader, Palpatine never becomes a freak of nature (at least no more than he already was), and I don't have to sit through three awful sequels.

[Assistant] The entire point was to have zam fail and get the jedi's attention. Them bringing them to kamino chasing jango and drawing less suspicion at the sudden ready made army that was waiting for them. Zams death was unfortunately unavoidable but it helped further Darth sidious goals of getting the clones into the republic without thorough vetting.


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

[User]
[Warhammer 40K]Given the fungal nature of Orcs, once they begin to spread on a human world, even if the orcs are "defeated", does the Imperium have a way to get rid of the spores entirely to stop future outbreaks?

Short of uh, making the planet dead. Is any planet which gets orc spores on it permanently going to have to deal with orc attacks?

Follow-up question.  Given the nature of the spores, why don't they utterly overwhelm the biosphere and basically terraform the entire planet with the Spores based life?

[Assistant]
The xenos, like the heretic and the mutant, can be purged with sufficient quantities of fire.

***

Seriously, the spores don't spread across the whole planet instantly. They'll initially infect a limited area, and if you mass enough flamers or hellhounds or tactical nukes, you can burn out the orkish taint.

Eventually, left unchecked, the spores would effectively overwhelm the biosphere until there's nothing left but orks engaged in a single gigantic pub brawl.


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

[User] ELI5 why/how fire produces light?

[Assistant]
Everything with a temperature above absolute zero radiates energy in the form of electromagnetic radiation. The higher the temperature, the more it radiates, and higher the average frequency of that radiation.

At standard Earth temperatures, things mostly radiate at frequencies lower than we can see, but if things get hot enough they can start to radiate visible light frequencies.

Fire is a reaction that produces lots of heat, so it raises the temperature of stuff around it to the point where it can radiate visible light.


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

[User]
[DC] Has the League of Shadows ever researched applications for things like the Speed Force, Kryptonian DNA, alien weapons, or anything exotic like that?

For a group of assassins, it seems weird that so many of their operatives are apparently baseline humans. Has there ever been a point where they tried to implement something more powerful so they could conduct their operations more effectively?

[Assistant] The League of Assassins has made use of Lazarus pits, man-bat serum, magic, and advanced technology before - and that's not counting the alternate earths where they went all-in on summoning eldritch abominations and whatnot. The universe of League of Shadows doesn't appear to have other costumed vigilantes, aliens, or superhumans per se, but they still make use of fear gas and other advanced tech as it becomes available.


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

[User]
[Watchmen] Could Dr Manhattan have prevented 9/11

Or would it have been like with JFK where he saw what happened but didnt change it because it already happened or like Before Watchmen where he saw two different realities?

What do you think the fallout would have been if he saw it but failed to prevent it?

[Assistant]
He could  easily prevent it, but it probably wouldn't be particularly interesting or notable to him.

Combustion changed some compounds into other compounds and the universe spins on, nothing to concern himself with here.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do car seats have expiration dates?

[Assistant]
Material fatigue.  Plastics have shelf lives, and manufacturers can't guarantee efficacy once the materials get brittle or otherwise unreliable.
EPS foam helmets (like for bicycling) have the same problem.  Keep a helmet for 5 years or less.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is home internet data sold on speed and mobile data sold on amount used?

[Assistant]
Capacity and oversubscription. When you get a physical wire connecting you to a network, that infrastructure is, on some level, adding additional capacity to the network you're riding on. More money, more cables, more bandwidth. With wireless transmission, however, everyone shares the same air. Improvements in transmission rate are purely a function of devising more sensitive, more expensive transmitters and receivers, which can produce a more granular digital signal. Where a 3G radio sends one bit of data, a 5g radio must send 400 bits, in order to cram more data over the same spectrum channel.

The upshot here is that while wireless infrastructure is relatively inexpensive to deploy, because last-mile costs don't exist, it's also organically much, much more contentious, and must be shared by anyone who happens to move into the range of a particular cell tower. So, mobile providers have chosen to price their services in such a way as to exert downward pressure on utilization, and the simplest way to do this is to establish a quota for users.

One other feature of a home or business internet connection is that it's always going to be in the same location. So, it's much, much easier for network planners to allocate resources to where demand is highest, in fact, a high concentration of high-bandwidth users is actually *less* expensive for an ISP to accommodate than a diffuse group of low-bandwidth users, because a strand of fiber-optic cable can carry a **TREMENDOUS* amount of data.


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

[User] ELI5: If light is mass-less, what is keeping it from having an infinite velocity?

[Assistant]
This is *exactly* the line of thinking which started Einstein on the path to relativity. His solution was to posit that the speed of light *is* infinite from the standpoint of the universe. This is why it is never possible to exceed, or even reach, the speed of light in a vacuum. So its less that the speed of light is a cosmic speed limit that nothing can ever surpass, and more that its a cosmic horizon that nothing can ever catch up to.

The triumph of relativity is in explaining why it is that light doesnt instantaneously propagate between two points in space. How it does this gets quite complicated, but one way to think about it is that the time it takes light to move from one point to another is actually the time it takes for space time itself to change to accommodate a changed state in some other location. The propagation of changes in space time itself is what gives light its perceived velocity.


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

[User] ELI5: How can nuclear fission reactors in space lose their heat so they wont melt themselves?

[Assistant]
Usually theyll have radiators, which are not like the radiators in your house. On Earth its a lot more straightforward to get rid of heat. You just push it somewhere else. Theres stuff everywhere, so you can give that heat to other stuff. Thats conduction.

In space there isnt a lot of stuff, so you usually have to get rid of it through radiation instead of conduction. Anything with any temperature (so everything) gives off some light. Most of this is infrared, so we cant actually see it, but everything is constantly shooting out little bits of light. Some materials are better at giving off infrared than others and so usually youll just make a big surface covered in one of those materials. Youll basically just transfer heat over to the radiator using normal conduction, and then let the radiator shoot it off into space as infrared.


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

[User]
If bending with my knees is supposedly more healthy for my bones, why is bending with my back so much easier and natural?

Thanks for all the answers!

[Assistant] Bending with your back isn't the problem. You are correct that bending with your back is natural. The problem is lifting with your back. The back wasn't designed to lift heavy weight while bent. It is a support structure to hold you upright. Bending at your knees when you lift is better for your health because the joints at the knee were designed to support weight applied in a downward motion.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why did the Death Star 2 not immediately fire on the Rebellion Flagship, the Home One?

In the Battle of Endor the Emperor decides to buy his time on using the Death Star before blowing up an MC80 Liberty class starship. He then uses it AGAIN to blow up another MC80 Liberty class. Lando didn't tell them to engage the ISD's at point-blank until after those two were destroyed. Why would it not fire on the Home One before then?

[Assistant] He was building up to it. Everything about the plan was designed to get Luke to turn. The battle, in his eyes, was never in doubt. He wanted despair and hopelessness to settle in before the actual devastation.


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

[User]
If an anti-element is possible, how does anti-radiation work?

If you were, to say, make an atom of, lets say anti-plutonium, how would radiation work in comparison to how it works in a normal-matter world?

