Question: Why do thunderstorms on hot days sometimes seemingly suck the heat out of the air after passing, and sometimes actually make the hot/humid feeling worse?

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 Why do thunderstorms on hot days sometimes seemingly suck the heat out of the air after passing, and sometimes actually make the hot/humid feeling worse?

A thunderstorm is usually the roiling that occurs at the boundary between a hot and cold air mass. If it's warm, after will be cooler. If it's cool, after it will be warmer. It's a bit more complicated than that, but this is what I'd tell a 5 year old. Edit: let me amend that. Warm and warmer is meteorologically the same as cold/warm.


Question: What is overcharging a battery?

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 What is overcharging a battery?

Why now and not earlier? Because nowadays everything that matters (phone, computer, etc) uses lithium batteries. They are more prone to overcharging issues but they are good for light power delivery. On the other hand, most devices nowadays can optimize charging to prevent overcharging. For example, if you charge your iPhone overnight it learns when you wake up so it can plan to reach 100% shortly before you start using it. It’ll chill for a few hours at ~80% and then go up to 100 in time for when you will start using it. Anyway, device makers have made workarounds to optimize charging and prevent battery damage.


Question: How do satelites that are important for tracking GPS location not rotate around the earth? Or is the rotation somehow calculated into them?

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 How do satelites that are important for tracking GPS location not rotate around the earth? Or is the rotation somehow calculated into them?

The GPS satellites are in a medium earth orbit, so they go around the earth twice a day. Their exact locations are tracked very accurately by control stations on the ground on a regular basis, and the orbits are predictable enough to calculate where each satellite will be at any moment. The satellites send out a signal that says "here's what time I sent this signal, and here's how you calculate where I was when I sent it." Your GPS receiver gets these messages from several satellites and figures out their location at the instant the message was sent. Simplifying slightly, what happens after that is your receiver figures out how far it is from each satellite. It knows when a message was sent, and knows what time it was received, and knows how fast the message travels (the speed of light). So it can figure out from all that how far each message must have gone through the air from each satellite's location. That means your receiver knows it's somewhere on a sphere at a certain distance from a satellite. When it does the same for a second satellite, it knows it's somewhere that those two spheres intersect, which would be somewhere on a circle. A third sphere around a third satellite intersects that circle at two points, one of which is usually clearly wrong, thus the receiver knows it must be at the other point. Ok, so why do you need to receive 4 satellites instead of 3? The clocks in the satellites are incredibly accurate atomic clocks, so the "here's when I sent this message" information is pretty much perfect. But the clock in your receiver is cheap and inaccurate, so the "here's when we received the message" information starts out wrong. You get a whole range of possible distances from each satellites depending on how wrong the receiver's clock is. A fourth satellite allows you to rule out all the wrong positions and figure out which one is right. So, your receiver figures out not just where it is, but WHEN it is, to get a correct position.


Question: What does a a movie producer actually do for the movie?

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 What does a a movie producer actually do for the movie?

Typically EPs are ones that just put up money. Producers do a ton of work. They are the general managers of a film. They manage the budgets, all the stars, the director, organize everything on the set, ensure they stick to the production schedule, determine how to handle cost overruns, etc etc. If Da Vinci was a director then the producer would be the person who got him a studio, his supplies, his assistants, negotiated price for paintings, finding buyers, etc.


Question: How do you know when someone is gaslighting Vs. When the person is just stupid/has a selective memory?

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 How do you know when someone is gaslighting Vs. When the person is just stupid/has a selective memory?

This is basically asking how you know when someone is doing something wrong maliciously and purposefully vs. accidentally and innocently. The truth of the matter exists only within their own mind, which no one else can ever really know. For such actions, we can only go off of their actions and responses. Look at the consistency of the errors, how they respond when faced with evidence of their mistakes. Look for things not dependent on simply their memory. Look for deliberate actions they may be taking to maintain the deception or illusion.


Question: How did the restaurant industry convince the American population to pay their employees for them?

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 How did the restaurant industry convince the American population to pay their employees for them?

Before the Prohibition of alcohol, tips were basically bribery so some customer could get better services like bigger plates of be given food faster. When the Prohibition of alcohol came, restaurants saw a huge income decrease and they encourage their waiters to accept tips so they could get paid, instead of readjusting the whole prices so the money before spent on alcohol was driven to food and non.alcoholic beverages. This become so strong that now reataurants can pay little no nothing while their customers live out of tips. In reallity, they can accept the tips and if they dont get to minimun wage, they can legally ask the money to their employer so they can get minimun wage. This is something just in USA and maybe some other countries. In Spain, where i live, tipping is not mandatory but is somewhat encouraged if the service is good, fast and take more orders than normal, if the table was big, if they bring bread and tap water instead of bottled when we ask for it... In Japan is even considered of bad education to give money as a tip cause is seen as a way to show off how much money you have.


