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

[User] [Star Wars] What happened to the members of the CIS (e.g., Trade Federation) after the Clone Wars?

[Assistant]
Geonosis got... sterilized. No word on what happened to the Neimoidians.

The Republic took control of the banks toward the end of the Clone Wars.

The rest of the CIS systems mostly were surrendered under the Empire when it came into being.


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

[User]
Would a Faraday cage protect electronics inside from the effects of an EMP?

For example if there was a self-sufficient PC inside the cage, and an EMP got detonated, would the cage protect the PC inside from being fried/shut down?

[Assistant]
In theory, yes. In practicality, it would depend on the size of the EMP blast.

Normally, when dealing with a metal, physicists assume there is an infinite amount of free electrons in the metal. With this assumption, the Faraday cage would be able to protect any internal electronics from an EMP blast. But, as you can probably guess, no metal actually has an infinite amount of free electrons, and the time it takes to re-arrange them, when many electrons are needed, is not completely negligible. So, while a Faraday cage could be constructed to withstand about any sized EMP blast, a "standard lab" one would maybe not protect you if the EMP blast were large enough.


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

[User] ELI5: What makes us get a 'Stitch' in our sides when we run too quickly?

[Assistant]
Believe it or not, the real answer is, 'we don't know'! The most common answer is that the jerking nature of running pulls on the ligaments tying the organs in our stomachs to our bones - but this can't be the whole answer, as people get stitches while swimming!

Another possibility is that as the heart rate increases, the blood pressure into the liver and spleen increases, making them bigger, squeezing some blood vessels partially closed. This causes some places to not get enough oxygen.

A third has to do with breathing. If a runner doesn't breathe deeply, part of their lungs don't get fresh air. As the blood is depleted in oxygen when it gets back to the lungs, the parts of the lungs with stale air in them aren't getting enough oxygen, and getting too much carbon dioxide, causing pain.


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

[User]
[V] I am an intergalactic peacekeeper who has a received a distress call from a distant planet called 'Earth'. They claim that an alien race they call 'Visitors' have begun to occupy and oppress their planet. How should I advise my superiors within the greater galactic community?

On one hand, we do have certain *Prime Directives* involved about contacting pre-ftl races, but it seems like these reptilians from the Sirius region are breaking a universal code by their actions. Should I recommend we intervene and force the Sirius visitors to halt their activities on Earth? Or just allow things to go on and look to my own star sector?

[Assistant]
What was the nature of the Transmission? Being a little more familiar with Earth's Technology, it's possible that they used an old tech called Radio. That transmission could be decades old for all you know.

By all means, report it and advise a scouting mission, but there might not be much that can be done at this point.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are olive, coconut, and avocado oils considered to be healthy and cannot be deep fried, but oils like vegetable oils aren't?

[Assistant]
Coconut and avocado oil actually have very high smoke points and very suitable for deep-frying, however they are not cheap to produce - a jar of good coconut oil is 6-8 here, and that will provide nowhere near enough to fill a deep-fat fryer. Also, coconut oil has a distinctive coconut flavour that may or may not be desirable - neutral flavoured oils are generally more agreeable.

The best, most stable fat to cook with is animal fat - such as tallow or lard. Grass-fed for omega-3! Seed oils are full of health-negative omega-6.


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

[User]
[Marvel/DC] How advanced would video games in both verses be, compared to our own?

Like, would VR be AR and be a lot more smoother and grander? Would RPGs be larger, and involve AI smart enough to talk and create procedurally generated quests, and more? Would voice commands and speaking be available in said RPGs, with NPCs responding to whatever you say?

[Assistant] The X-Men had a VR room with an AI. It was designed to help them train, but it talked a kid into killing himself. Sure, companies could say it was an isolated incident, but it would still have a stigma that parents wouldn't buy it for their children.


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

[User]
What will a coronavirus-induced global recession entail for 18 year olds entering the workforce/higher education/adult world? Keeping in mind that we were 6 in 2008 and thus have little reference/experience with recession

Asking for a friend... :(

[Assistant]
Entering college, little to none. By the time you graduate, this will be a thing of the past. If you are going straight into the workforce, statistically starting out in a weak job market has negative ramifications on life time earning potential. Just have to be vigilant to new opportunities in the future and you will be fine.

However, the Coronavirus has shaken a lot of people's faith in the reliability of the Chinese government, so rearrangment of global supply chains could really shake up the job markets around the world, so nobody really knows what industry will look like in 5 years at this point. At age 18, you kinda just gotta roll with it and don't be complacent about improving your lot in life.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do taxi drivers seem to circumvent driving laws? (Speed, cellphone use)

At least from what I've seen, the only taxi going the speed limit is one that has a fare.

Also I know in the modern world of cell phone apps, using a smartphone to locate potential customers conflicts with my cities "zero tolerance cellphone use" laws, and driving at night I often see cab drivers with one or two mounted cellphones, and sometimes one in hand.

How are taxi drivers not easy pickings for cops?

[Assistant] They don't, but they're better at getting away with it than most. Imagine if you were driving similar routes every day for hours. You would quickly learn where cops tend to be, where traffic tends to pile up, and other similar aspects. Taxis are just more familiar with their environment and know what they can get away with.


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

[User] The mass of Earth is approximately 5.98e24kg. Does this include all the organisms and trees since we are all made of particles from the Earth? or is the mass just the rock and dirt and moutains? and is water from the oceans included?

[Assistant]
Honestly, it does not matter.

Even if you count the mass of the outer kilometer of the Earth, that would make up a twentieth of a percent of the mass of the Earth, and still is much heavier than the sum of everything living and all the oceans.


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

[User]
ELI5: If phones can have 5-inch, 1080p amoled touchscreen displays, why can't a tv just use a series of those displays?

I was using my phone at night when I realized my phone has a better resolution than my 32" 720p tv. Besides the fact that I am a lot closer to my phone's screen than my tv's, why can't we have tvs that have the same type of screen, albeit a lot more pixels?

[Assistant]
* Making a large television with the same pixel density would be extremely expensive. It wouldn't make economical sense to do so.

* There's not as much benefit to high pixel density displays for televisions because you're at a greater distance from the screen.

* It wouldn't make sense to have such a high resolution since there's little to no content for consumers above 1080p. We're just starting to have some 4K content available to the consumer market, so for now, there's no real reason to go above that.

* It's difficult to devices to drive super high resolution displays, due to the sheer amount of data required to do so. A lot of cable standards don't support anything above 1080p or 4K.


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

[User] ELI5: Why do people playing tennis wear all white?

[Assistant]
It's only in some venues that you have to wear all white.

Tennis is a classic gentlemen's sport, like golf or polo, so there are some venues that are steeped in tradition, with dress codes, etiquette codes, elaborate rituals, etc.

Other venues either aren't old enough to have been around when these traditions were still in common use, or modernized to try to attract business.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do lights "star" when you look at them?

Why do lights have the extra glowing effect when you see them at distances or at night, that look like a multi-point star?

[Assistant]
Because the human eye is far from perfect. The lenses in your eye have all sorts of defects, and that causes the flares and whatnot. If those lenses were perfect, then stars and distant lights would appear as plain tiny dots.

(I make optics for astronomy.)


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

[User] ELI5: Why does "populism" have a negative connotation within Democratic societies?

[Assistant]
Wiki has this definition:

>Populism is a doctrine that appeals to the interests and conceptions (such as hopes and fears) of the general population, especially when contrasting any new collective consciousness push against the prevailing status quo interests of any predominant political sector.

Basically it's demagogy. Pandering and appealing to emotional knee-jerk parts of people, and tending towards short-term satisfaction, as opposed to logical, rational, long-term and sustainable planning.


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

[User]
Why can't a country continously run on deficits in the balance of payment?

Please please help me out with this.This is one of my questions from an assessment and im having a hard time understanding why its possible in theory but not practically.

[Assistant]
It is possible in practice. Australia typically runs a current account deficit (although weve hit a surplus recently).

A CAD just means we imported more than we exported that year. It means we have a capital surplus, so we are funding those exports using foreign debt or equity. We need to repay that debt or equity at some point. Thats why it can be difficult in practice to run continuous CADs. But Australia can afford it because our economy grows faster than these debts.


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

[User] [Star Trek] If Starfleet ships carry complete cultural records of multiple species, just how much of their libraries are potentially porn?

[Assistant]
Likely, exceedingly little; Here's why:

First, even in the 21st century, pornographic media aren't generally considered *cultural* artifacts.

For a given piece of media to be considered a *cultural artifact*, there has to be a *culture* in the context of which the artifact creates meaning or significance -- some artifact(s) preceding must have influenced the style, construction, composition, and / or message of the artifact in question, and in turn, that artifact (and the expression it embodies) must have influenced other artifacts, in turn.

Even in the 20th and 21st century, very little pornographic media existed in the context of a wider *culture*. Even pornographic media that embodies instances that gain wider cultural recognition, such as "*Lemon Stealing*", don't significantly carry cultural weight -- they're simply "inside references", serving as in-group and out-group signifiers. There's no thematic or constructive impact from them.