[Assistant]
It's the same kind of radiation, it would be indistinguishable from radiation from regular plutonium.

Actually, that would apply only to gamma rays. Beta decay would be positrons instead of electrons (and vice versa for the other kind of beta decay), and alpha decay would be anti-helium.


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

[User]
[Rick and Morty] Are Meeseeks created with the knowledge to compete the task? Can they complete any task someone trained could do?

In the episode they are created with the ability to teach Golf, speak well in public, write the speech given to help Summer, and had enough emotional depth to help Beth.

Like let's say I ask a Meeseeks to coach a baseball game, fix my car, or cook dinner. Would they instantly know how to compete those tasks?

[Assistant]
I believe they have access to some sort of hammerspace-like information system where all the information they need to complete any given task is stored.

When a Meeseeks first poofs into existence, it has no idea what it will be asked to do, so there's no way for it to be created with the knowledge to complete every possible task, large or small. That would require them to be omniscient, and Rick himself said that they weren't gods.

So they pop into the world, receive their instructions, and then mentally download the relevant information from the Meeseeks version of the internet. This gives them the appearance of knowing off the top of their heads how to complete any given task.

It's worth noting that merely *having all the necessary information* to complete a task is not the same as *actually completing* that task. Ultimately, Meeseeks are primarily limited by the task completion parameters established by whomever summoned them (in addition to whatever else prevents them from being gods able to accomplish anything).

The Meeseeks that Jerry summoned knew exactly how to get two strokes off his golf game, but was limited by Jerry's utter incompetence and unwillingness to actually put into practice the coaching he was given. It couldn't physically *compel* Jerry's body to perform the necessary movements to make a lower handicap stroke.

So Jerry himself became a system-breaking task parameter. The Meeseeks had no idea how to work around him, so it did the only thing it could think to do: create another Meeseeks and ask for its help. This created a system loop which resulted in a large group of Meeseeks being created, none of which could accomplish the task as given.

The first Meeseeks came up with the only logical solution: kill the person that set the task, and the task is completed under the established parameters. "But we WILL get *all* strokes off his game...
 **WHEN WE KEEL HIM!!**"

So a Meeseeks isn't automatically created with the knowledge to complete its assigned task, but it has instant *access* to that knowledge and is primarily limited in its application of that knowledge by the parameters set by the person giving it the task.


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

[User]
[General Fantasy] Why are the elves always "in decline"? There never seems to be a world where they're at the height of their power.

I'm referring to  Middle Earth (obviously), the Witcher, Dragon Age, Shannara, most D&D settings. Obviously there's exceptions (I can't think of any) but I'm speaking statistically.

Point is it seems to be much more common for the elves to be dying off than being the dominant species. They're always somewhat of a rarity. Why?

[Assistant]
In most settings the elder races (usually dwarfs and elves, but often includes any extremely long lived race) simply can't keep up with younger, short lived races like humans, orcs, goblins, halflings and whatnot.

The elder races are often preoccupied with things that suit their long lives. For instance dwarf craftsmanship of such high quality that a shorter lived race could simply not hope to accomplish it in their lifetime. Or an elf pouring decades into writing a single poem or wooing a single lover because they have an eternity of time to fill without falling victim to ennui.

And then humans show up. A race that lives and dies in the blink of an eye compared to an elf. A race that needs to learn, live, love, explore, build, create, procreate and leave a legacy in the span of time that an elf might spend on a good conversation with a friend over several visits.

A race that'll spread into every direction of the wind and turn a tent camp into a thriving city within a century. Shoddily build perhaps by dwarf standards but it's there non the less. It doesn't have to last because it's inhabitants don't last either and every generation is eager for change, progress and a chance to build their own dreams anyway.

Is it any wonder that the elder races are often in decline? They are like ancient oaks standing in a forest watching as the younger races cut down the trees around them, build villages, *lose* villages, rebuild villages, villages turn into cities.

One day the oak looks around and says "remember when this was all forest?" only to find out that he's the only oak left.


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

[User] eli5: What does people mean when they say that a computer system runs on different architecture from another computer? Like when somebody says that an emulator can run N64 games faster theoretically but because of different architecture in practicality it cant?

[Assistant]
Processors each have their own language. In technical terms it's what's called an "Instruction Set Architecture". It defines the words that that a computer uses to do things. For instance one computer might have use "ADD 2 2" to compute 2+2. While another computer might use "SUM 2 2". When someone writes a piece of software like a video game, it gets compiled for a specific instruction set architecture based on the platform it's going to be used on. When a program is compiled, it gets turned from the programming language (C/C++ for instance) into the language of the processor. You might hear this called "machine language". So code that's been compiled for one processor type can't run in a different processor because the machines use different languages.

Another way to think of it is you want to tell someone hello. You could chose to say it in either Russian or English.  If you say it in Russian, the English speakers won't understand it, but if you say it in English, the Russian speakers won't understand it. Your choice of language is like compiling the software.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why were Americans drinking so much during the late 18th century?

Watching Ken Burn's Prohibition right now, and it said that prior to the Temperance movement, Americans were drinking 88 bottles of whiskey per year, 3 times as much as we drink today. Why were we drinking so much as a country?

[Assistant]
It wasn't just us, it was the majority of the world!

#1 It was more accepted, so when you have less social restrictions, more people will do it

#2 Not much else to drink. There wasn't soda, and tea is really reserved for certain meals and occasions, not everyday drinking

#3 The water. Often times, water would be dirty as people may wash in it or farm animals may have been in/defecated in it, so as to not risk disease you'd drink alcohol. It tasted better, was technically "safer" and why drink anything else, when you can be buzzed all day *and* be socially acceptable?


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

[User] ELI5: why does it take us weeks (even months) to feel fit, but only a week of not exercising to feel like we're back at square one?

[Assistant]
Our body is a multi-million year old machine that has evolved into being able to adapt to changing environments as we move around the planet and hasn't quite picked up on the massive changes to modern living the past century. You're emigrating, cool, don't need those upper body muscles just need strong legs and feet for moving. You're farming? Cool, need some strong arms to use tools.

Your body gets stronger by muscles tearing and rebuilding stronger. You go and squat 100lbs 10 times four separate times in 10 minutes, your muscles tear. You do that a few times and your subconscious says to itself "Hey, we apparently squat 100lbs 10 times four separate times now. That's what the conscious is doing now so lets rebuild the muscles to be able to do that."

You keep doing that and your body maintains it at that level. You add more weight your body responds by going to a higher level. You STOP doing that your subconscious quickly says "Hey, we apparently aren't squatting 100lbs anymore so redirect those resources to storage because we don't know the next time we'll get food."

TL;DR Muscle takes quite a bit more calories to maintain than fat does so if you aren't using it your body believes it is doing itself a favor by getting rid of it.


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

[User]
According to Special Relativity the mass of an object increases as its speed increases, does this mean that if I brought a highly accurate weighing scale on a aircraft I would appear heavier than on ground?

Disregarding factors that would probably disturb the experiment (I am no scientist by a long shot but): Centrifugal force, reduced gravitational force due to height, "shaking", and probably some other things I have never even heard of.