Question: Why do bank payments/transfers take one or more business days to process?

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 Why do bank payments/transfers take one or more business days to process?

At it's simplest, it works like this: 1. Your bank locks a certain amount of funds in your account. 2. Your bank does a bunch of security/regulatory/tax things in preparation for the transfer. 3. Your bank batches the details of your payment up with other payments to other accounts at the same destination bank and notifies the other bank of the entire batch of payments in one go. Depending on the banks involved this may happen anywhere from every other day up to twenty times in one day or more. 4. The receiving bank, upon receiving this notification does its own security/regulatory/tax things in preparation for the transfer. They may do this right away, or they may do it in a regular schedule (ie process all the notifications from all the banks once every couple of hours). 5. The two banks net their position against each other (That is, they offset payments from bank a to bank b against payments from bank b to bank a and figure out the difference). They agree which bank owes the other bank more so that the bank owing more can just transfer the difference, rather than both banks transferring the full amount. 6. Settlement occurs. The locked money is deducted from your account, the net is transferred between the banks using an instantaneous, non reversible mechanism, and the money is deposited in the account on the other end. This step all happens more or less instantaneously. The reason for delays is the time taken to set up the transaction (ie steps 2 - 5). International transfers or transfers via a third party payment processor like a credit card company may need to go thorough these steps multiple times as the sending bank doesn't have the kind of instantaneous mechanism with the receiving bank it needs to settle, so they must work through a number of intermediaries or clearing houses.


Question: How can we be completely sure that a number is really infinite and does not end in millions of additional digits?

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 How can we be completely sure that a number is really infinite and does not end in millions of additional digits?

I presume you’re asking how we decide whether a number’s decimal expansion is infinitely long, not whether the number itself is infinite (which is impossible, since all real numbers are finitely large). The general answer is that we can’t prove that the decimal digits will go on forever simply by computing those digits, because, as you note, they could always end at some point beyond our calculations. So we resort to using other techniques to prove that a number’s decimal expansion is infinite. One way is to prove that the number is irrational, which is usually done by contradiction: you assume it’s rational and show that this assumption leads to a contradiction with itself or other known facts, which then means that the assumption is false, i.e. the number is irrational. But there are also rational numbers with infinitely long decimal expansions, eg 1/3 = 0.3333.... To prove that the decimal expansion of 1/3 is infinitely long, it’s enough to show that the decimal expansion 0.333... equals 1/3 (which is done by considering the infinitely long decimal expansion as the limit of a sequence of finitely long decimal expansions and showing that the sequence converges to 1/3). It’s also worth noting that decimal expansions aren’t necessarily unique, so some numbers can have both finite and infinitely long decimal expansions; for instance 1 = 0.999... (which can proven using the same technique mentioned for the case of 1/3 = 1, that is, considering the infinitely long decimal expansion as a limit and proving that the limit is 1). This non-uniqueness of decimal expansions is yet another reason mathematicians generally don’t find decimals to be particularly useful in theoretical work.


Question: considering the totality of our universe as we know it, can it gain another ounce?

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 considering the totality of our universe as we know it, can it gain another ounce?

The short answer; No. The longer answer; yes. It turns out that in 'empty' space, a very tiny amount of matter is constantly created and destroyed (destroyed because also a bit of the corresponding antimatter is created and together they turn to energy). This is a pure chance thing, so _on average statistically_ the universe should not gain mass. However, averages are not perfect and it is definitely possible the universe has gained (or lost!) a few ounces (or more) during the whole of existence.


Question: How did game manufacturers of tabletop games ensure that at the opening of the game, theres equal probability of every player winning ?

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 How did game manufacturers of tabletop games ensure that at the opening of the game, theres equal probability of every player winning ?