There *are* significant amounts of "*erotica*" that constitute cultural significance, however. Those tend to be literary works, or adaptations of literary works. There's also cultural reference to how the phenomenon of porn (or access to erotica) shapes technology and society.

Plus, if we consider the existence of the Memory Alpha, Delta, and Gamma installations -- works that might not have *significant* cultural significance could be stored in those facilities, and referenced by retrieval.

There's also the theory that much of porn, like many other phenomena, is an emergent phenomenon of a capitalist society that compels certain classes of workers to perform without fully being able to meaningfully consent to the conditions of their work, and the demand for which is driven by dysfunctional social conditions. These conditions don't exist in the Federation.

So, the chances of any given Star Fleet *ship's* library being significantly occupied by *porn*?

^^^^^^^*small*


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

[User]
How has the flu been affected by the lack of people getting it?

I've heard about how only around 1k people got the flu in 2020, and I'm curious if this has had any effects on it as far as we know?

[Assistant]
Based on info from one of the flu centers we work with having fewer people getting the flu means there's less data to understand the prevalence per strain and where they're appearing (since there are different vaccine formulations for different parts of the US). It adversely impacts our ability to design a vaccine formulation that's as effective as it might otherwise be. On one hand there are "types" of the virus against which we vaccinate that are effective against multiple strains that are always present in the vaccine. On the other hand we cannot vaccinate against all strains because the components of the formulation become mutually exclusive (thus we have to blend based on what we predict to be the hot-strains for a given year).

In a sense, it's a modification on the saying "a shot in the dark." In this case the room's not pitch black, but it's definitely dimmer than it would otherwise be. Get your flu shot regardless! They have a cumulative effect.


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

[User]
[Assorted] What are the advantages of a saucer shaped spacecraft?

Especially the ones that taper to a sharp edge, don't have any visible means of external propulsion, and are coated in chrome.

[Assistant]
Saucer-type craft are ideal for atmospheric penetration and maneuvering, as it allows it to bear atmospheric friction on entry and then deal with aerodynamics in a variety of atmosphere types by flying sideways.

In a pinch they can even float on water, just in case the planet they land on is retarded and has like 2/3 water for its surface.


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

[User]
Can someone explain to me the business model behind beauty brands who only sell to professionals?

At one point Sally's Beauty Supply would only sell to licensed cosmetologists. Later they changed their business model and opened to the public. It seems like that has dramatically increased their sales. Still though you have suppliers like SalonCentric who will only sell to professionals.

The you have particular brands like Pulp Riot which only allow their products to be sold in professional only warehouses. They go so far as to included tracking measures to stop licensed buyers from reselling their products online.

I understand that exclusivity can increase price points, but that seems like it should be limited to very expensive, hard to manufacture goods. Pulp riot products range from $8-32. Wouldn't selling to everyone drastically increase overall profits of moderately prices goods? It not like hair dye is a very expensive or difficult product to manufacture. How do these companies financially justify limiting their circle of consumers so much? Is it a liability issue? Some of their products can harm people if misused? Couldn't insurance and strict warning labels offset the risk of lawsuits if that's the case?

I don't really care that they limit their sales, I'm just curious about the why! It doesn't seem like "exclusivity" for a $15 is good business. It seems like their company is only worth $11 million at this point. If it's a liability issue, why not mass market *consumer grade products* with their trademark?

[Assistant]
There are several products that, if used incorrectly, can cause chemical burns, baldness, etc.

  People are used to most beauty products being relatively benign; regardless of how long you leave them on or what you do with them. Consumer grade beauty products won't generally cause adverse effects outside of allergic reactions. Many of the products that require a license to purchase contain additional or higher concentrations of chemicals that make those products more dangerous if used incorrectly.

  For instance, professional chemical straighteners can cause severe hair loss if used on the wrong type of hair or if left on too long.

The restrictions are there for safety and liability reasons for the most part.

Source: Asked relatives who are hairdressers/nail salon owner, etc.


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

[User]
[ELI5] When and how does money taken by the police for evidence re-enter the economy?

Edit: To clarify, I'm talking about money that is taken because it was used in the selling of illegal goods. Not money taken because it may contain DNA.

[Assistant] For the most part, police departments get to keep money seized by forfeiture, which is why it's such a huge problem. The departments then spend it on whatever they need: weapons, parties, dogs, cars, personnel, etc.


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

[User] [Marvel] Doom will never admit that Richards is a better scientist. Would he admit that Dr. Strange is a better sorcerer?

[Assistant] Yes. He readily accepts that Dr. Strange is a better sorcerer than him. Doom and Strange dont hate each other as much as Doom and other heroes do. The best Doom/Strange story is Triumph and Torment which has Doom using his technology to come in second in a sorcery competition specifically so he could receive the second place prize - getting to request a favor from the Sorcerer Supreme. So he had Strange come with him to Hell to defeat Mephisto and save his mom. This was entirely based on Doom accepting that Strange is more powerful with sorcery than him.


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

[User]
CMV: It should be the standard in offices to allow for a 20 minute nap around noon

A 20 Minute nap, after a few days of getting into the habit of it, is found to be the perfect amount of time to get the most energizing light sleep without transitioning into heavy sleep, causing drowsiness upon wake. We all know that productivity, energy, and morale dwindle in the afternoon, which, sure, wouldn't happen if everyone got the full 8 Hours of sleep at night, but let's be honest, who does that?

There's really not much of a downside that I can see, because the increase in productivity more than makes up for the lost 20 minutes.

In fact, a 20 minute nap at noon actually decreases the amount of sleep needed at night to be healthy from 8 Hours to 6 Hours, giving more time at home as well.

[Assistant]
Where are these naps going to happen?

Is the office going to provide beds?

Whos going to make sure that people dont abuse this and start taking longer naps?

I could foresee this causing morale problems, as there are always going to be people who try to push the limits and abuse the privilege. Then, people who dont abuse the privilege will feel slighted.


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

[User] ELI5: why exactly arent plastic straws recyclable?

[Assistant]
Everything can be recycled.

The question is whether it can be done for less money and energy than creating something new from scratch.  If the recycling process requires you to burn a bunch of fossil fuels and manufacture a bunch of new equipment, it might actually create more pollution and waste than simply putting the item into a landfill.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are ligers typically much larger and heavier than both lions and tigers?

[Assistant]
Built into your genes is code to *stop* growing. That's important because, for example, just making your heart *bigger* does not make it *better* at pumping blood. It takes additional muscle and different structure to be efficient. So if you get too big, your heart can't keep up with the need to pump blood farther and farther away from your lungs, and it gives out.

As a result, humans with gigantism tend to die in their 30s and 40s to heart failure. Similarly, ligers tend to die young relative to their parent species due to heart failure.

Anyway, it just so happens that the gene to stop growing in lions is found in genes that come from the mother, while gene to stop growing in tigers comes from the father. (More accurately, they are *activated* based on the parent's sex.)

Ligers have lion fathers and tiger mothers. So they get neither of the species' genes to stop growing, so they don't stop growing. Tigons - hybrids with a tiger father and a lion mother - grow to be about as big as, well, lions and tigers. They don't get like, *extra* stopping genes, they just have two sets that turn on about when they're supposed to so they get as big as either of their parents should be.

Side note, the portmanteau word for a hybrid depends on which is the mother and which is the father. Fathers form the first part of the word, mothers the second. For example, a Zorse is a hybrid male zebra and female horse; a hebra is a hybrid male horse and female zebra.


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

[User]
ELI5: how does taking a photo of an old painting damage it?

Often in museums / galleries there are signs to not take photos of paintings or sculptures etc because it will cause damage. Why?

[Assistant] The camera isnt the problem its the flash. Flash photography emits a huge burst of light which is a particle. Over time, light can change the way pigment in paints look, this is why museums use low UV offset lighting.


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

[User]
ELI5: In old movies/photos people with their legs in a cast have their broken legs hanging high in the air comically. Why?

In old childrens books and movies I see injured people with their casts tied to a giant structure such that their leg is practically straight up. What is going on here? Is it still done now commonly?

[Assistant] On Femur breaks, the thigh muscles are so strong that they have to pull on the leg and stretch it back out, to line the bones back up. That is called traction. However on Tibia and or Fibula breaks the swelling against the cast causes a lot of pain. Elevating the leg reduces the swelling reducing the pain and prevents the cast from cutting off the circulation because of swelling.


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

[User]
[Worm/Deadpool] What powers would Movie Deadpool get in the Wormverse

In the Wormverse, the type of stress that people with shards endure that cause their trigger events determine their classification of power (e.g. Taylor became a Master because of how alone she was, Glory Girl became a Shaker and a Mover because she got fouled in Basketball).

Based on how Deadpool's mutant genes triggered in the movie (suffocating him to the verge of passing out, giving him a breath, repeat), what type of powers in the Wormverse would he have developed based on that type of stress?

[Assistant] It depends on his mindset. For example, if his last thought before triggering was something in the lines of "I need to come up with a way out" that could mean either Tinker or Thinker. If the stress caused involuntary muscle spasms and he started tearing his own muscles to shreds in an attempt to free himself, a Brute power similar to his actual powerset is likely. Maybe, if he was in an angrier "I am going to shove that dickweed's head up his ass and use his spine as a jump rope" mindset, he could get rage based Brute/Striker powers. A way to break out? Breaker, Changer, Shaker, Blaster: make things go boom. He could even get Mover powers like teleportation or intangibility to get out. His last thought could be fear of being brainwashed, or fear of never seeing his wife, which could lead to Master/Stranger powers in order to keep him from being controlled.