[Assistant]
Not exactly. "Mass" itself doesn't increase once you increase velocity. The faster an object moves, the harder it is to accelerate it, though. This is only due to the properties of special relativity, an in order to interpret that in a classical context, objects are often said to have a "relativistic mass", which increases with velocity.

Nevertheless, if you are inside an object moving fast with respect to another observer, this is your reference frame and from your point of view, your velocity is 0. Think about this: you are moving very fast with respect to the same, and the sun is moving very fast with respect to the center of the galaxy and so on...


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

[User]
Batteries and TV remotes...

This happens a lot with me. A TV remote stops working. No button I can press does anything. So I open the battery compartment rotate them a bit and then the remote works again! So what's happening here: Am I facilitating the release of some more electricity that didn't have the necessary voltage to work? Am I creating energy through the small rotation of the batteries? Have they just lost contact and a small movement lets them make electrical contact again?

This seems a little like when Marty punches the DeLorean to get it started...

[Assistant]
Materials Scientist -

The ends of batteries and the terminals on the remote are made from either nickel or steel. In the atmosphere, both of these metals exist with an oxide film. Even brand new, there is a thin layer of oxide on this metal. It just comes with exposure to oxygen.

Metal oxide is an insulator that electrons will not travel through. The only reason metal contacts work is that the oxide layer is small enough that either the electron can avoid the oxide atom or it can quantum tunnel through the layer.

The other thing going on here is a battery's charge changes as it is drained. A rechargeable NiMH will be 1.4V when it is just charged, 1.2V through most of its life, and 1.1V when it is close to death. Alkaline and heavy duty batteries are similar. The thickness of oxide an electron can tunnel through is related to its voltage, so near death the oxide layer is thicker and the voltage is lower.

When you rotate the battery, you remove some, but not all, of the oxide layer and allow new paths to go through and this gives you just a bit longer battery life.


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

[User] ELI5: How come a lot of films from the 1920's and older have become lost, yet a lot of films from the 1930's and forwards are still in existence (despite the continuing use of nitrate films and the lack of need for preservation at the time)?

[Assistant]
Well one big reason is that for a very long time, film preservation was not really a thing.  Once a movie was screened at a theatre and it was done, the movie was considered worthless and was scrapped or reused because film is expensive.  Remember, there wasnt a TV or anything to resell your content to and that meant that if you wanted to save your movie, you had to go through the effort to do that and techniques back then were not good.

You mention the 20s even though movie destruction has been a thing long after the 20s (a famous example of lost content is old Dr. Who TV episodes) one thing that happened in the 20s was the great depression.  Lots of companies including movie companies went out of business and movies were just tossed when the doors were closing since they couldnt afford to store them.

ETA:  Film preservation is a really modern concept.  Lots of movies are partially or outright gone forever for various reasons.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do my ears ring in a quiet room?

Is it psychological, scientific reasoning, or does this also happen in louder surroundings and just goes unnoticed?

Edit: thanks for the responses and explanations!

[Assistant]
It's called tinnitus. You probably have a very minor case of it.

It happens all the time but you don't hear it for the same reason that you can hear yourself type on a keyboard in a quiet room but not if you turn on loud music.


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

[User]
Why dont we kill HIV/ AIDS by killing the immune system?

Alright so I was prepping a lesson for class, where I need to cover HIV in the work place.

My question is, since the virus cannot survive without attaching to and replicating through a cell(specifically for HIV,cells with the CD4 molecule) why do we not just use a process such as chemotherapy to kill the cells, stick the patient in a clean room for however long it takes for the virus to die and then restart the immune system through bone-marrow transplants or something that might actually work.

It might be like taking a butchers knife to the patient, I'm just curious if this has been looked into.

Forgive me if this is a dumb question, its definitely not my field.

[Assistant] This has been done a couple times, coincidentally, in people with both HIV and cancer who received a bone marrow transplant, but it is very risky and the donor has to be a very specific and exact match. To kill off someones immune system and form a new one is a huge task and many would not even survive the process. The side effects of medications used for this take an enormous toll on the body, and significantly increase the risk of cancer later in life. In many cases, this treatment would be more deadly than living with treated HIV.


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

[User] ELI5: Did cavemen have anxiety?

[Assistant] Aye, they did, it's not a recent invention. However, they had very different situations that would lead to it, such as noticing that a predator had been lurking around the cave, or that the head of the clan seemed to be upset with them.


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

[User]
Who could Batman not beat? (all comic books)

It is generally well-accepted that Batman could take down anyone if given enough time for preparation and planning (not necessarily kill them, due to moral implications, but he could at least restrain them). We already know he has plans in place for all of the Justice League, including a kryptonite bullet for Superman. So is there anyone across all comic books that Batman feasibly couldn't take down, even with ample time for planning?

[Assistant]
Dick Grayson, Barbara Gordon, or Tim Drake would all provide a reasonable challenge. The three of them working together could almost certainly take the Bat down. Jason Todd's tendency to abandon plans in favour of blind rage make him less of a contender by himself.

Assuming both have the same planning time, Deathstroke or Ozymandias would be capable of matching Batman tactically (Deathstroke could also overpower him physically).

Tony Stark or the Superior Spider-Man would be able to match the Bat, but their respective egos would be exploitable.

Hit-girl.


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

[User] [DC comics] How do you think Lex Luthor would react if he found out Batman was Bruce Wayne?

[Assistant] He would probably be FURIOUS. He already dislikes Bruce Wayne due to their business rivalry (not to mention that time he framed Bruce for murder). If he were to discover that this idiot who somehow thrives in the business world alongside him were also the superhero who helped topple his presidency, and this had been under his nose the whole time, I'd wager Lex would be in a killin' mood.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people sleep better with background noise (like white noise or a fan)?

[Assistant] The brain craves sensory input to process, so when it''s completely quiet your brain starts straining to find information to process - either through your imagination or through the smallest little sounds it can pick up. White noise allows the brain to focus on something without actually generating much stimulation, thereby allowing you to get to sleep.


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

[User] [DC] When a tadpole becomes a frog, does Aquaman lose the ability to talk to them?

[Assistant] He has telepathy that only really works on primitive brains, that's how it works. More advanced brains like dolphins give him trouble,those he can't really controll just give strong suddgestions. With humans or such he can't controll, but he can give then seizures by attacking the primitive part of their brain.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why does my coupon say "Cash value 1/20 of one cent?"

Could I take 20 coupons to McDonalds and receive a penny?

Why do they do this, while some other coupons are redeemable for exactly zero dollars?

Did McDonalds have to pay the US Government one cent for every 20 coupons they printed?

[Assistant]
In some jurisdictions, coupons are considered food stamps. In these jurisdictions, the food stamp must have a redeemable value greater than 0. Most manufacturers are lazy and print a common coupon so they all have the little bit on there, even in places where they don't have to.

Yes you can technically take 20 coupons to McDonalds for a penny. Don't know why you would. McDonalds didn't pay the government for use of the coupons.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Did Obi Wan use the Jedi mind trick on Han Solo?