Short answer: they don't. For most games, it's *not* known that there's equal probability of winning with perfect play. For some popular games, actual *perfect* play guarantees that one player or the other will win - Connect 4 is simpler than chess, but a prominent example of a game where perfect play *always* allows the first player to force a win. Yet we're collectively still willing to play it, because most people don't know how to play perfectly, and of those who do a reasonable proportion might still make a mistake. However, game-makers generally have a reasonably good idea that within the bounds of human play, each player has a decent chance of winning, simply because they've playtested the game and had others do the same for several iterations prior to release, and taken the time to patch any obvious discrepancies that may have arisen. They'll have taken a variety of test-players and tweaked the rules until they got roughly even outcomes. They can, and do, still miss things, but these things tend to be relatively buried in the rules. For games like chess, it's a similar situation, only there was no single "game-maker" and no "release", so the rules were adjusted by the players "on the fly" to keep the game even enough to be interesting. Before the establishment of governing bodies for some of these games, the rules might have differed depending where you played.


Question: How do we know what the weather is going to be 5 days from now?

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 How do we know what the weather is going to be 5 days from now?

Because weather systems move across the globe in fairly predictable ways. There is a random element to it that we cannot predict, but ultimately weather is a system of actions and reactions. Take a hurricane, for instance. We know how hurricanes act because we have observed them for a very long time. And as such we can predict the general direction they will travel at any given time. However, there are a ton of small, fairly unpredictable things which will have an effect on how that storm moves. Raise the temperature of one patch of ocean a tiny bit and lower the temperature of one patch of ocean a tiny bit and the storm will turn further north, do the opposite and it will turn further south. That is why hurricane paths are predicted as cones, because in the very near future the predictions are very secure but as time moves on they become more and more vague.


Question: Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes but our distant ancestors don't. How does the number of chromosomes change over multiple generations?

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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Humans have 23 pairs of chromosomes but our distant ancestors don't. How does the number of chromosomes change over multiple generations?

Merging. In the case of humans and our ancestors with other primates, in our lineage 2 chromosomes accidentally fused together at some point, taking us from 24 chromosome to 23 chromosomes. (Specifically, the chromosome we identify as human chromosome #2). Now how and when exactly that happened it is impossible to know. You might wonder how this change could be propagated. After all mules exist because horses and donkeys have different numbers of chromosomes, and this leads to sterile offspring right? Well, no, not really. The individual mutant with the fused chromosome would still have all the genes that those with the unfused chromosomes have, but the same is not true with horses and donkeys. _Some_ of the offspring of this mutant would indeed be at a disadvantage when reproducing with someone who has unfused chromosomes, just look at the various diseases that accompany duplication of other chromosomes like Down's Syndrome. However some of the offspring will simply inherit the fused chromosome. Over time, through genetic drift, or some unknown reproductive advantage this had, that fused chromosome genotype could come to fill the population. edit: To be more clear, lets consider the two ancestral chromosomes A and B. A normal (ancestral) person will have 2 As, and 2 Bs in each non-gamete cell (cells that aren't sperm or eggs). Now consider a mutant, who has an A and B fused together. That doesn't mean they don't have an A or B! That person has 1 A, 1 B, and 1 AB. Notice that the total amount of genetic information is preserved. There isn't an extra A or an extra B anywhere, the genes of one set of chromosomes A and B have simply been fused onto a single chromosome. Now, when the normal produces a gamete it will have 1 A and 1 B. When our mutant produces a gamete it can have a variety of different possible outcomes: * The gamete could have an A and an AB * The gamete could have a B and an AB * The gamete could have an A and a B * The gamete could have an AB Why the gamete could turn out these ways is a bit complicated, so for an ELI5 you'll just have to take my word for it. Now when reproducing with the normal, the first two possibilities are bad e.g. A/B + A/AB = 3A 2B, leading to an extra dose of genetic material from A. The third possibility is fine, it will just result in normal offspring. The fourth possibility is _also_ fine, and what leads to the fusion spreading. Just think about it, the mutant has 1 A, 1 B, and 1 AB, and this offspring will get 1 A from the normal, 1 B from the normal, and 1 AB from the mutant, resulting in the same combination Now the question: how do you get rid of the extra 1 A and 1 B? Well, down the road, if you have two decedents of the original mutant who both produce the fourth type of gamete, the AB will hook up with the AB, giving you 2 AB, and the modern human chromosome 2. Presumably over time the 1 A, 1B, 1 AB populations died out leaving only the 2 AB populations of hominids.


Question: It's wildly considered that soft drinks are bad for you because of the amount of sugar in them. Are zero sugar and diet versions of the same drinks harmful as well? If so, why?

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 It's wildly considered that soft drinks are bad for you because of the amount of sugar in them. Are zero sugar and diet versions of the same drinks harmful as well? If so, why?