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

[User]
ELI5: (Michelin Stars) Why do we care what a tire company thinks about restaurants?

Unknowingly went to a Michelin starred restaurant, waiter mentioned they were Michelin-starred, thought their restaurant doubled as a Les Schwabb or something.

[Assistant]
In the early days of motoring, the Michelin company put together a travel guide which rated hotels and restaurants.  The idea was to encourage people to drive to distant cities.

Over the years, the travel guide grew more & more respected.  At some point, it lost its connection to the tire business & became a stand-alone guide to the world's finest restaurants.

It's sort of like how the Guinness Book of World Records doesn't really have anything to do with beer anymore.


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

[User] [Hunger Games] What was life like before the revolution and districts?

[Assistant]
It helps to consider that Panem is, effectively, a future version of your current world, specifically an area in North America near the Rocky Mountains, which gives context as to the history of the world before Panem's founding.

While the administration under President Snow purposefully obscured many details about Panem's history, we know for a fact that at some point in the past sea levels began to rise rapidly, forcing the population of North America to condense into a relatively small area, starved for the same resources and quality of life citizens had previously enjoyed.

Even before the first rebellion (not a successful revolution, mind you), the Panem government organized most of its surrounding territory into districts to focus production for the nation's benefit. Ever since its founding, the Capitol was not keen on distributing resources, and as a result Panem's early history was just as miserable and oppressive as its recent history.


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

[User] How do astronomers determine the distance and size of a star or exoplanet?

[Assistant]
There are many ways to measure the distance to an object in space. For the closest stars you can use something called parallax.
If you put your arm out in front of you and hold one finger up and look at it with one eye and then the other it will look like the finger is at different places! Now try moving the finger to different distances from your eyes and the "jump" in distance will be larger the closer the finger is to your eyes.
This is because our eyes are separated by a small distance and if we know this seperation and the apparent difference in distance of the finger when looking with the different eyes we can work out the distance between the eyes and the finger.
Now if you look at a star and blink your eyes like this you won't see any difference.. But if you look at a star today and then wait half a year the Earth has moved to the other side of the Sun and this effect will be measurable! And since we know the distance to the Sun we can work out the distance to the star we are observing.

Now if the object we are observing is to far away for this effect to be noticable we must use a different technique, and there's quite a few! The most common techniques include so called standard candles and red shift. A standard candle is something that always shines at the same intensity, that gives of the same amount of light no matter what. The most famous example of a standard candle are a special type of supernovae (SNe), namely type Ia SNe.
These SNe occur when a white dwarf leeches material from a companion star. When the white dwarf has leeched enough material to reach a certain threshold, known as the Chandrasekhar limit, the white dwarf will explode and this explosion is very well understood and we know how much light it give out as they all occur under the same circumstances. By measuring the intensity of these SNe we can figure out the distance to the SNe since light intensity decreases with distance.
Another standard candle are Cepheid variable stars. These stars vary in intensity and the period of their variation is tightly associated with its luminosity and be looking at how much of the light reaches us we can calculate the distance.
As for red shift, that is for the very large scales! As an object moves through space the light it sends out gets shifted, just like a sound wave does which you can hear as an ambulance drives past you. As it approaches you hear a higher pitch and after it has passed you hear a lower pitch. The same thing happens with light waves. Because of the expansion of the Universe this means that objects separated by some distance will also be moving apart at a speed correlated to the distance, so by looking at how much the light has shifted we can see how fast the objects are moving compared to each other and at large scales this movement will be dominated by the expansion. (The light also gets stretched further from the expansion in another way but that's not necessary to think about here.)


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

[User] If I put a flashlight in space, would it propel itself forward by "shooting out" light?

[Assistant]
Yes, very slowly.

Light has momentum, even though it is massless, so if you shoot a beam of light in one direction, conservation of momentum will push you in the opposite direction.

A reasonably powerful LED flashlight will use about 1-3 Watt, lets say 3 W. The efficiency of a LED is somewhere between 25% and 40%, so for sake of ease of computation lets make that 33% and we get a net amount of light output of 1 W.

The ratio between the momentum and energy of light is 299,792,458 (Which is also the speed of light). So in 1 second, the flashlight produces 1 J worth of light, which is equal to 0.33 * 10^-8 kg m/s. If the flashlight is not too heavy, say 100 gram or 0.1 kg, that means that 1 second of light would propel the flashlight to a velocity of 10^-7 m/s. This assumes that all light is directed in straight line. The more cone-shaped the bundle of light is, the lower the momentum transfer is.

Leaving the light on for one day would propel the flashlight to about 0.009 m/s or almost 1 cm per second. Unfortunately, operating a 3 W LED for a day uses about 260 kJ of energy. Regular AA batteries have somewhere around 10 kJ of energy (depending on the type). And at a weight of 20-30 grams per battery, you can't carry put more than 2-3 in the device without violating our original assumption of a 100 gram device.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do we really know there is no two identical snowflakes?

I dont really know what -illion word to use for how many snowflakes have fallen, but how do we know that out of all of them, no two are alike?

(Sorry if flair is incorrect)

[Assistant] The idea that no two snowflakes are never alike is more about explaining a concept and not really about knowing that there have never been two identical snowflakes. It is about representing the amount of variation possible in a thing - really the more complex something becomes the less likely there is for something to be identical to it. Like every molecule of water is identical but there are so many molecules of water in a snowflake that the chance of another snowflake having the same number and placement of water molecules in it is so unlikely that it doesn't exist.


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

[User] Eli5: why do chilli plants turn red to attract animals to disperse seeds but also produce the spicy chemical to put them off?

[Assistant]
Birds cannot taste spicy flavors, so they can eat hot peppers with no impact.  Mammals and many other critters, on the other hand, dont like the spice and will avoid them.  This helps to disperse the seeds further since birds travel further.

This is also why adding spice to your bird feeder can help keep squirrels away!


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

[User]
How can chip manufacturers like Intel, AMD, and Apple keep giving huge improvements on performance every few months by changing the architecture?

I recently saw the comparison chart for the new M1X chips which give 50% improvement over the previous generation. I'm wondering if the semiconductor size remains the same and the die size is the same as well, then how can they manage to just keep changing the architecture every so often. If the architecture change takes so little time, then why don't all companies have the same performance? Is it just the chip architecture they change or is it something else as well?

[Assistant]
There's a lot that goes into a new architecture (or micro-architecture as we usually call it).
You can also play a lot of games with "50% improvement" (for example, is that power/performance?)
Part of it is smaller transistors. It can come from a bigger die size (although that is more expensive).
Other than that, you can increase the size of structures on the chip (buffers and schedulers - as well as memory blocks). You can also change the algorithms you are using, to be smarter about processing instructions or prefetching data.


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

[User]
ELI5: Before aviation, how was it possible to make such detailed maps of the world?

Before we could see the world from above, how were worldmaps, like those used by the East India Company and the Dutch VOC made? How did they know the shape of the continents?

[Assistant] The maps weren't all that accurate, but they were made by using a ship to follow coastlines, plotting the direction and length of time taken to reach a certain point, all while staying the same distance from the shore. This allowed for maps that, while lacking in detail, showed enough of the area to be useful for navigation.


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

[User]
[Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory] Did the programmer successfully create artificial intelligence? If so, why is it overlooked?

In the film while the world is searching for Wonka's last golden ticket, there's a scene where a programmer attempts to use his computer to locate said ticket. In his demonstration to a group of investors he has the following exchange with his computer:

> Computer Operator : Gentlemen, I know how anxious you've all been during these last few days. But now I think I can safely say that your time and money have been well-spent. We're about to witness the greatest miracle of the machine age. Based on the revolutionary Computonian Law of Probability, this machine will tell us the precise location of the 3 remaining golden tickets.
>
> [he pushes buttons on the machine; the machine prints out a response]
>
> Computer Operator : It says: "I won't tell. That would be cheating."
>
> [he pushes the buttons on the machine again]
>
> Computer Operator : I am now telling the computer that if it will tell me the correct answer, I will gladly share with it the grand prize.
>
> [the machine prints out another response]
>
> Computer Operator : He says: "What would a computer do with a lifetime supply of chocolate?"
>
> [he sighs, then pushes the buttons once again]
>
> Computer Operator : I am now telling the computer exactly what he can do with the lifetime supply of chocolate.

While his attempt to locate the ticket is unsuccessful, he does successfully engage in a conversation with his computer. Furthermore, the computer seems to be aware of Wonka's contest and its responsibility to not get involved.

The creation of AI is far more valuable than a tour of a chocolate factory and arguably more impressive than any of Wonka's inventions. So my question is, why is this overlooked by the programmer and the investors?

[Assistant]
Because the computer is uncooperative, and investors aren't the sort to gamble on it maybe *becoming* cooperative.