As you may recall, Luke sold his speeder for 2,000 credits and was worried about the small amount, but Obi Wan said it would be enough. How did he know this? Did he have an ace up his sleeve?

In the cantina, Han wants to charge 10,000 credits to take them on the trip.  Almost enough to buy a ship as Luke points out. Obi Wan offers him 2,000 with an additional 15,000 when they reach Alderaan.  Incredibly, Han accepts this offer.  He doesn't know Obi Wan or Luke. For all he knows, they could be flat broke and not able to pay another cent when they reach the destination. Maybe Obi Wan got an email from an Alderaanian Prince and think he's coming into credits, but he's not. Or maybe he's just planning to stiff Han. Han knows he's armed and saw what he could do with a light saber. Han has enough common sense to know it's far from guaranteed he'll get paid at Alderaan.

The only explanation would seem to be that Obi Wan used the Jedi mind trick on Han. How can someone as street-smart as Han would take such a stupid deal?  Especially when he so desperately needed enough money to pay off his debt.

[Assistant]
It's actually fairly simple. Luke knows nothing, Obi Wan knows a lot, Han knows more than Luke but not as much as Obi Wan, and Han thinks Obi Wan knows nothing.

Basically, Luke's frame of reference for the cost of intergalactic travel is completely out of proportion, so his concerns are irrelevant. Han meets Obi-wan and Luke and thinks he can take them for a ride, metaphorically speaking. He asks for 10k because he figures they're either rich idiots, who will pay the price because they can and don't know any better, or poor idiots, who won't be able to afford anything like the outrageous sum he's asking for, and will leave him to get back to more serious business.  Obi-wan has had experience with much more dangerous brigand types than Han, he doesn't need the mind tricks to haggle. He counters by offering Han 2k, which is a fairly reasonable amount for what should be a very straightforward trip, then promises him 15k on delivery, which is an over the top offer. Han didn't need the extra 15k to make the trip worthwhile  for him, he was just being a bit of a dick.


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

[User]
How can Pi be both infinitely long and non-repeating?

I don't get it. If it's infinitely long, wouldn't it just repeat an infinitely long string of numbers an infinite number of times?

[Assistant]
You can't repeat an infinitely long string of anything.  It's infinitely long.

That being said, a good way to imagine this is this number:

1.23456789101112131415161718192021222324252627282930..... (and so on)

It should be obvious that you'll never be able to point at a chunk of digits in this number and say "from here on out, this pattern repeats forever".  Since you can't do it in this case, this number is a non-repeating decimal, which means it's also irrational.  Pi is another number like this, it's just not as obvious that it doesn't repeat eventually.


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

[User] ELI5: Why does a lightning strike instantly appear, then slowly fade away instead of instantly disappearing?

[Assistant] When you see a lightning strike, you are actually seeing the lightning's glow or the ionization of the air. The air around the lightning bolt is super hot, causing it to give off a bright glow that we see. As the bolt fades away, the air is slowly cooled down to its normal temperature.


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

[User]
[Doctor Who] Could you kill Jack Harkness by traveling back to before he was a fixed point in time and shooting him?

He only receives immortality from the Bad Wolf when he's in his 30s or so... If you took a TARDIS back and killed him when he was 10, would it work to destroy him? Or would his future "fixed point" status prevent his death in the past?

[Assistant] time travel, the fixed point shit already happened so its always already happened. Therefor if you were to go to earlier in his timeline and kill him you'd require a paradox generator to maintain your altered timeline.  this separates your timeline from the rest of established future history, most of the rest of the universe, a bit like cutting off blood flow to a limb.  you'll be able to live in this altered reality for a while, but eventually either your generator will fail and the normal timeline will reassert itself, or the generator *won't* fail and your little reality will disintegrate at the time-space level.


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

[User]
ELI5: In soccer/football why do the players when entering the pitch hold the hands of little boys?

It seems weird to me, but meh. Let me know.

[Assistant]
The kids are usually mascots. Their parents (or indeed themselves) are season ticket holders and get the chance to walk out with their favourite team+players. They get a stadium tour and stuff too (free signed jerseys, etc).

Hope this answered your question :)


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

[User]
Reject a paper for being out of scope as a reviewer?

Hi! I have been reviewing a paper, but it is totally out of scope of the journal it was sent by. I do not know if I should directly reject it without reviewing or perform a proper review (for a certain reject decision). Any suggestion?

[Assistant] This is a question to ask the editor who assigned the review to you. They may have decided that it is in scope or may have decided to leave that up to the reviewers. There is only one way to find out.


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

[User]
[EvE Online] What is the effect of all these empire-like corporate alliances running around New Eden?

New Eden has no shortage of freakishly powerful corporate entities that effectively control entire swathes of space and act as state actors. What effect do these entities have on the astropolitics of New Eden, and to what end are the major empires willing to tolerate them?

[Assistant]
The empire factions have no choice but to tolerate the capsuleer organisations, a single capsuleer ship in the hands of a competent pilot can take on an entire navy fleet.

The only political treaty of note in the grand scheme of things is the Yulai agreements (enforced by the most technologically proficient faction, Concord) that have effectively guaranteed that capsuleers will not lay claim to empire space and vice-versa. Should for instance, the Amarr choose to attack Delve, not only would they be hopelessly outmatched by the Imperium, they would be in violation of the agreement and thus lose out on its protections. Amarr space would be relegated to nullsec and Domain would fall as it becomes besieged from all sides, capsuleer and empire alike (similarly, if the Imperium were to attack Amarr space, concord intervention would be swift, all be it limited to the involved pilots rather than reflecting on the entire organisation.)

It's a galaxy of might makes right, where Concord are the mightiest, capsuleers second and the empire factions a distant third.


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

[User] [Stargate] Can a Sarcophagus reverse the effects of Wraith induced aging?

[Assistant] Most likely yes. Beckett theorized that the "aging" that Wraith victims display when being fed upon was a biological side effect of the feeding process. And so the sarcophagus would easily be able to repair the physical damage and undo the visible aging.


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

[User] Where do neutrons come from? If the whole universe started as hydrogen which is just a proton and an electron, where did the neutrons come from when they fused into heavier elements?

[Assistant]
After the Big Bang, the universe eventually cooled enough for quarks to form bound hadrons. Protons and neutrons both would've been produced as a result.

Protons are stable (as far as we know), but free neutrons decay with a half-life on the order of ten minutes. So any neutrons produced during this process would not have lasted very long.

Luckily neutrons can be produced in stars as well. What happens is that two protons fuse together, forming a diproton resonance (helium-2, if you wish). Since the diproton is unbound, the vast majority of the time, it will immediately decay back into two protons. But some small fraction of the time, it can beta decay instead, forming a deuteron (hydrogen-2). The deuteron is a bound system consisting of a proton and a neutron.


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

[User]
ELI5: What is an area vector and why is it useful?

I'm taking an introductory course of physics in college (my major has nothing to do with maths nor physics; this is just an elective) and it came out while going over magnetic flux. Any google search I make ends up with some complicated maths explaining what it is which I don't understand. What does it do, what is it, and why does my square have a vector coming out from the middle of it?