Yes and no. Diet sodas are *correlated* with obesity, but do not *cause* obesity. Part of the reason sugars (and other simple carbohydrates) are bad is that they're extremely efficient at delivering calories. You digest them very quickly - and then you're hungry again. Artificial sweeteners cause the same response, causing you to be more hungry than you would otherwise be. They can also cause your metabolism to seesaw back and forth (which is itself bad) because your body thinks it's getting a surge of easily processed energy. If you keep to a rigorous diet, they're really not bad for you. However, if you're just eating when you're hungry, they'll almost inevitably lead to weight gain. That being said, you need to keep in mind the notion of harm reduction. Drinking a diet soda is at best neutral - it has no more benefit than drinking water - but it's quite a bit better than drinking non-diet soda.


Question: what is “tuning a car”?

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 what is “tuning a car”?

There are a lot of parameters in cars that are possible to adjust. Many of those, in regular family cars, are set to medium values for longevity’s sake for the car. Tuned cars have some of those values set to more aggressive values, or physically changed to affect the performance. Tuning a car might involve changing the shifting setpoints, adjusting the fuel-air ratio for different combustion power. Changing the shifting points may affect the overall life of the transmission components a little bit, but the performance improvement may be worth it to the driver.


Question: how do we hear thoughts?

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 how do we hear thoughts?

Someone will probably provide a better answer, but I believe I read somewhere that thoughts are precursor to speech, so having experienced language (hearing and speaking), you know how the words sound. You don’t literally hear it, it’s abstraction, anticipation kinda thing. As for mute/deaf people, I don’t know how that works. Probably some sort of adaptation, like dreams for blind people.


Question: Why do country names get translated to other languages? And how are they even translated?

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 Why do country names get translated to other languages? And how are they even translated?

The modern standard *is* to just use the local names; that's what Google maps does. But many countries have had names in English and other languages that are older than the countries themselves. Germans call their country Deutschland; but in English we use Germany which comes from the Latin "Germania" for the ancient tribe; and the French use Allemagne from the Alamanni tribe. The different names were developed at different times, when different people were occupying the lands. > Why not just leave the country's name as it is established in their native language? Because it was established in English long before that, and now it's difficult to change.


Question: Why are Saturn's poles Hexagonal and blue?

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 Why are Saturn's poles Hexagonal and blue?

Only the north pole of Saturn is hexagonal. It turned from blue to gold during the Cassini probe (2012 - 2016). As to why it's a hexagon: no one really knows. One theory is that the edges of the North pole hexagon are extremely cold with a very hot spot at the center. This combination of extreme temperatures could cause the hexagon to appear as the planet rotates, and has been [successfully duplicated in a lab]( URL_0 ). As to why it's blue or gold: it's blue when it's facing away from the Sun, and gold when it's directly reflecting the Sun's light. So it's a little like a change of seasons.


Question: how are the intensity and speed of wind related to the time of day? Aka why are winds calmer in the morning and pick up throughout the day?

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 how are the intensity and speed of wind related to the time of day? Aka why are winds calmer in the morning and pick up throughout the day?

The sun generates heat and moisture in the atmosphere. Heat changes air pressure and energy. Changes in air pressure can generate wind. One of the reasons it’s often coolest just after sunrise as the air above you gets sun and warmth first, starts to rise, and the cool air come in under it to replace it (convection).


Question: How does moisture sometimes generate more friction (aiding better grips then dry hands for example) but other times generate less friction (slippery floor for example)?

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 How does moisture sometimes generate more friction (aiding better grips then dry hands for example) but other times generate less friction (slippery floor for example)?

Water sticks to surface. Water glides over water. When there is a lot of water, water acts as a gliding film between two surfaces. When there is little water, water sticks to a surface on one side, sticks to another on the other side, but there's not enough water to form the gliding film, thus 'increasing friction' not unlike a double sided tape.


Question: Why is it that live TV doesn't buffer as an internet stream does?

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 Why is it that live TV doesn't buffer as an internet stream does?

* Live TV via broadcast or cable network is sent directly to you via a dedicated system that only exists to send the audio and video to you. * The internet sends all kinds of data via a web of different companies and locations. Each stream of data is broken up into different little packets that can each take a different route to your computer. Then they have to be put back together in the right order. If some get lost along the way, your computer asks them to be resent. * Also internet streams are individual connections where your computer and the server have a back and forth conversation. Broadcast TV, on the other hand is one transmission tower blasting out a signal. You TV can choose to listen to it or not, but the number of TVs trying to listen has no effect on the tower's ability to send out the signal.


Question: When we become overly emotional our chests/throats tighten up, why?

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 When we become overly emotional our chests/throats tighten up, why?