The inventor was probably mad for a while after being humiliated in front of said investors, and said some things he regrets to the computer, but once they both get over that it's possible they *would* forge a new path together.

However,

> and arguably more impressive than any of Wonka's inventions

I *would* like to argue this. Wonka did literally impossible things. He was capable of manipulating the mass of an object, and created infinite energy (in gobstopper form). Those are fundamentally more impressive than the ability to think, which many people possess, and some even employ.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do different languages each have their own version of the same names?

Why is Joseph not Joseph everywhere? When did he become Giuseppe? Who decided that Guillaume should be William? When hearing a new name, why does a culture make its own version of it instead of letting every name stay at its root?

[Assistant]
Names begin as a single name in a parent language like Latin and will be spread throughout the geographical area where that language is spoken (in the case of Latin, most of Western Europe.) However, languages change gradually over time, with speakers slowly but surely changing the pronunciation rules of individual letters/sounds. The interesting thing about those changes is that they tend to occur consistently across the entire language, instead of in small pockets. The names end up being pronounced differently because the descendent languages have changed how they pronounce the original sounds of the name. Often spelling used to change to match pronunciation, which introduces another way for names to drift.

As far as names adopted from other languages: remember that languages do not share the same sounds as each other. Many languages employ sounds that speakers of other languages simply cannot say correctly. Thus, many names couldnt be adopted directly even if the adoptive speakers wanted to do so.

As to the idea of why dont they keep it the same?  thats treating a language like its a conscious entity. Its not: a language is simply the sum total of everyone who speaks it. If everyone hears a certain pronunciation, they will follow suit. There is no overarching control over how the language changes.


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

[User] ELI5 What exactly does the British monarch do?

[Assistant]
She reigns over us. We love it.

Seriously though, they're useful for legal matters - rather than having a relatively inflexible constitution, in theory our laws come from God, to the Queen and are more malleable as the Queen puts a lot of trust in her judges and Law Lords.

She gives "Royal Assent"* - a kind of seal of approval to any laws made by our leaders in Parliament or the House of Lords.

Additionally, the Royal family are handy for tourism and international politics. They can often be useful diplomats or representatives. They have a lot of training in this field.

Our military is loyal to the Crown, and not any individual political party.

Our government is chosen by the monarch after an election. She will (only) choose what the people have voted for, but the government rules by her consent.*

Some people think they cost us a lot of money, but some people say they are wrong, in that the Royal Family are able to either support themselves, or that they cost each tax-payer a maximum of 6 pence per year.

Britain has a long heritage based around our Royal Families & almost all of our military or government is based around the Crown.

It would probably cost us a great deal to re-order our society away from that, we wouldn't benefit a huge amount from doing it, and we would lose something that we feel makes us special in some ways.

Otherwise we'd decapitate the lot of 'em.

*but not really, because it's all made up.


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

[User]
What happens in the brain when a deaf (from birth) person reads?

I was thinking about how when I read silently to myself, I "hear" the words I'm reading in my head. When I read the word "window" I "hear" it, know what it is, and continue on. I don't "see" in my mind's eye a picture of a window unless I need to (e.g. to solve a puzzle I might picture various kinds of windows).

Then I wondered, for someone who has never heard the the pronunciation of the word or know what it sounds like, what happens when they read the word "window"? Do they picture it in their mind's eye or does something else entirely different take place?

[Assistant]
I'd like to add a follow up question.

I recall hearing that deaf schizophrenics experience sign hallucinations rather than voices in their heads. Would this be in the same relative area as to what would be happening here with deaf people reading?


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

[User]
[The Truman Show] What are the legal ramifications of corporations being allowed to adopt, raise, and keep people in simulated environments?

In order for the Truman Show to exist, laws had to be enacted that would allow private organizations to adopt and keep people. While we know one corporation used these laws to adopt Truman and air his life, what could other corporations do with these laws?

[Assistant] Technically speaking, since the Citizens United decision, corporations are classified as having the same legal rights as a person. Its a distorted interpretation of the fourteenth amendment upheld by the Supreme Court. So, legally speaking, a corporation could, in theory, adopt a baby and raise them how they see fit, as long as it didnt break any child endangerment laws and cared for them properly, sent them to school, even if it was all simulated for an audience, like the Truman Show. This is part of what makes that movie a terrifying dystopian film, even if its portrayed as a comedy.


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

[User] [Halo] When was modern humanity's first encounter with Forerunner technology?

[Assistant]
Onyx was discovered in 2491, and considering that the Assembly tried to dissuade any colonization efforts due to the presence of forerunner ruins (which would prove to humanity that extra-terrestrials existed) it seems reasonable to assume that this was the first time such ruins were discovered.

However, considering that artifacts have been found on Reach and even Earth, its possible that ONI had made such a discovery long before then and kept it well-hidden.


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

[User]
[MCU] What kind of powers would people get if they were influenced by one of the other 4 infinity stones?

So in the MCU we know that captain marvel got her powers through the tesseract/space stone while Wanda and quicksilver got theirs through the mind stone but we still have 4 other infinity stones what would happen if someone got powers from them in a similar way?

This is more something just for a fun discussion and theorizing rather than something with a legit answer Idk if that's allowed so I'm sorry if I posted this in the wrong subreddit.

[Assistant]
The powers granted dont really relate to the stones. Captain Marvel has energy absorption, energy projection, flight, and enhanced physicals. Nothing really related to space or teleporting.

Quicksilver got super speed, nothing related to mind control.

Scarlet Witch was born with her powers and the Mind Stone amped her up.

So all that said, its impossible to predict what powers others could get from the Infinity Stones since they dont give powers related to their domains?


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

[User]
[Warehouse 13][SCP] Is Warehouse 13 a part of the SCP system, considering its dedication to storage of dangerous artifacts?

Is Warehouse 13 an often ignored or antiquated facility that is part of the Foundation? They both seem to share the goal of keeping dangerous artifacts from being misused or harming the general public while also keeping it as secret as possible.

[Assistant]
[](/twisquint) ACCESS RESTRICTED TO FOUNDATION PERSONNEL

ENTER PASSWORD

**********

ACCESS GRANTED

**Item #:** SCP-3113

**Object Class:** Euclid

**Special Containment Procedures:** SCP-3113 has been permitted to function autonomously without overt interference from Foundation personnel. Anomalous items retrieved by SCP-3113 are permitted to remain at Site-3113 unless designated a Keter or greater threat.

At all times a designated Foundation operative is to remain undercover within the higher organizational structure of SCP-3113 to monitor the progress and operations of the same. Anomalous items designated of interest to the Foundation are to be discreetly acquired.

**Description:** SCP-3113 is an organization similar in purpose to the Foundation itself, far older but less efficient at containing anomalous items. Founded in  B. C., it has succeeded in acquiring and containing over  anomalous items. Most items would be classified as "Safe" under Foundation protocol.

SCP-3113 was originally classified as a Group of Interest. Incident File 9943, "Horus," triggered a reclassification of the facility and its operatives as an active SCP. While attempts were originally made to thwart the entity's acquisition of anomalous artifacts, the usefulness of Site-3113 as a maintenance-free storage facility for low-threat SCPs has persuaded 05 personnel to allow the entity to function semi-autonomously with Foundation supervision.

**Addendum 1:** *"Unofficially: SCP-3113 serves a dual purpose of creating one more layer in the masquerade that hides the Foundation. Clever individuals from various governmental departments have a tendency to stumble across something paranormal, and their search for clues leads them not to the Foundation, but straight to the far-less secure SCP-3113. Fortunately, nothing they store in that warehouse is actually dangerous. By our standards, at least." -Dr. Bold*

**Addendum 2:** *"Operatives employed by SCP-3113 may be considered for Foundation contact and employ--if they ever show actual competence. Licking SCPs won't get you very far here." - Dr. Bold*


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

[User]
ELI5: Why is cricket not big in Canada?

Most of the former colonies of the British empire now play cricket, (e.g. the West Indies, India, Australia), but why has cricket not taken off in Canada?

[Assistant]
The reason cricket is not as popular is mainly due to the weather. All the countries you listed have much better weather than Canada. Trying to play any non-winter / outdoor sport will be very difficult. Hence why hockey is so popular.

Also Canada has some french background as well. AKA Quebec.

Another possible reason may be that the people promoting cricket simply didn't make it popular in canada / North America. It may have been a geographic limitation. Exporters of the sport ended up in Asia.

Or perhaps it's just a timing thing. Perhaps there was a window of opportunity to establish cricket as a canadian tradition but for whatever reason, hockey ended up taking that spot.

Another question would probably be, how do some sports become dominate / the most popular, within different countries.


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

[User] [General Superheroes] Would revealing your secret identity to you Primary Care Physician be covered by doctor/patient confidentiality?

[Assistant]
If youre a hero, yes. If youre a murderous anti-hero like the punisher, no since theyd have to report you for murder.

But if Peter Parker told his doctor that he put on a mask and non-lethally stopped evil villains, they would not be allowed to report that.


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

[User]
[Lord of the Rings] Why didn't the Gondorians build any cities on Pelennor Fields?

It seems a little strange that the Gondorians would go through all the effort to build Minas Tirith into a mountain, but leave vast tracts of land with no settlements or agriculture. Sure, they have Osgiliath on the river, but there's still lots of land where there's nothing built.