[Assistant]
It basically tells you in which direction the area DOESNT expand. As a plane area is 2-dimensional you either need two directions to tell where the area is in 3-dimensional space. Or you tell one direction it doesnt go, each direction thats perpendicular to that one is inside the area.

Short ELI5: its useful for knowing where the area is and isnt.


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

[User]
Does your body build up a resistance to caffeine?

And if so can this be reversed by stopping the intake of caffeine for a certain amount of time or is it permanent?

[Assistant]
Yes, it does. Caffeine works by blocking the action of *adenosine*, which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter (i.e. nerves release it into synapses to reduce the likelihood that nearby nerves will fire).  By blocking adenosine, caffeine stimulates activity.

But, like pretty much all systems in the body, the adenosine system is subject to long-term feedback and over the course of days to weeks you will develop more adenosine receptor sites, so that more caffeine is required to block them all.  That is the primary pharmacological tolerance mechanism.

Fortunately, the feedback works both ways so if you stop ingesting caffeine your adenosine system will revert to normal on the same general time scale.


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

[User]
ELI5: Can a material only be scratched by a harder material?

My father used to say only diamonds can scratch other diamonds.  Like, he would say that it's OK to play with a puzzle on a walnut table because the wood is so much harder than the paperboard, but it wouldn't be OK to play that finger knife game from Alien.  And it makes sense to me on some level.

But if I hack at a tree with an axe for a while it will definitely get dull.

Does what my father used to tell me hold any water?

[Assistant]
Your Father is correct. Things can only be scratched by things of equal or higher 'hardness'. The axe you use does get dull for several reasons. Firstly the thin edge does get bend and mushed out of shape by the impact of the axe's weight. Then for moments there is a really high friction that heats things up. And then even in wood there are minerals that can act abbrasive to metal.

Just cause you cannot scratch a diamond with a metal hammer doesn't mean you cannot smash it to dust with the weight of a metal hammer.


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

[User]
[Harry Potter] Could Voldemort have lived indefinitely if he had just avoided any encounters with Harry?

They say that Neither can live while the other survives which implies that one of them will have to kill the other.

If Voldemort just kept skirting Harry, could he live on indefinitely? If so, would he die of old age?

[Assistant]
HP leans towards the idea of prophecies being triggered by the people who believe in them, and that they can be rather vague (Harry vs Neville being chosen).

Its *possible* that Voldemort could have lived indefinitely by avoiding Harry-him dying of old age depends on the properties of his body. But its *also* possible that the line meant that neither would be able to *live* life while the other exists; unable to truly pursue other interests without the thought of their opponent always in the minds horizon. The ambiguity prevents any definitive statements from being made.


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

[User]
To PostDoc or Not to Postdoc?

I am in my final year of my PhD (neuroscience) at an Australian university and have been given the opportunity to do a postdoc once i finish (89k a year, 17% super). I really dont fully understand the whole postdoc/academic career exactly and most have said it can be a dead end. However, I find it enticing since I would be able to work on some research I have always been fascinated in.

Could anyone let me know how the postdoc/academic career works exactly in terms of grants and funding and gradually working your way up the academic ladder? Do you basically pay for yourself through grants or does the uni actually pay you? Is it supposed to be short term? And are there negatives to doing a postdoc?

Sorry for the ignorant questions!

[Assistant]
89k sounds like a pretty solid post doc. The PI for your group should secure your funding (at least for the first year).

I dont know how you transition from postdoc to professor, but the experience should translate well to industry, as long as your productive and publishing. (I work in industry and have gone back to do a PhD in analytical chemistry).


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

[User]
Why does the hole in the ozone layer always hang out over antarctica?

Why Antarctica? Is there also a hole in the ozone layer over the north pole that no one ever talks about?

[Assistant] Yes, there is but it's not as bad as the South Pole one. The reactions that cause ozone depletion operate everywhere in the atmosphere, but are catalyzed by surface reactions on really cold, high latitude ice clouds (Polar Stratospheric Clouds) which mostly form at very high latitudes.


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

[User] ELI5: How exactly does a cockroach survive a nuclear explosion?

[Assistant]
The explosion itself would kill roaches, just like any fire would. Radiation is much less of a threat to roaches than to humans, though. Cells are most sensitive to radiation when they are dividing. Humans and other mammals have cells that are dividing all the time. In fact, chemotherapy works because cancer cells divide rapidly and the radiation from chemo kills rapidly dividing cells (that's also why you lose your hair and why men become infertile during chemo - hair cells and sperm cells divide rapidly).

Roaches and many other bugs don't have cells that divide all the time. Instead, a roach's cells only divide around the time it molts, which is about once a week when it's growing up. Molting is when a bug sheds its old exoskeleton as it's growing bigger. Since cells are usually vulnerable to radiation when dividing and a roach's cells only divide about once a week, there's only a small window during each week when radiation would kill a roach.

If there were enough radiation in the area to last a couple weeks it could still kill roaches since the young ones would have to molt at some point.

Edit: There's also no reason this is specific to cockroaches. A lot of insects are more resistant to radiation for this reason.


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

[User] Why does a dead battery work for a second when I remove it and put it back in the remote?

[Assistant]
A battery is basically just two electrodes, and a permeable barrier between them that lets ions pass but not electrons.  At each electrode there are chemical reactions, the reactions at the negative electrode deposits electrons at the terminal, the reaction at the positive electrode removes electrons from the metals and move those electrons into the other reacting chemicals.

So both those reactions occur at some rate, a slower rate as the battery is depleted.  When the battery is installed in a device, electrons move from the negative terminal, through the circuits, back to the positive terminal.  So, the voltage of the battery is determined by the amount of free electrons on the negative terminal compared to the positive terminal.  When you take away the drain of the circuitry, the number of electrons, and hence the voltage, is allowed to build up by the chemical reactions at the negative and positive terminals.


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

[User]
CMV: College should be free for at least 2, maybe 4, years, like high school.

I've made a few generalizations below, of course there are some people who dropped out of high school and are millionaires, and some people that graduated from medical school and have no job. However all of you know just as well as I do, that these generalizations are mostly true. (just don't even bother arguing this part, don't post if you're going to say they're not)

Sure, you can possibly make a living with just a high school degree. But it'll be absolute crap and the best most of them can hope for is to live in a small, run-down apartment in the highest crime rate neighborhood in the entire city. You might even be lucky to live in the projects.

Even if you get a basic 2 year degree, if you get an almost/full time job, you could probably buy a small house in a suburb or rural area. It might not be nice, but you could probably own it and not live in fear of the crime outside your door.

It's a significant step up, and even in the US it should be considered a basic right in the same way public high school education is.

Note that this isn't coming from someone who's butthurt that they don't have money to pay for college, I've been put through it with absolutely no debt thanks to my very generous parents. I just think it would improve just about every aspect of society in every way.

Edit: I thought of another reason for it. When I was in high school, the kids that didn't care about graduating mostly did it because they knew they couldn't pay for college even if they did end up graduating. If you give them another 2 years to look forward to, which ends up in them getting a somewhat reasonable job, they might actually try to complete high school without getting into serious trouble.