We’re not totally sure, but this article gives some suggestions: URL_0 But how do emotions trigger physical sensations? Scientists do not know, but recently pain researchers uncovered a possible pathway from mind to body. According to a 2009 study from the University of Arizona and the University of Maryland, activity in a brain region that regulates emotional reactions called the anterior cingulate cortex helps to explain how an emotional insult can trigger a biological cascade. During a particularly stressful experience, the anterior cingulate cortex may respond by increasing the activity of the vagus nerve—the nerve that starts in the brain stem and connects to the neck, chest and abdomen. When the vagus nerve is overstimulated, it can cause pain and nausea.


Question: if I look at a far-away object in a mirror without my glasses on (near sighted), will the image appear blurry because the object is far or clear because the mirror is close? Why?

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 if I look at a far-away object in a mirror without my glasses on (near sighted), will the image appear blurry because the object is far or clear because the mirror is close? Why?

Blurry because far. A mirror preserves the angles of light which strikes it, and simply redirects it. So as far as your eyes are concerned, a mirror is a window through which you are viewing the reflected object. So the distance to a reflected object is the distance from your eyes, to the mirror, to the object. Something like a photograph does *not* preserve the original angles of the light of the scene it has taken. So instead of diverging from the objects in the picture, they diverge from the surface of the picture. So as far as your eye is concerned, the content of a photograph is at the distance from your eyes to the photograph.


Question: Why are prion diseases so deadly?

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 Why are prion diseases so deadly?

We all have a high level of prion proteins in our central nervous system. But these are healthy, called PrPC. If infected, we get a misfolded version called PrPSc. This misfolded version can impose its conformation on other healthy PrPC, converting it and recruiting it to the aggregate. Eventually you have these long fibers of PrPSc in your brain that disrupt neurons physically (necrosis) and actually induce them to kill themselves (apoptosis) in ways we don't fully understand yet. PrPSc is extremely stable, we can't degrade it with our protease, heck not even acid, combustion or gamma radiation can fully destroy them. So they stay, wreak havoc all over the brain until you die. Source: did my MSc in prion disease Edit: English


Question: Why can't our brains determine who a person is if the image in turned negative, but the moment it's a color image we instantly can process the subject? Isn't a negative the same photo with just a different color scheme?

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 Why can't our brains determine who a person is if the image in turned negative, but the moment it's a color image we instantly can process the subject? Isn't a negative the same photo with just a different color scheme?

memory like this is designed around identifying patterns. when you flip a image to a negative, often a lot of the markers you would use to form the recognition pattern are either changed or obscured, so it makes it far more difficult for us to recognise. with training you can probably learn to mentally process the image as to the point you could reasonably quickly still recognise things in the same way. but for the most part it's not something we have to deal with often, so it's a process our brain isn't ready to deal with.


Question: Why is it that a planet with a lot of technosignatures would mean the Great Filter is in the past, but a planet with life and no technosignatures would mean that the Great Filter is in the future?

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 Why is it that a planet with a lot of technosignatures would mean the Great Filter is in the past, but a planet with life and no technosignatures would mean that the Great Filter is in the future?

The "Great Filter" concept is an explanation of the Fermi Paradox, which says essentially "If there are billions of billions of stars how come there are no alien civilization we can join?" The GF presumes that somewhere in the process from "a star forming" to "an alien civilization spanning the Universe" there are a series of steps and each step filters out some of the stars. For example, maybe the first step is forming rocky planets in the zone where water is a liquid. This might be an optional step, if some life doesn't use water in its chemistry, but we've got no evidence for that. So, your star gets "filtered out" of the race to civilize the Universe if you don't have rocky planets in the right region. This filter doesn't explain the paradox, as we've been able to find planets in the right region with even our crude tools. So, it's a filter, but not The Great Filter. Maybe the Great Filter is life, or multicellular life, or intelligent life, or control of fire, or electric power control, or nuclear energy control, or fusion energy control, or warp drive, or ... . The real question behind the GF theory is "Is Humanity past the Great Filter?" Are we the civilization that will some day in the future rule the Universe?? Finding rocky planets, which we have on Earth, indicates that the GF is forward from that. Funding radio communication (which we have not yet done), indicates that the GF is forward from radio. Since we don't find radio communications, that's sorta evidence that the GF is behind us and we are on our way to being Masters of the Universe. But, our ability to detect radio communication at distance is pretty poor, and we've only had radio for 100-ish years, so this evidence is pretty weak. Finding a techsignature would be excellent evidence that we are not yet through the GF.