There is the issue of defense, but by the time the events of LotR happen, it had been 3,000 years since Sauron was first defeated. Surely they would have cared less and at least have some settlements out there, right?

[4th wall] Or is this explained in the books and Peter Jackson was just lazy with that detail?

[Assistant]
The Pellenor Fields isn't all that huge - maybe a 10 or 15 mile radius outside the city walls. It contained no towns or cities - which isn't surprising, since the chief city of Gondor was *right there* - but it was filled with farms and homesteads, though these were evacuated in anticipation of the siege of the city.

The Pellenor was fortified, with an encircling wall known at the Rammas Echor. In the early stages of the Battle of Pelennor Fields, Lord Denethor had his forces mount a defense of the Rammas, but he knew from the beginning that defending it was unfeasible.


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

[User]
Slow moving asteroids?

When we see or hear about asteroids they are always racing through space at crazy speeds. Is it possible that we would someday encounter a slow moving asteroid, that simply landed on earth quietly?

[Assistant]
Suppose that there is some asteroid that's more or less still in relation to Earth. Then it's set on a collision course with Earth, but at a very slow speed, again in relation to Earth. This is more or less the same as dropping a big rock to Earth from a great height. Even though the rock initially is still, it'll gather a lot of speed falling down. How much speed exactly it gathers is the escape velocity from the surface of Earth, or about 11 km/s. So that's the minimum speed anything will hit Earth.

Why escape velocity then? Well, escape velocity is the speed you need to shoot something away from Earth so that it'll get far away. If you do it at exactly the escape velocity, then the speed of the object will approach zero far away from Earth. But this also works symmetrically in the other direction. If it starts far away at zero velocity, then it'll hit Earth at escape velocity. And far away here doesn't actually mean very far away. Even dropping something from the orbital distance of the Moon will cause it to hit Earth at 99% of the escape velocity.


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

[User]
Would electrically or magnetically propelled projectiles cause recoil?

I'm writing a science fiction story, so I'm looking for some accuracy on this point.

So, rail guns and similar weapons use alternate means to propel their projectiles, such as magnetism.  So without using combustion, would there be no recoil exhibited on the gun or is recoil caused by more than just the gunpowder's combustion?

[Assistant]
There would still be a recoil.  The projectile is being accelerated by some means, being is compressed gas from gun powder, electric charge separation, or anti-aligned magnetic moments.  Regardless of the method of propulsion, Newton's laws still hold.

For a magnetic rail gun, the force that the rail gun applies on the projectile is equal in magnitude to the force the projectile pushes back against the rail gun.  So the gun will experience some movement when fired.  However, if the projectile is being accelerated by a magnetic pulse that travels down the length of the barrel, the force can be much smaller since it is being applied over a larger distance compared to the explosion of gun powder.

This could be designed to be a much more smooth action than a powder weapon (a long slope of force instead of a spike).  In other words, for the purpose of your fiction story, there is still recoil, but it can be greatly diminished compared to a powder weapon.


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

[User]
CMV: People that bomb abortion clinics are more ideologically consistent than their peaceful pro-life counterparts

Pro life people believe that abortion is bad because you are ending a human life without it's consent.
Most people would agree that it is okay to use violent force to save innocent lives.

Let me pose a thought experiment.

1. You see a man beating up a kid, to the point you're worried for the kid's life. You're too far to physically intervene, but you have a gun. There is nobody else around. Is it morally okay to use the gun to safe the kid's life?
2. You see an abortionist walking down an alleyway. You **know** that he's about to perform 10 abortions the next day - as a pro-lifer that's 10 innocent lives that he's going to take. Is it morally okay to do some property damage (bomb his clinic when nobody's around) to save them?

1.2 million abortions are performed per year in the US. From a pro-life stance, that's 1.2 million innocent lives being arbitrarily ended without their consent, just because they weren't born yet. Pro-lifers view being un-born as an irrelevant factor in your right to end it.

Let's say the US people democratically elected politicians who decide that it's okay to murder 1.2 million minorities every year. Ethnicity should be an irrelevant factor in your right to end another's life, the same way being un-born is, from a pro-life point of view. Would it be morally unjust to use **violent force** to end that practice?

If the US was committing genocide against  a subset of its citizens, it would be absurd to say its immoral to use violent force to stop the genocide. If there was an ongoing genocide, would it be moral to sit aside and wait for the next election?

I don't see how pro-lifers can believe:

1. Abortion is murder (and that 1.2 million persons are being murdered each year)
2. Anti-abortion violence is immoral (they distance themselves as much as they can as possible)
3. It is moral to use violent force to stop genocide (and rebel violently against a government that's aiding a genocide)

[Assistant] There's practical aspects to this yiu are missing. For one, a bombed abortion clinic is unlikely to stop abortions; the pregnant women will likely go elsewhere. For another, the building could be used for more than just abortions, so that's ancillary damage. For another, bombing could catch some innocent people. And on a larger scale, if the goal is to make abortions illegal then becoming a domestic terrorist does not help (its essentially trading short term benefits at the cost of long term ones).


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

[User]
[X-Men] Where does the money to run/pay for Xavier's school/mansion come from?

Is it profits from business? Investments? Tuition/rent? Family money? Does he hire out X-Men/Women as mercenaries or bodyguards?

[Assistant] His family was old money wealthy for generations, and on top of that a lot of the school's equipment was either acquired from his time in space among the Shi'ar, or produced directly by mutants who joined later, like Forge. And of course, he's not the only wealthy mutant or benefactor contributing to the school, Warren Worthington (Angel) also contributes money to the school for instance.


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

[User]
ELI5: are massages really good for you? Why or why not?

Like the title says.

[Assistant]
Blood flow is key to the health of any cell.  When a muscle along with the surrounding tissue is lubricated and loose, the fibers are primed for flexibility and strength training.  When a joint is relieved of muscle tension it can stay properly aligned.  These are the main physical benefits of massage therapy.

If someone has an injury or disease that increases blood clots, a systemic swelling condition like rheumatoid arthritis, or arterial plaque build-up; the extra blood flow does much more harm than good so massage should be avoided in situations like those.


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

[User]
[DC Universe] Has there ever been a kryptonian lantern?

Has a kryptonian ever been given a ring, like Green Lantern? Wouldn't they be way more powerful than every other lantern?

[Assistant] Not that we've seen (other than the couple of times that Supes has gotten a ring) but there's a Daxamite Green Lantern that became Ion, and is one of the most powerful heroes in the DC universe. The only biological difference between Kryptonians and Daxamites are that Daxamites are deathly allergic to lead instead of Kryptonite.


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

[User]
[Matrix] If The Keymaker is essential to getting Neo to The Architect, why are the Agents trying to apprehend him?

To the point that, when confronted with Neo, Morpheus, Trinity, two previous-version Agents, and The Keymaker.... he's their primary target.

[Assistant]
The Agents are part of the program. They defend the Matrix. The Keymaker allows access to *all* it's backdoors.

Judging by their behaviour, they are unaware of the One's importance in the continued function of the Matrix. They are just trying to defend it, as they are programmed to do.


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

[User]
How do chemists figure out the stoichiometry/outcome of complicated reactions before doing them?

I can see how they do it with more basic reactions like double replacement, synthesis, etc., but Im curious how people can predict specific chemical reactions.

[Assistant] Can you give an example of something that's not a "more basic reaction"? The explanation differs wildly depending on what you mean when you say "complicated reactions." For example, do you mean it involves a large organic molecule? Do you mean it has a lot of reactants and products? Do you mean it has a bunch of side products? Do you mean the reaction has multiple steps? Or something else?


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

[User]
ELI5: What is a RSS feed and what's the best way to use them?

I know it's some kind of automatic update when blogs + sites release new content, but I don't really know how that all comes together for the user.  Is it worth using them instead of checking several websites daily?

[Assistant]
Imagine that you had a friend who loved to tell you stories and you loved listening to because of the way they tell them, but they only tell you stories when you're both in the same place, and if you miss the story, you have to go find them again and get them to repeat it.

So you set up a mutual deal with your friend's sibling, to record the story in writing and put it into a folder for your later viewing. After a while, you go to the sibling and they pull out the folder of stories that your friend has told and let's you read them, taking out your favorites to save for later.

If you have multiple friends who tell stories you can do the same thing with them. Then instead of asking your friends to tell each story individually, you can go to your story-keeper.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why do we feel so shaky and tired after throwing up?

Last week I threw up in my sink from a hangover.

[Assistant] Dehydration, and its mildly traumatic for your body to vomit as its not the natural order of things, food and drink should go down, *not* come up - it can take a few minutes to a few hours to recover from this.


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

[User]
[MCU] Are the Sokovia accords even relevant after Endgame?

All that control from the UN did nothing to stop purple space Hitler to ruin earth for 5 years.

After 2023, does it even exist?

[Assistant] They didn't even seem to exist prior to the Time Heist.  Nat was keeping an eye on Avengers operations from their headquarters with no obvious government or military supervision.  I'd guess that with the worldwide devastation over the last few years, the government had bigger bureaucratic nightmares to focus on instead of trying to slap down any of the fugitive superheroes.