[Assistant]
First, it is important to understand selection bias here.  Part of the reason people with degrees do better than those without degrees is because those who were more likely to do better regardless will usually choose to go to college.

However, your view seems to give a reason to go to college if possible, but not why it should be free.  Understand that nothing is actually "free", what you are suggesting is merely shifting the cost from young people to those paying taxes.

One could argue that young people, because they have more years left, will have far greater future earning potential than most current taxpayers.  In other words, you are shifting the cost of college from an 18 year old with over 40 years of employment ahead of them to someone 61 and may have only 4 years remaining to earn for retirement.

Under our current system, people are loaned money for college to be paid by their own future earnings.  Loans are extensive and easy to get, but they do have to be paid back by the borrower.  They are also proportional to the education you receive, so paying back a 2 year degree from a community college is a fraction of the cost of 4-5 years at an expensive private school.

Now, we could discuss changes in how much loan money a person receive and how the repayment structure should look, but doing it this way is obviously more fair than what you are suggesting.


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

[User] What came after postmodernism?

[Assistant] Some social theorist argue we've never actually left modernism--I find Giddens arguments for radicalized modernity (rather than postmodernism) to be particularly compelling. What was true for early modernity is true now (time-space distanciation, enhanced reflexivity, increased ontological insecurity) just...more so. There wasn't really been a break with the past in a significant way as there was with pre-modernity and modernity.


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

[User]
Why does a liquid run down the side of a glass when pouring it?

When I pour a liquid from a mug into another container, it runs down the side of the mug. Why does this happen?

[Assistant]
Due to both the high surface energy of the ceramic surface and the lower interfacial energy of the ceramic-water interface.

The lowest energy state is when the water is covering the ceramic and so the water will adhere to the mug as it is poured out.


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

[User]
I believe athletes have a right to say that they might feel uncomfortable around gays in locker rooms. CMV

Hey,
to get this out of the way: I hold no grudge against gays and they may have all rights that they want.

There is recently some football player who just came out of the closet and of course there have been a lot retiring athletes who said they are gay.
And everyone on the internet attacks the other athletes if they say that they would "feel uncomfortable around gays".

I think they have the right to do so. We are often seperating men and women in showers and locker rooms. My understanding is, that for one point, we are doing this because the other gender could be attracted and that would make persons feel uncomfortable.
People staring at genitals and stuff.

So if we don't allow men and women to do all this stuff together - why should we allow gay people?
I know that this would cause a lot of problems (bisexual locker rooms?! gay locker rooms?!) and would almost be unsolvable, BUT I believe that athletes have a point in saying they feel uncomfortable around gays just as they would around women.

[Assistant]
I think this was asked earlier but I'll have a stab at it.

I think the problem with men and women sharing locker rooms is that the differences are glaring. With homosexuality you might not even know there's a gay guy in your locker room. It only becomes uncomfortable when you become aware.

There's a certain degree of arrogance when it comes to certain straight men about homosexuals that just because he's gay he must be interested, not only in their penis, but in everyone's penis. The truth being that gay and straight men have shared the same spaces of being undressed for centuries. And in these places in particular these people are professionals. There's 100% likelihood that any gay person within that locker room is thinking about the game more than they give a shit about someone's cock.


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

[User] ELI5: What is shock? what does it mean when your body goes into a state of shock?

[Assistant] Shock is the name for any time when your tissues need more oxygen than your body can provide.  Examples are if you have lost blood (hemorrhagic shock) or if your heart is pumping too weakly (cardiogenic). In septic shock, the blood vessels dilate and are leaky so supply drops, and the oxygen demand is higher due to the infection and inflammation.


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

[User]
Do black holes continue to grow in mass indefinitely?

Will they continue to consume anything that crosses the event horizon or do they eventually reach equilibrium by ejecting radiation?  Or is there another option I haven't been exposed to yet?

[Assistant]
If you keep feeding them, they'll keep growing. However, you are right that due to Hawking radiation, it's possible for a black hole to consume matter at (on the average) such a slow rate that they lose more than they take in, and so lose mass on the whole. But in normal black holes Hawking radiation is such a tiny effect, this is almost impossible in practice.

(It will be the case far, far down the line, when stars and galaxies have burned out, so there isn't much matter to eat up, just a roving gang of black holes slowly emitting away Hawking radiation. And yes, if the temperature of the Hawking radiation matches the temperature of the space outside a black hole, it will reach an equilibrium.)


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

[User] Whats the difference between the skin healing process of a cut wound and a scald?

[Assistant]
Its actually fairly similar in both cases.

In cuts, the blood clots and a scab forms, inflammation occurs to get white blood cells to the area which eat up all the dead flesh, the cells needed to repair the area start to replicate, and then they start sticking together to make new skin.

In burns its similar except you miss out the blood clotting stage, it goes straight from injury to inflammation.


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

[User]
[MCU] Exactly how was Thanos able to amass such a large, if not the largest, force without any kind of coalition coming together to stop him at a weaker point?

Thanos didn't amass this force overnight, I'm assuming. How was he able to band together such a large army without showing his blatant warmongering off to every planet in the nearby galaxy? Did no one try to stop his growing power?

[Assistant]
Thanos started off as not only a genius, but also as the last survivor of his entire race.

Leave Tony Stark alone on Earth for a couple of years, and with access to advanced alien technology, and he's going to leave pretty powerful.

We never really get told what the non-human things in Thanos's army are. Maybe he actually created them using advanced bio-engineering, once he had the resources of an entire planet/advanced civilization to himself?


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

[User] How big of a telescope would you need to see a man on the moon?

[Assistant] A two meter person at 400,000 km subtends about 0.001 arc-seconds. The resolution of a telescope is roughly the ratio of the wavelength of the light it's looking at to the diameter of the telescope. To resolve something that small at 500 nm wavelength you'd need about a 100 meter telescope, several times larger than what currently exists. And then, the person would just appear as a blurry dot.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] What is the point of armor (Stormtrooper, Clone Trooper, Helmets the rebels wore on Endor, etc.) When a single blaster bolt kills regardless of armor?

Throughout the movies, we see blaster bolts either shot or deflected back at the shooter by a lightsaber, and, despite Clone and Stormtroopers having armor, are put down with one blaster bolt to the chest. It seems like all that armor would just be restrictive. If there's no protective benefit, then why is it worn at all?

[Assistant] Well, they go down, but there's no indication they're dead.   If you got shot in the chest with a shotgun while wearing a bullet proof vest, you'll probably go down, and be pretty sore, but you'll live.


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

[User]
[DC] Why can't flash beat his enemies in a flash if he is faster than the speed of light

I've been watching a lot of justice league where a huge group of enemy armies shoot guns at flash and stuff, why isn't he able to defeat all of them before everyone blinks and how are other enemies able to punch him and stuff??

[Assistant] Flash is one of those heroes who will try to reason with whoever he's fighting first. He's not like other superheroes, such as Batman, who strike first. Unless it's against someone who can beat him in terms of powers or unless he is really pissed off (which trust me is not easy) Flash holds back a lot.