Question: Is there any one food that's nutritious enough for a human to survive indefinitely eating only that food?

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 Is there any one food that's nutritious enough for a human to survive indefinitely eating only that food?

Potatoes. The caveat is you'd probably need at least two types of potatoes (white potatoes + sweet potatoes) to work. They have the necessary carbs, fats, and proteins as well as some minor but necessary nutrients like Vitamin K. Unfortunately you'd run into some issues with certain vitamin and mineral deficiencies like iodide and Vitamin A for example. In those cases you'd need something like cheese or iodized salt for the former and some butter or something for the latter. It wouldn't be ideal but you could definitely survive for a long time. I don't know about "indefinitely" though. There really isn't a single food that provides everything you'd need to be healthy.


Question: How does reaction time develop or improve?

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 How does reaction time develop or improve?

The same way any skill or ability does. Imagine a bucket with a hole in the bottom. If you pour a gallon of water into the bucket, it'll take a minute to drain. That's your average, lazy, unattuned, slow-reaction-time brain. As you do things that require quick reactions, you start to poke more holes in the bottom of the bucket. It might have taken a full minute to drain a gallon of water with one hole, but with 10, it only takes a few seconds. That's what your brain and muscles do - they develop more(and more efficient) neural pathways which allow you to process inputs faster, and thus, react faster.


Question: How do metal detectors not detect themselves?

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 How do metal detectors not detect themselves?

the easiest way to think of it is like a flash camera. so the flash is a bulb with a casing that only allows the light to leave in one direction. It then reflects back into the lens and a picture is formed of everything that reflected light in that direction within a set time. In our scenario we are creating a magnetic field and using [magnetic shielding]( URL_0 ) we build a casing which guides the field in one direction. it then interacts with any metal (creating it's own different magnetic field) and we have a sense that looks for any magnetic fields which do not match what we sent out.


Question: I've heard many times that honey is actually a superb home remedy for burns. How true is this, if at all? What's the science and chemistry behind it?

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 I've heard many times that honey is actually a superb home remedy for burns. How true is this, if at all? What's the science and chemistry behind it?

It's at most *maybe* true. There was a metastudy conducted in India on whether honey was useful for healing burns, and its findings were that honey can be effective for improving the healing of minor, surface burns; its effectiveness was not proven on deeper or more serious burns, however. Since there's only one study, and the results have not been repeated, it's difficult to say how accurate the results were. The study did not explain why it may be effective, but honey does have mild antiseptic and anti-inflammatory properties which *may* help promote healing.


Question: why does pop/soda "expand" and blow up my sealed water bottle?

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 why does pop/soda "expand" and blow up my sealed water bottle?

Just like you can dissolve solids (salt, sugar) in water, you can dissolve gases like CO2. And the amount you can dissolve depends on pressure (more pressure = more dissolved gas) and temperature (higher = less dissolved gas). So in a chilled, closed container where the pressure is higher than outside, the gas is stable in its dissolved state. But once you remove the pressure, it becomes oversaturated, meaning it's now an unstable state and wants to release some of the gas.


Question: What happens to a photon when it hits your retina?

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 What happens to a photon when it hits your retina?

Your retina has photoreceptors with specialized pigments which get modified by the inciding light. They change in conformation and affect nearby receptors, closing them and stopping a previously active influx of Na+ and Ca2+. Without the entrance of these positive ions, the cell membrane undergoes hyperpolarization (becomes more negative). This change in electrical potential is propagated until it reaches the end of the photoreceptor, upon which neurotransmitter vesicles sit. These neurotransmitters are usually released into the synapse on depolarization (the cell becoming positive), so in this case they will be *less* released. Nevertheless, the postsynaptic cell will detect this *alteration in neurotransmission* and will relay the signal to yet another cell, the ganglion cells. These ganglion cells take the signal to the lateral geniculate nucleus in your pons (part of your brain) which has another neuron that takes the signal to your visual cortex. There is more to it than that. For example, when one photoreceptor receives light, it hyperpolarizes, but it sends signals to the photoreceptors around it so they will do the opposite and depolarize. The neurons in the visual system aren't connected only vertically, but also horizontally, and these patterns are helpful for discrimination of contrast, geometric forms, and movement. Your nervous cells use several ion pumps to keep the electrical resistance greater on the outside of the cell membrane than on the inside. This increases the propagation of the current through the cell with minimal loss. Bigger nerves in your central nervous system also have myelin sheaths, which are layers of fat that make it even more likely that the currents will flow thorugh the inside. Note that not all cells in your retina are sensitive to a single photon, only those in the fovea, the place of highest visual acuity in the eye.