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

[User] ELI5 In math, what is a tensor? How is it related to tensorflow from machine learning?

[Assistant]
A single number is called a scalar.

A set of numbers that belong together is a vector. You arrange them as a 1-Dimensional list.

If you add a second dimension by grouping multiple vectors you get a matrix wich for example allows mapping vectors to vectors.

A tensor is has 3 or more dimensions, so it's basically a generalized matrix. They are usefull in a bunch of calculations for 3D effects like tensions (hence the name). It allows you to have a single mathematical construct to represent forces that can be direct, shearing or twisting.

Tensorflow is a platform that uses tensor arithmethics to make all the calculations you need to train your AI more easy to represent.

In informatics terms: a Tensor is multidimensional array basically.


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

[User] [MIB] The existence of the Intergalactic Alien community is kept secret to regular humans. Is there any attempt to slowly ease humanity to a point where theyd be able to drop the secrecy it will the secret be kept indefinitely?

[Assistant]
No.

Existence of alien lifeforms and the fact that there are some who live on Earth is not really *the* secret, it's a Pandora's Box.

How would you try to explain to human beings that there is a huge possibility that at any given moment, Earth could be obliterated without any trace, instantaneously? Mass chaos would erupt.

MiB serves to do a thankless job of protecting Earth 24/7 from extraterrestrial life-forces and as an unofficial representative of Earth. If no civilian knew that an artificial solar flare, or a black hole, or death rays or anything could erase Earth, or maybe everyone could be assimilated, then everyrhing is just fine.

I wouldn't be surprised that MiB has its own Prime Directive that will be imposed upon ourselves until we achieve massive, commercial space travel, and when we are advanced enough to establish contact, MiB will step in, clue everyone in, and then peacefully dissolve.


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

[User]
CMV: The revival of gladiatorial combat involving voluntary participants would be totally lit, and could potentially be a net benefit to society.

Admittedly the movie Death Race is a partial inspiration for this CMV. However, what Im proposing is no a race, but legit fights to the death in a Colosseum type setting. Further, combatants wouldnt necessarily be limited to prison inmates but could also consist of anyone who willingly volunteers.

Contestants would be organized in tournament brackets, with the end result of these gladiatorial games being a lone champion. He or she would be awarded a massive monetary prize and/or a pardon for their crimes. In the event of a violent criminal being the victor, he or she would be under 24/7 surveillance for the rest of their days.

This could be beneficial by potentially reducing prison populations, and the inmates on death row or those serving life sentences might be especially inclined to participate.

If theres enough demand for the bloodsport internationally, then this could also be great for the economy.

Anyone who thinks that the resurrection of gladiatorial combat would be barbaric is entirely free to avoid watching the events.

We could also add additional stipulations to further mitigate negative externalities, such as potentially prohibiting parents or legal guardians from participating. Another could be requiring married people to have been granted the consent of their spouse.

Again, anyone who is opposed to the idea would neither be required to watch nor participate. So, if its all voluntary, well regulated, and there is sufficient demand, why not?

[Assistant]
>He or she would be awarded a massive monetary prize and/or a pardon for their crimes. In the event of a violent criminal being the victor, he or she would be under 24/7 surveillance for the rest of their days.

Hey, let's not? The prison system is already fucked as it is, there's no need to literally reward the most violent criminals in it. That goes entirely against the fucking point of rehabilitation.

>Anyone who thinks that the resurrection of gladiatorial combat would be barbaric is entirely free to avoid watching the events.

Is this a publicly-funded event? Because then everyone who participates in that society, for example by paying taxes, is complicit in the killing exactly as much as they are with death penalty inmates. If it is privately founded, you're effectively giving a private enterprise the ability to decide who lives and dies, which is also kind of a big no-no in modern society.


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

[User] Eli5:Why can't my ring finger go up all the way whenever my pinky is down?

[Assistant] Your fingers are controlled by tendons in your arms. The ring and pinky fingers are controlled by the same tendon. If you're using it to apply pressure with the pinky, you can't do the opposite with the other finger.


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

[User]
Who is the most influential living person in your field of choice?

obviously this is a hard question to answer as I'm sure there are numerous amounts of influential people in your field

but if you had to pinpoint too one person within your field as having the greatest influence who would it be?

[Assistant]
Easy pick: David Baltimore. For multiple fields! Simplifying the credit here, but...

...he discovered reverse-transcriptase, basically revealing the class of "retroviruses" and overturning a lot of dogma. This was **huge** and a lot of younger scientists today don't understand how big of a deal it was.
...really contributed to understanding the roles of viruses and cancer, and helped kick off massive cancer research funding (and earned the Nobel Prize at age 37)
...he essentially started the Whitehead Institute (and obviously held important positions at MIT, Rockefeller, and Caltech too)
...he helped organize the infamous Asilomar Conference about recombinant DNA back in the '70s.
...he discovered the NF-kB transcription factor, which led to a massive explosion of research on signaling
...his lab discovered recombination-activiting genes 1 and 2, which are super important in immunology. His students actually did a ton of other ground breaking research in related fields too
...has absolutely influenced public policy on science, and still runs a big, active lab while still being involved in public policy (ie, the CRISPR summit in Washington DC late last year).

I think you'd be hard-pressed to find someone who wouldn't consider him among the most influential living biomedical scientists.


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

[User]
[Samurai Jack] Why the heck are there so many sapient non human beings in the future and where do they come from?!?

Did Genndy pull a DBZ and basically genre mash with all these creatures? Like the sea people from season 1 or the antenna talking aliens? Or did he just add them as eye candy?

Asking cuz it's very unusual for serious cyberpunk series to incorporate non human peoples.

[Assistant] Aku unleashed chaos on the land.  Think Warhammer Fantasy or 40k.  That plus aliens plus who knows how much evolution + magic + super tech of all sorts; the interventions of multiple gods that were active at various times on earth... honestly its more surprising that there are any humans left that are recognizable as such.


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

[User]
(Star Trek) Klingon Ethics/Culture Question

As a recent student of Klingon behavior during I have noted several instances of a strong "warrior ethic" such as refusing to use a child as a hostage, and considering assassination by poisoning to be a coward's action.  However, during the same... political incident the poisoning occurred, a suicide bombing was hailed as an acceptable death for a warrior.

I understand that a suicide is an honorable way out for a injured/sick/dishonored warrior, but how can the suicide bombing of a political target considered honorable?

[Assistant] The definition of a coward is "A person who lacks the courage to do or endure dangerous or unpleasant things." As you noted, "assassination by poisoning [is] a coward's action" because it requires neither braving danger nor facing unpleasantness. Suicide bombing, on the other hand, is both (clearly) dangerous and (presumably) unpleasant.


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

[User] [DC] How does the rest of the Justice League feel about Captain Marvel being a little kid?

[Assistant]
Varies. Some people aren't even aware of it.

Generally speaking though, they're more upset about it if he keeps it a secret and then they find out accidentally cause they might see it as a significant detail to hide, that goes beyond the usual secret-identity stuff.

But given time they usually get over it since his track record as Cap. Marvel is usually pretty impeccable and end up treating him as something between a peer and one of the kid-sidekicks. They know he can stand with them in a fight, but won't ask him to do anything which they wouldn't feel comfortable asking a Teen Titan or Bat/Super-kid to do either.


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

[User] ELI5: How come Apple and Samsung, AMD and Intel, Sony and Microsoft, TV manufacturers, etc, are reaching the same technology breakthroughs at roughly the same time?

[Assistant]
All have huge R&D budgets

All use the same market research to plan their next R&D.

R&D is rarely faster if you just pump more money into it.

All have similarly (but subtantially) skilled engineers.

So, all are basically doing the same research, with the same market data, with equally smart people, with the same top-of-the-line equipment.

So all get to the breakthrough at roughly the same time.


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

[User]
[The Truman Show] What would be the logistical process of building the giant domed town? From concept to completion.

Also, how much might it cost? What might it take to obtain the necessary construction permits? Etc.

[Assistant] The hard part would be getting Truman away from the sky for a while as the last of the dome was going up.  It's an island town, so there's not a lot of options for putting him underground.  Maybe they could pretend he needed eye surgery or something?


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

[User] [Supernatural]What were God and the Angels doing during the reign of the Pagan Gods?

[Assistant]
You assume that the two situations are mutually exclusive. Monotheism, in various guises, has existed, conflicted and coexisted with so called 'pagans' for more than 4000 years, and both sides have influenced each other.

There is also nothing realy to indicate that either God, nor the Hosts of Heaven have fostered any particular faith, while the pagan gods have actively encouraged their cults.

Considering the reactions of the two known prophets, and the association with the Aramaic faiths and their prophets, that the development of most related faiths were not formed by divine Mandate, but rather by Prophets tripping the eff out because they couldn't properly understand their gifts.

So, in short... Basically nothing, because they didn't really care to interfere. As Death says, this is a Petri Dish, and what good is an experement if you're always poking at it?


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

[User]
[Pulp Fiction / Reservoir Dogs] What did the Vega brothers think of each other?

