r/explainlikeimfive • u/arztnur • 18h ago
r/explainlikeimfive • u/AutoModerator • 25d ago
Other ELI5: Monthly Current Events Megathread
Hi Everyone,
This is your monthly megathread for current/ongoing events. We recognize there is a lot of interest in objective explanations to ongoing events so we have created this space to allow those types of questions.
Please ask your question as top level comments (replies to the post) for others to reply to. The rules are still in effect, so no politics, no soapboxing, no medical advice, etc. We will ban users who use this space to make political, bigoted, or otherwise inflammatory points rather than objective topics/explanations.
r/explainlikeimfive • u/DawggFish • 10h ago
Biology ELI5 Why do some musical chords sound sad and some sound happy? Is it learned or do our brains come this way from the factory?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Kingsley_Holness • 6h ago
Engineering ELI5: If we can broadcast information wirelessly through an entire house, like WIFI, Bluetooth, why can't we broadcast enough energy to charge every phone in it, without cables, charging pads, or even putting the phone in a particular spot?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/cololz1 • 10h ago
Biology ELI5: If millions of cattle are consumed yearly why arent there more human cases of prion disease?
For example the Variant Creutzfeldt Jakob Disease
r/explainlikeimfive • u/DeadShot516983 • 9h ago
Other ELI5, why did NFL footage from the 1920s and 30s look so sped up or slowed down?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Weak-Hamster- • 19h ago
Mathematics ELI5: If a surgery has a 1% risk of death, does that mean 1 out of every 100 people who get the surgery will die?
If doctors say a surgery has a 1% chance of causing death, does that literally mean that if 100 people undergo the same surgery, 1 person would be expected to die and the other 99 would survive?
Does that percentage apply to every specific person, if that's the case wouldn't that mean, theoretically, every healthy person should survive out of the 100 people since every person has a 99% chance of not dying?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Icy-Ad-2421 • 17h ago
Other ELI5: What do people mean when they refer to certain places as "liminal spaces"?
I've been seeing people talk about these things called "liminal spaces" lately mostly on posts with weird looking pictures of empty places. I don't really know much about them but I'm kinda curious. What exactly makes a place liminal?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/DeadShot516983 • 12h ago
Other ELI5, why did photographs of Grand Prix racing from the 1910s and 1920s make the cars look like they were leaning forward/tilted/askew (click the link for photo example)?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Inevitable-Cow-908 • 1h ago
Engineering ELI5: aside from aerodynamics, what determines how fast a car goes? why can some cars have the similar engines in power but differ completely in their performance?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Heliolowerthe2nd • 3h ago
Technology ELI5: Why can X-rays easily pass right through our skin and muscles but get completely stopped by our bones?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Silly-Energy-1577 • 1d ago
Biology ELI5 How do morbidly obese people’s bones not just break under all of the weight they carry on them?
I’m not referring to people that are say 350 pounds. I’m more referring to the super obese people that are in the 900+ pound range.
r/explainlikeimfive • u/rodwavesbellyyeast • 15h ago
Biology ELI5: How do bugs like spiders end up in high-rise apartments? How do they get up there?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/CarefreeCuriosity • 5h ago
Biology ELI5 What determines neuron polarity and the factors controlling neuronal circuit layouts
What is the benefit of having the cell body in different locations? What factors do neurons used to communicate with each other so that they can for complex circuits, and what determines if a neuron is stimulatory or inhibitory?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/megthestylist • 1d ago
Biology ELI5 Converting energy into matter
Is it possible to turn our chemical energy (whatever makes us able to move, carry heavy loads, ect.) Into some kind of matter?
I've only ever seen people use bombs as examples but I was wondering if it would be possible to turn that energy into a non explosive material.
r/explainlikeimfive • u/TraditionalDepth6924 • 22h ago
Biology ELI5: Why do containers with vegetables in them in the fridge grow black mold soon while those full of water in the fridge seem to remain clean?
I wouldn’t try the water in the latter, but that has been the result of my unintentional experiments: months-long-left water container just looking intact.
Recapped plastic soda bottles seemingly free of mold for weeks too - are they still not safe, or do molds originally grow faster than from merely moist?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Japponese • 9h ago
Mathematics ELI5 when non trivial zeros of a function are
like, I know what a zero is, and also what a function is sometimes even how to calculate them, bo idea of the difference between a trivial zero and a non trivial one
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Odd-Reading5701 • 1d ago
Planetary Science ELI5 * * Why is the whole universe not one big galaxy?
That is my question. Saw a pretty good documentary about the universe and dark matter and dark energy, but it never explained that bit.
r/explainlikeimfive • u/ancient-aurora • 17h ago
Biology ELI5: Why can the same temperature feel completely different depending on whether it’s windy, humid or sunny?
I’ve always wondered how it can be the exact same temperature on paper, but feel completely different depending on the weather.
Like, 15°C can feel freezing when it’s windy, weirdly warm when the sun is out, or uncomfortable when it’s humid.
What’s actually happening to our bodies that makes the same temperature feel so different? Is it mostly about how quickly we lose heat, or are there other factors involved?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/no_thx_im_good • 3h ago
Other ELI5 Why are kpop songs so catchy and so easy to get stuck in your head?
don’t speak Korean but kpop songs get stuck in my head for like days and I can’t make them stop. Is it the hooks or the beats or just how much they repeat the same part. Maybe it’s something else I’m not thinking of. I don’t get why they stick so much more than other pop songs
r/explainlikeimfive • u/No-Drama-439 • 17m ago
Other ELI5 What is "high-density life"?
I randomly came across this term "high-density life" in a self-help kind of article or speech. It says strong people live their lives with more "density". And these strong and successful people manage to experience more, create more, complete more and stuff. I feel anxious when I read it because I can't help feeling that I'm wasting my life.
What do you know about "life density”? Do you think the whole concept exists? What do you do to make your life "denser" if you agree on this concept?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/AlwaysABD • 2d ago
Biology ELI5: Why is alcohol withdraw so potentially deadly?
I've read enough to know that "cold-turkey" for alcoholics can be lethal, upto and including seizures and a host of other side effects and symptoms but I don't really understand the "why"? What is it about alcohol dependency and our biology that causes it to be so dangerous?
r/explainlikeimfive • u/leafstudy • 42m ago
Other ELI5: Why keep Staten Island part of New York City?
Given the rather distinctive makeup of Staten Island vs. the rest of New York City, there must be some good reasons why secession hasn’t been allowed to happen and why SI hasn’t been preemptively kicked out of NYC.
I’m interested in understanding what those reasons could be at a basic level.
r/explainlikeimfive • u/Bijstaander • 2d ago
Biology ELI5: Why are squids unaffected by water pressure but fish not?
Squid seem to be indifferent to the water pressure wherever they go, they have even been known to sometimes drag pray down into the depths as to turn them unconscious.
I read here that it has to do with having waterfilled bodies, but fish also have completely water filled bodies(?)