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

[User]
CMV: Black Friday, for a responsible consumer, is absolutely incredible and not a waste of time

A shopper who regularly (at least 5-10 times per year) visits the mall or whatever for serious buying should understand prices well enough to realiZe the difference between a good deal and a fake marked up price.

I'd say Black Friday is by far my favorite time to shop every year. While there are other sales, I always try to find them and every year Black Friday is the best.

I got a $275 pair of oxfords for $80. I was looking at this same pair a couple times for the last 6 months and not once did I ever see it dip below 150. I was searching for a pair of nice oxfords for almost 1 year already and this is the best price for the best quality and design that I've found. I also got  4 good quality dress shirts for $40 total... While they were consistently $20-25 each on previous days and even last Christmas.

While there are definitely some shitty deals, many stores, especially for clothing, sell things at an incredible price. Electronics, maybe, maybe not. I don't really use Black Friday or cyber Monday for electronics but if it was something I was gonna buy regardless then I'd get it. Clothes don't usually find as much of permanent discounts.

[Assistant]
1. For every good, necessary thing you find, you'll probably buy one or two useless things just because they are cheap.

2. Many products are built specifically to be sold on sale on Black Friday. They aren't really a deal.

3. Most of the best products are sold out in advance of Black Friday. The stuff that isn't built specifically for Black Friday is often just the leftovers that couldn't be sold at full price.

4. Most of the normal sizes of clothes are sold out in advance too.


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

[User]
How does immortality or healing factor react to starving to death or dehydration?

If a character like Wolverine (healing factor) or The Doctor (regeneration) were to starve to death how would they survive? If cells get energy from the food that we eat/ water we drink?

[Assistant] With all mutants, the energy for their powers don't come from themselves or their body's; it comes from an alternate dimension. Which is why Wolverine can survive by cutting off his own flesh and eating it.


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

[User]
[MCU] So now that the Time Stone has been destroyed (at least in the main timeline) why doesn't Dormammu just attack earth again?

Iirc Strange threatened to trap Dormammu in a time loop forever if he doesn't leave earth alone. But now that the Infinity Stones have been destroyed there's nothing to keep him away anymore right?

Edit: Aight thanks everyone. The question has been answered. I haven't watched the first movie in a long while so i was a little fuzzy on the details.

[Assistant]
Can infinity gems really be destroyed? Aren't they part of the Universe itself?

Anyway maybe its just as simple as Dormamu is from a different universe with different rules, maybe it just doesn't know what an infinity stone is or that Dr. Stranges power was originating from it.

Also we would need to ask why did dormamu not simply attack earth to an other time maybe before strange became the sorcerer supreme? Something seems to keep dormamu from attacking it again after or before the attack strange defended.

Then again time is a concept dormamu doesn't know. So for it the attack strange defended was always and never. Without time there is no change. If he recieves time more like a spatial dimension the path was blocked once and since it observes all times without change the path is blocked once and for all.


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

[User]
[Highlander] Must there be only one?

Let us say Ramirez beat the Kurgan, or Castlegar did so. Would they off Conner, or would Conner off them? Is the prize worth centuries of friendship and loyalty?

[Assistant]
When it comes us Immortals you must remember that we are beings whose experience and perspective scale across multiple centuries.  While these lifetimes show many of us the wisdom of alliances and the insight of having companions with the same "gift", we still suffer from human nature and with new immortals constantly arising there will ALWAYS be another who lusts for the ultimate power.  With enough skill and guile, this individual will never cease hounding the rest of us, winnowing us down until there is but one left to stand against them.  Even the protection granted by holy ground cannot forever stave off a sufficiently determined hunter.  This is the crux of our mantra "There can be only one"; the curse of the Immortal is to know that he will eventually see all his companions perish and he will be all that stands between the rest of humanity and total destruction.

Unless, of course, **you** are the Immortal seeking to do the destroying...


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

[User]
Eli5 Why do pilots touch down and instantly take off again?

I live near a air force base and on occasion Ill see a plane come in for a landing and basically just touch their wheels to the ground and then in the same motion take off again.

Why do they do this and what real world application does it have?

[Assistant] It's called a touch-and-go, and is mainly used to learn how to land the aircraft. Instead of coming to a full stop, the student takes off again, circles around and does another touch-and-go. The hardest part of the landing is the approach and touchdown, not bringing the aircraft to a stop, so touch-and-gos are how you practice without wasting time and airport space.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do so few plants make up so much of our food?

There are 50,000 edible plant species but only 15 make up 90% of the food we eat (excluding meat). Why is that?

[Assistant]
Plants do this thing where they convert sugar to cellulose in order to grow. We can't digest that because we don't have the enzyme to convert it to sugars again. The plants we do eat have been cultivated over thousands of years to select for the best crop possible, and these plants tend to have a lot of sugar in sugar form like fruits, or in starch form (which we can digest back to sugar) like root vegetables.

We've basically "domesticated" plants so that they're starchy and sugary, and recently, look pretty and big as well. The plants we don't eat are high in cellulose and not much else. Also, plants that we don't eat tend to be difficult to cultivate or only grow in specific environments that can't be brought elsewhere.

Potatoes and corn? You can grow them anywhere.


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

[User] ELI5: How does the Federal Reserve figure out how much money to print/mint each year?

[Assistant]
Minor quibble, for clarification only: the Fed doesn't produce coinage or currency. The US Mint and Bureau of Engraving and Printing, respectively, do that. But the Fed is the only entity that can place orders for either, so really, the question is still well-put.

To answer, the Fed estimates the need for new coinage/currency the same way a business estimates the demand for its products: it generates forecasts for *this* year based on actual figures from *previous* years. Throw in a few tweaks, here and there, for specific, identifiable events that are likely to throw things off a bit (e.g., the introduction of a new bill, etc.), and Bob's your uncle.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] How famous is Yoda during his time? And for that matter, why hasnt anyone in The Mandalorian visibly observed the Kids striking resemblance?

I would think Yoda is pretty high-profile, being the Grand Master of the Jedi and head of the whole Council for a good long hundreds of years. Yaddle to some degree, too. Are there any supporting documents (Legends or canon) that point to Yodas profile as a celebrity, or lack thereof? Even remarks about the scarcity of his species?

So far in The Mandalorian series, various aliens are shown finding that the Kid (aka Baby Yoda) is cute, but no one in-universe has come out and said, WHOA! That looks like Master Yoda! Thats RARE! Why might this be so?

[Assistant]
The Mandalorian series takes place after the fall of the Empire. As such, it's been a good twenty to thirty years since anyone has seen a Jedi. Jabba the Hutt did, not too long ago, but he's dead now.

Even before then, the Jedi were rare - some ten thousand Jedi across the whole galaxy's trillions of sapient life forms.

During the Clone Wars, the celebrity Jedi, the face of the Republic, were Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker. They're the only reason anyone really remembers what Jedi are, anymore. After the formation of the Empire, the Jedi are relegated to the dustbins of history. Remember that the victors write history, and the Jedi are, by that metric, traitors.