Vic Vega (AKA Mr. Blonde) in Reservoir Dogs seemed fairly cool at first glance, but as soon as things went south at the jewelry store, he started executing hostages. Given the slightest opportunity, he then went on to viciously mutilate a police officer, and was about to set him on fire, which at the very least he should have been concerned about the smoke and smell of a burning body that would have been created. So Vic's got a few issues above and beyond the pale even for the criminal world, to say the least.

Vincent on the other hand seems to have a much firmer grip on his cool facade, only cracking when the wife of his mob boss is about to die of an overdose. If anything, Vincent's cool may have been his fatal flaw, what with relaxing enough to put his machine gun aside and take a dump during a job.

So what did the Vega brothers think of one another? If they did any jobs together, what was their working relationship like?

[Assistant]
Well, Vincent is kind of a psychopath himself.  He's got that prison mentality about "respect" and is willing to jeopardize his and his compatriots' freedom and lives over the simple matter of the way he's being addressed.  He's also a stone-cold killer with little empathy for others as well as a heroin junkie.

I see a lot of neglect and abuse in the brothers' childhoods.  There may have been a survivors' bond between the two from both being on the receiving end.  They could have looked out for each other and turned to crime as a means to survive.

It's also equally possible that the two clashed and saw the other as part of the problem.  We don't know enough about their home life to hazard much of a guess - who and where were their parents, were there other siblings, etc.


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

[User]
[Shaun of the Dead] Would Shaun and Ed survive if they stayed home?

So let's say Shaun didn't want to make sure his Mum and Liz were safe, would he and Ed survive if they did what the television said, and stayed indoors?

[Assistant] If they could get rid of their zombie room mate and not draw attention to themselves they just have to draw the day out until the army arrives. It all hinges on how effectively and quietly they can deal with their biggest immediate threat and barricade their doors and windows, and how many dumb fuck things Ed does.


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

[User] [Star Wars] Let's say Luke did agree to join Vader, overthrew the Emperor, and ruled the galaxy as father and son. How would they rule the galaxy differently? How would an Empire ruled by Vader and Luke be different from Palpatine's Empire?

[Assistant]
Vader would be a more pragmatic ruler who actually seeks to create peace and prosperity (through violent oppression and authoritarian control).

Palpatine didn't care for the welfare of the Galaxy, the Empire's only purpose was to aid him in his quest for domination of the Force.


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

[User]
[Star Wars] Why hasn't there been any new technology in the last 5000+ years?

I'm a Padawan at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant and I've been studying the life of Darth Revan, who lived almost 5,000 years ago. Darth Revan used the same kind of lightsaber as me, flew in the same kind of ship as me, and had the same kind of astromech droid as me? Why has there been no noticeable technological advancements in the last five millennia?

[Assistant]
There is plenty of development. Just look at how the battle cruisers from the prequel movies grew into the massive star destroyers that supported Tarkin's reign of terror in the original trilogy. Not to mention the never before seen horror of the death star.

The Star Wars galaxy is big, very very big. The ewoks live in a virtual stone age while the Kaminoans live in floating cities where they practice their mastery over clone technology. Moisture farmers are scraping by on Tatooine while Coruscant is a city that covers a planet.

There is technology and there is progress but it's happening asynchronously across a massive galaxy. Aside from that a lot of technology is already so advanced that it'll serve fine somewhere in the galaxy. Ships that are ancient and obsolete by the standards of the imperial navy or commercial trading corporations are unfathomable miracles on another world and perfectly useful ships on yet another.

A lot of the stuff in star wars is also very durable. Droids are effectively immortal if they don't get destroyed so it's not odd to see an R2D2 unit next to an older R2 unit developed a thousand years ago, even if you get sick of your R2 unit, somewhere in the galaxy it's cutting edge. Luke's x-wing was able to fly away into space just fine after crashing into a planet and spending weeks in a swamp.

And don't forget that light sabers have always been referred to as ancient traditional weapons. Han actually scoffs at the silly things and proclaims he'd rather have a good blaster.


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

[User]
[General Horror] I've just bought a haunted house. What are some tips to help me survive?

Before anyone says moving; I don't have the money.

[Assistant]
If its provably haunted and the seller didn't disclose this then you have a good chance of getting the purchase annulled.

If its not provably haunted then list it and go move in with family/friends until it sells. If you can't move in with someone for a few months then live out of your car or find a free camping ground.

If you can't sell it then just leave and never return. No house is worth your life.

Do not gamble with your life and try to "endure" the haunting or "cleanse" it or even try to destroy the house, it will almost certainly end poorly for you and anyone you rope into helping you.


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

[User] ELI5 - Why all those Africans who had their hands chopped off at the wrist with machetes are alive, but people who slit their wrists with a razor blade aren't.

[Assistant] Well first of all many aren't, plenty of people who lose hands die and plenty of people who slit their wrists fail.  A lot of it comes down to treatment, if the arms can be sealed with pressure/cauterization etc. the victim will survive.  Cutting in that manor is much easier to fix than lengthwise cuts (which many attempting to kill themselves use due to it being much harder to stitch shut). Remember the wrist cutters want to die, whereas those that lose hands do not.


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

[User]
CMV: Humanity should make a concerted effort to obliterate mosquitoes from existence

Mosquitoes are nasty insects. Parasites with a capital "P" in the truest sense. Not only are they drawing blood out of humans to feast on sugars in our blood, they are also potentially injecting diseases into us to. So not only are you being left with a nasty histamine reaction to the bite, but you are also possibly contracting malaria or other tropical diseases.

Humanity has driven many species to extinction, and will only continue to based on our overall indifference towards environmental issues. However, this pest in mosquitoes continue to be a menace to humanity and other wildlife. As such, I feel we should use our extinction capabilities to obliterate them from Earth's ecosystems entirely.

I doubt they will be missed. Sure, species of amphibians, fish, and birds may lose one food source, but I have never heard of a species whose insect-based diet is entirely mosquitoes. I also know humans have hijacked mosquitoes disease spreading capability to combat disease spread. Those are cool and all, but do they counterbalance the harms mosquitoes cause? There is no reason we can't eradicate this pest for good.

CMV.

[Assistant]
Mosquitos are pretty terrible, but they do have a purpose too. They serve important functions in numerous ecosystems, serving as food for many species, helping filter detritus for plant life to thrive, pollinating flowers, and even affecting the herding paths of caribou in the tundra.

There's also some hope that mosquito saliva may have some potential use for the treatment of the No. 1 worldwide killer of humans: cardiovascular disease. One promising application is the development of anticlotting drugs, such as clotting inhibitors and capillary dilators.

They're pretty bad, but there's some good things they do too, even if it's just as food for other animals and insects, or potential medical applications.


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

[User]
Do molecular shapes really matter?

We all have learnt about how water molecule is "bent" , SF    is octahedral  , etc but does it affect the macroscopic substance we see? if it does , how does it affect it.

[Assistant]
The bent shape of a water molecule makes it polar, and contributes to it being an excellent solvent. Life started in water, because of all the cool stuff dissolved in it. So yeah, shape is pretty important!

Proteins are molecules with complicated shapes, and the shapes determine their properties.

The double-helix of DNA allows large amounts of information to be encoded and replicated.

The macroscopic version of DNA is you)


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

[User]
[Mr. Bean] What's the deal with him and electrical appliances?

More specifically, television screens. Is it some aberration of his personal electro-magnetic field, some sort of supernatural occurrence? Or something else?

[Assistant] It's suggested Mr. Bean is an alien visiting Earth, and his extraterrestrial nature is responsible for *all* kinds of wacky shenanigans, such as his inexperience with typical human customs, broken English and odd accent, fascination with his teddy bear *and* his odd interactions with late 20th century electronics such as televisions.


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

[User] ELI5: Why is fiber good for you, and what exactly does it do when you eat it?

[Assistant]
Fiber=carb that body cannot digest.

soluble fiber can dissolve in water.  It can help regulate the amount of "bad" cholesterol in your body.

Insoluble fiber can't be dissolved in water.  It helps move food through your digestive system and helps you form poops that are easy to pass so you don't get constipated.  Also, foods with a lot of insoluble fiber can help you feel full without as many calories because it's adding bulk to your food.

High fiber diets have also been associated with lower risk of some chronic diseases.


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

[User]
[The Magicians] Classically trained magicians end up secluded and bored. Hedge witches are active and intensely focused. Why is that?

Shouldn't all magical people eventually level out and sorta give up on life?  Why don't more of them try to fix or take over the world?

[Assistant]
You only become a Hedge Witch if you've got magical potential and were

A) Denied/booted from a magical school and had the tenacity to retain your memory.

or

B) Didn't want to go to one at all, but still wanted to pursue magic.

People who fall into either of these categories are extremely driven. Look at Julia. She carved it into her skin! While she was immensely talented, everyone who manages to become a Hedge Witch got that far because they're incredibly driven. It isn't that Hedge Witches are just naturally active and focused, it's that you *need* to be active and focused to use magic+survive outside of academia.


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

[User]
[Pokemon] Do Pokeballs work on unconscious Pokemon? If not, do KO's Pokemon just sit there until they wake up?