Question: How do you find the line of best fit on a scatterplot?

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 How do you find the line of best fit on a scatterplot?

There are different ways to do it depending on what you care about most. The most common way is doing a least squares regression. Basically you use calculus to figure out the line that makes the square of the distance from that line to each point the smallest. The math of it is a bit above an ELI5 but you can look up least squares.


Question: in the military, what happens when a lower ranking officer has to arrest/detain a commanding officer?

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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 in the military, what happens when a lower ranking officer has to arrest/detain a commanding officer?

This is a movie magic trope, not reality. If some weird crazy thing happened where a senior officer was being arrested (probably for being accused of some major crime, like maybe they are accused of rape for example) the military police, would come in and arrest them. These are basically the same situation as any police force so rank doesn't matter, they're cops. It would not be his own unit, they aren't cops, the cops would do it. If you're thinking some crazy scenario where a junior officer thinks their boss is doing something weird and has their troops detain him, thats movie magic.


Question: If the military chooses the lowest bidder when purchasing products why is "Military Grade" considered a superior quality product?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 If the military chooses the lowest bidder when purchasing products why is "Military Grade" considered a superior quality product?

It's something civilians think is superior based on "if the Military uses it, then it must be top of the line!". Terms like Military Grade or Mil-Spec doesn't exactly mean lowest bidder - more like the cheapest that will still work enough. Make sense? Hopefully someone will have a better explanation.


Question: Physiologically, what's happening differently inside our bodies when we speak vs. whisper vs. yell?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Physiologically, what's happening differently inside our bodies when we speak vs. whisper vs. yell?

Speaking vs whispering is the difference between engaging your vocal chords or not. The vocal chords are what give you your "voice". It's your lips and tongue and mouth shape that actually control the air flow to give it the sounds that give your voice meaning. When you whisper, you're simply relaxing your vocal chords so that they don't vibrate and don't create sound. You still make all the same mouth shapes, though, so the air moving through still makes all the same sounds needed to be understood. Yelling is just shoving more air past your vocal cords. More air means more volume. If you push *too much* air and don't have the kind of strength and control over the muscles that control your vocal cords, the yell ends up sounding rough because although the cords are tight enough to produce sound, they're flapping around more than they normally should.


Question: Why is k-12 a state issue when most citizens look to the federal government?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why is k-12 a state issue when most citizens look to the federal government?

In the US if the Constitution does not specifically give the power over something to the Federal Government it belongs to the State. Education is not specifically given to the Federal Government so they are only allowed to put a few regulations on it. And what do you mean by "most citizens look to the federal government"? They look to it for what?


Question: How does the newer generation of captcha determine I'm not a robot? (The one where all you must do is click)

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How does the newer generation of captcha determine I'm not a robot? (The one where all you must do is click)

It tracks mouse movement. If it was a bot it would immediately click the checkbox after it was loaded. You as a human have to move your mouse cursor to the checkbox and this movement is not in a straight line. So basically they just check mouse movement and time between checkbox being rendered and when it is clicked. There sure is much more going under the hood but thes is the basic idea.


Question: Why is there a statute of limitations?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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Depth and Insight: The answer should provide thoughtful analysis or context, going beyond superficial details.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why is there a statute of limitations?

The difficulty of prosecuting a crime years after the event is absolute pain in the backside. Do you recall what you had for breakfast a week ago Do you recall what you had for breakfast a week and 21 years ago. Human memory is fragile. that's the first point Then we get into the logistic of a trial 20+ years after the event now officer Murphy the officer who discovered the crime and took information is in Alaska and retired officer jimmy has degenerative brain disorder, officer jones was on his first few days and had no idea what was going down. officer tom died three year after the crime Getting them in for this case also cost money and court time that is needed for all of today's crimes (all of today's crimes that the state or crown can win other wise the DA or CPS will drop the case) The witnesses are even harder to track, even if they can recall it. and we do kinda need them to have the look of a trial that any defense lawyer can't just break over his knee. Edit can you tell I did one of these...


Question: How are Open World Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 made in such detail?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 How are Open World Games like Red Dead Redemption 2 made in such detail?

"Is every square foot of the open world actually created by a programmer" - not a programmer. For any large game, the asset creation is a major task, and people working on that tend to greatly outnumber the programmers. Good tools can help automate a lot, but still there's a reason why there's 3000 people on RDR2 credits list - it does take a *LOT* of manpower to make games in such detail.