While Yoda was the Grand Master of the Jedi (by virtue of being the oldest), the more visible political station was the Master of the Order (by virtue of being elected by the Council). During the time of the Clone Wars, this was Mace Windu, who died during his battle with the Emperor and Darth Vader.

They type of character you're thinking of would have to be:

* At least forty
* A follower of politics closely enough back at the end of the Clone Wars to recognize someone other than just the major players
* Be able to tell one alien from another
* Knowledgeable about Yoda's species (or at least know that they rarely leave their home world)
* Careless enough to remark on it

Characters that we've seen have failed that criteria on at least two points.


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

[User]
ELI5:Where do viruses go when there's not an outbreak?

Common example --- every year there's flu season. Where is the flu when it's not flu season?

Topical example --- they've apparently identified patient zero of the current ebola outbreak as a child who died in December 2013. Ebola obviously has had outbreaks in the past. Where did ebola go in between outbreaks? Is it just hiding somewhere in the jungle? If so, now that ebola has escaped Africa, does this mean it could be lurking somewhere in Europe or the United States and, years from now, there could be an outbreak that starts outside of Africa?

Does this mean something that was once widespread in the US that we're now all vaccinated against --- say, smallpox --- could be lurking in my backyard and is just waiting for some anti-vaccination fool to stumble upon it?

[Assistant] Virologist here! Think of a virus like a grizzly bear. When winter comes, the bear knows it needs to go in to hibernation to reserve its strength, rest through harsh times, and re-emerge in better conditions. Viruses do the exact same thing.


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

[User]
What should i know before learning to code?

I would like to learn how to code or how to program in general, but i don't know what are the most important things to have in mind before doing so.

[Assistant] Don't be ashamed of looking up "solutions" to problems. If you look at someone else's code and actually try to understand it, you'll learn a ton compared to someone who spends hours upon hours trying to figure out a solution on their own.


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

[User]
ELI5: How are penguins so resistant to falling?

So I've seen a lot of videos of penguins falling from pretty high up to rocks and they just get up like nothing happened? While I'm happy they're not harmed, I'm also very confused. Can someone explain?

[Assistant]
It comes down to force=mass x acceleration.
Penguins have a very low mass, penguins are made up of mostly lightweight insulating feathers. So when they do fall, they hit the ground with very little force.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Why aren't the R2 (or the R4) units programmed to speak English, when they clearly understand it and are able to communicate in some form of language?

[Assistant]
Because they're made cheap and replaceable. Specialized vocoders make that droid just that bit more expensive. Most of the time if they have to relay information back to organics, they are near mechanics who have learned to "understand" the Binary droid language, or they're hooked into a separate system with a built-in communication screen that translates for them.

[Also, it's not English. It's Galactic Basic.]


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

[User] eli5 - Russia has an economy smaller than Canada or Italy. How does it continue to be a threatening, great power without going bankrupt?

[Assistant]
Russia spends 3x times more of it's Budget on the military than countries with a comparable economy, so it has far more military hardware and personnel. They also have mandatory military service.

The export a great deal of hardware from guns, vehicles, tanks, and airplanes to other nations which helps justify their RnD budget.

They also have huge amounts of surplus hardware left over from the Soviet Union. A lot of hardware the Russians are using is very old and much of the new state-of-art equipment they flaunt is in very short supply.

Throughout the 90s the Russian military was crumbling and it's only in the past decade that they are really starting to turn around their military deficit.

There F-22 killer SU-57 for example only has 2 functional examples, and 10 prototypes (most of those unserviceable).

Where the Russians excel is in their espionage and Cyber Warfare divisions. They are way ahead of the US in this regard with the State highly likely to be sponsoring, or at least turning a blind eye, to the various hacker groups operating in the country so that they can build up a pool of resources they can use in a cyber war.

That and the FSB (formerly the KGB) has always run circles around the West in terms of espionage.

The Russians aren't competing with the West nearly as much as they used too either. Now it's about power projection in the 3rd World. The Russians what to maintain their influence on various nations in the Middle East and Eastern Europe both to have countries to supply with arms, but also so that they can do what they want in that area without reprisal from the West.


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

[User] Why does water have no taste or smell?

[Assistant]
If we assume you're talking about pure water, because your body has no taste or smell receptors for water. In order to smell/taste something, that something needs to bind to and activate receptors expressed on the surface of your olfactory receptor neurons or taste buds. When those receptors get activated, you experience the taste/smell.

It makes sense that you have no water receptors on your tongue because your body is absolutely packed with water, and any receptors for water would always be maximally activated.


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

[User]
[Man of Steel] How was an essentially life long pacifist able to throw a punch properly, much less go toe to toe with and beat someone who was specifically bred for war?

Regardless of strength, one needs form to effectively use their body. Where to Sups learn to fight?

[Assistant]
Part of the issue is that there was a difference in raw power between the two, part of it is the environment.

At the time, Zod had spent many years wandering through deep space, presumably away from a yellow sun and potentially without much combat experience in the decades it took for him to follow Kal-el (Superman) to Earth. Note how he was overwhelmed by the sudden radiation from our sun when he first arrived, forcing him to wear a visor. By comparison, Kal-el/Clark Kent had been living all that time under the light of a yellow sun, which may have gradually strengthened him even further over the years. Anything Kal/Clark knows about fighting is coincidental, coming by way of movies or television; his alien physiology is really his only saving grace in this regard.

TL;DR Zod was out of practice and low on batteries.


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

[User] ELI5: If my body temperature is 98.6F and it's only 80 outside, why am I sweating? I'm always warmer than that!

[Assistant]
It's because just to stay alive, your body is always producing heat. If this heat just builds up in the body and particularly the internal organs, you could get hurt.

When you're in surroundings colder than your body, it's quite easy for that heat to leave the body at a pace that keeps your temperature stable and safe. When your surroundings get closer to being as warm as your body (or when you start producing extra heat by being physically active), you need to help the process along by sweating. The excess heat can then be used to evaporate sweat instead of raising your internal temperature.


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

[User]
[Cloverfield] What happened to New York City post-attack?

Were there any recovery efforts or is NYC now just a massive smoking crater? Was any part of the city salvageable?

[Assistant]
Shit's fucked.

Everything past Central Park to the ocean is leveled to about a story in height. There's hundreds of tons of rubble we're still sifting through despite international effort. The monster wasn't killed.

Canada, France, England, even Russia and China chipped in to try to help rebuild it. They're talking about making New York like it was by 2050 but there's been a lot of bureaucratic nonsense.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is Gerrymandering still a practice in the U.S.?

Why have we not outlawed this practice as it seems to be one of the dirtiest political tricks possible?

[Assistant]
1. It's actually quite hard to phrase a law that would ban it. The district boundaries have to get drawn somehow. You'd either need to change the US voting system to get rid of districts entirely or legislate a specific mathematical algorithm to pick the boundaries.

2. The people who could ban it are the people who benefit from it. Even if they did understand the math that they'd be voting on to replace the "let's draw them ourselves" process, why would they do so?