I'm just wondering - with so many trainers going around and fighting/catching wild Pokemon, what to make of this on an ecological scale? I once wanted to evolve a Pidgey so to do that, I went around fighting a shitload of Rattatas. Well those are some big rats and they're just lying around, either waiting to get eaten (or otherwise harmed), OR just to wake up later and walk away.

So I've never tried but can I just... try to catch them? Why not, right? I mean it seems impossible for them to fight back and I could just take some home basically. Right?

[Assistant]
In anime they do - most pokemon get knocked out before they're caught.

In the games it doesn't seem so - since once defeated everyone apparently a sporting enough of a chap to let the pokemon slink away to heal up or something. Legendaries explicitly escape once defeated instead of being knocked out for example.


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

[User]
ELI5 How does toothpaste protect for 12 hours?

Does it set up some sort of barrier?

[Assistant]
the fluoride binds with the minerals in your tooth enamel and makes them protected against acids. this allows them to re-mineralize and be stronger.

you can even put fluoride toothpaste on an eggshell , then wash it off and put it in some vinegar and it won't weaken where a egg that hasn't been treated will get all gummy and elastic.


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

[User] ELI5: How were mines ventilated before electric pumps and fans were invented?

[Assistant] There were a few different techniques. Clever designs of ventilation shafts could get the air to move from a slight wind and the heat of the ground. Sometimes they would have a fire burning in the mine with a proper chimney that would draw fresh air into the mine. They did also have bellows and fans to blow air into the mine. These bellows could be powered by humans, donkeys, wind or water.


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

[User]
[Predator] How 'socioeconomically' accessible is the hunting for predators?

How hard is it to get to go on a hunt? I understand that there is something of a tier system in how good you're expected to be before taking on certain kills. But how hard is it to get in the hunting game? Do you have to buy your own gear or is it provided by the community? Is there varying quality in the gear so that some go hunting in barely useful or second hand gear while some just jump around in their ComfyKill2K battle fatigues?
And is it like sailing in that you have to really splurge to be able to hunt at all or is it more like golfing in that you do it instead of buying a nice car?
What does it take, besides skill and desire, to get to hunt and what variations can we expect among the gear of the hunters? And is there a huge second hand market?

[Assistant]
All young males are taken on a hunt as a rite of passage. To be taken notice of by the best females a male must be blooded by the master of the hunt and earn their mark.

These ritual hunts involve seeding uninhibited worlds with a small number of xenomorph eggs that will mature into adults by the time the hunt arrives. Timing is everything as they cannot allow a hive to form. The males only carry the absolute basics of equipment and armour as its a test of their skill.

The strong warriors survive under the watchful gaze of the hunt masters and receive their mark. They also are granted access to new weapons and armour befitting their blooded status. From there they can achieve fame and hunt either alone or with brothers and acquire trophies and status.


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

[User]
ELI5: Why doesn't Japan hold a grudge against the U.S. after we nuked them?

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems that relations between the U.S. and Japan are strong.  I don't hear about Japanese harboring ill will against us.  I assume economics (e.g. trade, globalization, etc.) has a lot to do with it.

Edit:  Any Japanese redditors out there who feel upset or otherwise, please chime in!

[Assistant] The occupation of Japan went well, the occupying forces helped dismantle the centralized power structure of Japan and helped democratize the nation.  Shortly after millions of peasants became land owners and life after the war was better than it was before.


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

[User]
CMV: Death penalty is sometimes necessary

Context:

In Brazil, there is a serial killer called Lzaro whos been killing people since 2007. He went to prison three times and escaped every single one (if Im not mistaken, the last one he was free to go out for the holiday, but didnt comeback. How unfortunate, huh?). Recently he killed a whole family in Braslia, hes currently a fugitive and the police is looking for him across the country.

There is no death penalty in Brazil and Im very convinced that this extreme measure would end with all the panic its been going on in the last weeks here. Mainly as death penalty I refer to the police having the rights to kill this dude as soon as they find him.

Probably some would argue that everyone deserves a second chance, or (thats very popular actually) he is a societys victim or lets rehabilitate instead of punishing; but, seriously, the authorities even lost the count of the amount of crimes this guy has made, and the sentence for him is summed up to 300 years.

Lzaro shouldve already be dead. Hes a psychopath and kills random people with no remorse.

This was just an example to illustrate my point of what the lack of this penalty can cause. Brazilian goverment yet hasnt applied the penalty and thats very upsetting.

Try to convince me that death penalty is not necessary or justified. CMV.

Edit: Sorry for not specifying earlier. Given the situation, Im specifically talking about the penalty in Brazil, so please have in mind the countrys situation.

Edit 2: Personally Im very happy to see the community debating this issue in a healthy / civilized way. Cheers to everyone! :)

Edit 3: Added some info.

[Assistant] I don't think you mentioned this argument but (not in the case of Lzaro it seems) but if we speak in general terms then there is the chance that the evidence available would lead to the wrong perpetrator. If that person has already been executed, that's not a sentence that can be reversed if and when new evidence is found to exonerate someone.


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

[User] ELI5: Why are lawn mowers so loud? The engine is a third the size of a car's but makes three times as much noise?

[Assistant] Internal combustion engines are actually extremely loud. Cars have complicated exhaust systems with mufflers that absorb sound waves and dampen the sound of the engine. Lawnmower engines don't have mufflers so all the vibrations that it produces get transfered directly into your earholes.


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

[User] ELI5: What is gaslighting?

[Assistant]
Why do you keep asking this dumb question all the time? This is like the 12th time you posted it to this sub.

The above would be an example of gaslighting.
It is an attempt to convince someone that they are misremembering something, are stupid, or insane; by deliberately lying or manipulating the circumstances.
The name comes from a film called "Gaslight" where a husband try to convince his wife that she is insane by stealing and hiding her things and re-arranging the furniture, lying, and basically doing everything he can to make her question her reality.


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

[User]
[WALL-E] was WALL-E just more industrially made than EVE and they had the tech to make her at the same time they made WALL-E or did technology evolve during generations on the Axiom?

She seems way more advanced than him. Was he just built in a cheap, mass scale operation and she was specially made more custom and expensively, or did they advance robot tech while they were in space?

[Assistant] It's not even that Eve is better made than Wall-E, it's just different purposes.  Wall-E is an Earth based garbage truck.  He's extremely well designed for that purpose.  Eve is a space-based exploration probe, her apparent advantages over Wall-E are just by virtue of the fact that she has a different job to do.


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

[User]
ELI5: How do fish gills actually work?

I know they filter out oxygen and all that, but I'm really interested in knowing how exactly they do it.

[Assistant]
Pretty simple. Dissolved gasses diffuse through membranes across conccentration gradients. That's how you're able to breathe with your lungs. A gill is basically a really high-surface-area membrane that allows lots of water with dissolved O2 in it to diffuse into capillaries in the gill. This diffuses O2 in and CO2 out across their gradients. In order to keep this going at a good level in fish, the water must be more or less continuously flowing over the gills. There are two main strategies for this. One involves gulping water into the mouth and pumping it out through where the gills are and out the gill flaps. Another is to keep swimming and never stop. Sharks in particular employ this method, and will suffocate if kept from moving for a sufficient amount of time.

Gills aren't that dissimilar to lungs in principle, but one is designed to work with water and another designed to work with air.


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

[User]
[X-Men:DOFP] What could Trask have learned from Ink?

Ink isn't a mutant. All of his powers come from tattoos given to him by a mutant. If those tattoos should fade, or the mutant who gave them to him wakes up, it's very likely he'd return to being a regular human.

With that being said, what could have Trask learned from experimenting on him? Or would the ink from the tattoos be more useful?

[Assistant] Ink in x-men days of future past isn't stated he is anything similar to the ink introduced in 616 so it can be deduced that in this universe he is a mutant, one that which probably gets power from tattoos similar to the other one but not because his tattoo artist is a mutant.


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

[User] If you were to constantly replace ageing organs, could you extend your life expectancy?

[Assistant]
You can't look at it like a car, where you can just replace the bad parts with new parts and keep it going.  Organ replacement in it's current state isn't that simple.  Once a person receives a transplant, they need to be placed on immunosuppressant drugs to prevent organ rejection.  They sometimes need to remain on them for the life of the organ.  These drugs have lots of side effects, including (as you might guess when you impair someone's immune function) increased infection risk among many other serious complications.  Infections are a leading cause of death among transplant patients.

Now if medicine reaches a point where we're growing organs from your own stem cells, there could be a different story.


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

[User]
How do stars create extremely heavy elements after uranium?

I know  that supernovas can create extremely heavy elements (up to uranium as far as I know), but how are the elements after that formed?

[Assistant]
Same process, just that Uranium 238 has a half-life of 4.5 billion years. Whereas the half-life of everything higher than that is much shorter. So in the time it takes to go from supernova to forming planets to us seeing it, those higher elements have long since decayed away to smaller more stable ones.

Otherwise we can form them in reactors by bombarding heavy atoms with neutrons or other particles. The smaller particles get absorbed to form a higher atom.

For example americium 241 is commonly found in smoke detectors. With a half life of 432 years it was long gone from the planet. But by bombarding U-238 with a neutron we get Pu-239. Then Pu-239 absorbs two neutrons to get Am-241.