Question: Why are we told to lean forward and put your head towards your legs in the event of an airplane crash?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why are we told to lean forward and put your head towards your legs in the event of an airplane crash?

Ducking forward will protect your face from anything that may become airborne during a plane crash, while hands on your head provides an extra layer between debris and your precious brain. It's about protecting the head. One does not have an emergency position for a car crash because cars are built to try to save occupants when they are sitting normally in the chair. Leaning forward could cause you to get slammed against the dashboard even with a seatbelt on. At best, you should tuck your arms into yourself to avoid them flailing and being struck by things outside your body, potentially cover your face.


Question: what happens exactly when you blow out a candle or shake a match in order to extinguish the flame?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 what happens exactly when you blow out a candle or shake a match in order to extinguish the flame?

The candle is surrounded by a pocket of flame that keeps it warm. Since it doesn't have very much mass, it doesn't take very much cold air to cool it down until it's too cold to burn. Shaking the match pushes this hot air away and replaces it with cold air. It's the same thing that happens when you blow on it.


Question: What’s the difference between infant formula for 0-6 month olds and formula for 6-12 months old?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 What’s the difference between infant formula for 0-6 month olds and formula for 6-12 months old?

It's essentially a marketing ploy and therefore depends on the manufacturer. There is a single set of FDA (or equivalent) requirements for infant formula, but the age-specific formulas may have differing amounts of vitamins, corn syrup, etc. It's perfectly fine to use newborn formula until 12 months (at which point babies should ideally be consuming family foods and have no need of formula, though they may still be breast fed). **Update**: here's some [medical advice]( URL_0 ) confirming this > Research shows that switching to follow-on formula at six months has no benefits for your baby. Your baby can carry on having first infant formula as their main drink until they are one year old.


Question: my Keurig coffee maker has a "strong" setting, what makes the coffee stronger if it's the same amount of coffee with the same amount of water?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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<answer>
[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 my Keurig coffee maker has a "strong" setting, what makes the coffee stronger if it's the same amount of coffee with the same amount of water?

It allows the coffee to extract longer by increasing the time that the coffee is in the hot water physically. By increasing the time that the coffee grounds sit in hot water, the stronger the water is flavoured with coffee. A longer soak is a thicker bev. The same principle works for socks and old ladies.


Question: From where does plants and trees get their mass?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 From where does plants and trees get their mass?

Literally "out of thin air". Plants are, as all life, mostly made from carbon, hydrogen and oxygen. Carbon comes from the CO2 in the air, hydrogen and oxygen from the water in the soil. "Photosynthesis" is just the process of grabbing CO2 out of the air and making useful stuff out of it, using sunlight as the energy source. edit: Soil is important for the other elements life needs. Phosphorous and nitrogen are 2 important ones here, that's why we fertilize crops with ammonia and phosphate compounds. Interestingly, while the air contains vast amounts of nitrogen, plants can't use directly it because it's extremely hard to break the N2 molecule apart, and only very specialized bacteria can do it.


Question: In computer science, how do packets get lost in the first place?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 In computer science, how do packets get lost in the first place?

Many ways including: 1. Packet filtering due to policy rules 2. Routing errors causing loops resulting in the time to live TTL expiring 3. Link errors causing corrupt frames that can not be self repaired 4. Queue buffers getting full on routers 5. Software errors on routers such as the bloody VSS issue with have on our 6870XL at the moment and Cisco Tac are being slow resolving it ( not an ELI5 but a rant )


Question: Why is money taken instantly from your bank account for online purchases, but it takes several days, or weeks for a full refund?

The user asks a question, and the Assistant answers it. The assistant provides the user with the answer that strictly follows the following guidelines. The answer should be enclosed within <answer> </answer> tags, respectively, i.e., <answer> ANSWER HERE </answer>.
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[Your final detailed answer goes here]
</answer>
 Why is money taken instantly from your bank account for online purchases, but it takes several days, or weeks for a full refund?

Your bank immediately puts the money into a giant holding account to be transferred during the giant end of day batch transaction. The other bank will have to process the incoming money and put it in the appropriate accounts accordingly. As a result, the retailer doesn't actually see the money from your sale for several days. When you do a refund, the same is true in reverse. The retailer will see their money disappear instantly, but it will be in a banking buffer for a little while until it gets deposited into your account. The reason for all of this is that banks want to manage as few inter-bank transactions as possible. Having every $5 transaction between banks have its own link just adds a lot of room for error, and doesn't really add any value on the banks side.