Explain Like I'm Five - Eli5 Mini Podcast

Why does the ampersand exist? Why do movie credits have a specific use of the ampersand? When did it stop being the 27th member of the alphabet? What does ‘per se’ mean in the context of the ampersand? Why is the ampersand written the way it is? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: moongosling, uniqueusername014, jayman419 and kaffekalle. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

How did they disprove the common assumption that our skin wrinkles or water aging occurs because water makes it swell? What did they observe and how is this fact used in the medical field today? What evolutionary purpose does wrinkled fingers serve? What other medical conditions could wrinkled fingers be linked to?   ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: forgivethepast, axel927 and dday0123. Nature article referenced in episode: https://www.nature.com/articles/nature.2013.12175  To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Why does it feel so strange to step onto a stationary escalator? What do the brush type things on the side of escalators do? Why are escalator steps jagged with the brushlike shape at the top and bottom? Why do escalator handrails often run at slightly different speeds than the steps? Why does it feel so strange to step onto a stationary escalator? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: ferdinand00, v0kun, banauuuuh, teddyjules, rashikun, south5, ac7ss, voltenic and aptom203 To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

What is Occam’s Razor? Why is it so commonly misunderstood? Why do people talk about hooves and zebras when describing it? Who was Occam, and why is it his razor? What is Occam’s broom? What are other philosophical razors that we should know about? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: shadowofthewild, stairway2evan, bakanobaka, albatroopa, zjm555, lukavwolf and mredding To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Why is it called a bear market? How did it become used to describe financial markets? What does it have to do with bear skins? What does a stock market ‘dead cat bounce’ mean? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: tallahazey21, lazerslayer, azotta and willtheyeverlearn To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

We talk so much about oxygen and carbon, but 80% of the atmosphere is nitrogen. How does it fit in? Why does it not get talked about? Why does 1% of the world’s energy go into speeding up the nitrogen cycle? Why do divers know a lot about nitrogen? Why is liquid nitrogen so useful? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: chicagofaucet, edman007-work, topomouse and scarabic. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

How did white become the standard color for golf balls, when a more vibrant color would make it easier to see as it’s flying through the air? How do TV camera people follow golf balls so accurately? How is ‘par’ determined for a golf course? And of course, the classic golf question - why are there dimples on golf balls? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: thepainapple, the_original_retro, cyb0ninja, zippo16, tezoatlipoca, xmosse, fringeaverage, robbak, toro816, akylax To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Why did we settle on chicken eggs as our standard eggs? Why not quail eggs, duck eggs or even ostrich eggs? What in evolution made chickens so productive? How did cow’s milk win over goats milk or bison milk? What is the concept of the butter line and why does it matter? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: budford12, misanthropeX, greenstrong, acceptablemadness, alexl14, darkalman and cavemanjoe47 To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com  

What’s the difference between natural gas, gasoline and crude oil? Why doesn’t the flame from a gas stove ignite the supply line? How is natural gas transported via pipeline if it’s a gas? Why do gas pipelines have bendy sections? How come we see clean air natural gas buses, but not really any natural gas cars? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: cheetahs_never_win, cerebralaccountant, darkalman, Badcat7, hezec, bigflagellum, evr-, individual-manner-27, loydhenderson, diamondicens and gazzaggerty To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Some people say Coca Cola tastes different from an alumninum can compared to when drinking out of a glass bottle? Why is the level of fizziness also different between aluminum, plastic and glass bottles? What is so hard to replicate about the original Coca Cola? How can soft drinks like Coca-Cola Zero have almost 0 calories in them? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: mossimo5, wanerious, chabays, ammon-jerro, decademoon and moy2093 To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Which is more popular, driving on the left side of the road or the right? How has this changed in the last 100 years? How did Sweden manage to make the switch from left hand traffic to right hand traffic in one day? What are the practical considerations? Is this the same for rail and boat transport? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: cincy2000, rappatic and definitely_robots To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Why are clothes that are hung to dry crunchy/stiffer than clothes dried in a dryer? How does spandex make cotton stretchy? What does it mean when they say cotton 50% and something else 50% like polyester or lycra? Please explain bed sheets and thread counts?   ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: ldi1, prionbacon, dbmaniac, shoziku, aktuarie, motomike256, dansworth, quantumhamster, demanbmore, kstakka, platanosinpantalon, jarjarawakens and pescodar189. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

How is monkeypox related to smallpox? Why was it possible to eradicate smallpox, when it’s been impossible to do for other diseases? Why do vaccines owe their name to smallpox? What is cowpox? How does chickenpox fit into all this? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: jimmiekosmo, afinkawan, meerkatmanor987, gingercunt101, prasiatko, mikeevans1990 and jefetoro1234 To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com  

What are stable coins and why do we even need them? What’s the mechanism that makes them stable? What are the different types of stable coin? How did the algorithmic stable coin Terra work, and why did it unravel?   ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: fihaal42, tehwildman_, enough_blueberry_549, sleep_naked, red_atnight and lawproud492. Some extra resources: https://medium.com/@lawrenceg/what-are-stablecoins-and-why-do-we-need-them-db83c85b86b https://multicoin.capital/2018/01/17/an-overview-of-stablecoins/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stablecoin To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

What’s the difference between the police department and the sheriff’s department? What was the sting operation the FBI conducted on members of congress in the 1980s? Did we not have a foreign intelligence service before the CIA was created? What was the Secret Service’s original role? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: davedoeslife, chrismichaels3000, fouram, mildlysuspicious, firesondiego, zyonker, nickppapagiorgio, hugglyfe, acrobatic_pandas and dew2459 To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

In business, what is a hostile takeover? How does it work? How can a board of directors prevent a hostile takeover? What is a poison pill? Can a board choose not to use a poison pill once it has been set up? What do Microsoft, Netflix and Papa Johns have in common? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: vonshavingcream, georgeoscarb, oohcharlie and phage0070 To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Where does the term come from? Why is the definition so hard to pin down? What happened in the 1940s film starring Ingrid Bergman? When did gaslighting re-enter popular culture in recent times? Why is the term often misused? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: pwa09, berael, sublimeecto1a, e-snap, nobutthanksanyway, bodaciousvermin, axolotlsaredangerous, encogneeto and diaperedwoman To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

Why is Hiroshima a vibrant city today, vs a dead city like Chernobyl which still has sa 30km exclusion zone? How do countries get rid of nuclear warheads when they no longer need them? How are nuclear weapons tests conducted underground without destroying everything around them? ELI5 what happened at Chernobyl? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: iisystematic, brainwired1, gfrisse1, temioo, the_other_goat, kent1146, clovis69, doctor_zonk, rilkespawn, clotzyninja and je_kay24. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

How is the date for Easter determined each year? Why do we have an Easter bunny and chocolate Easter eggs? Why did Christmas become a bigger holiday than Easter? What animal is often used instead of a bunny in Australia? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: nehala, nomocactusnames, vorengard, marcvanh, euthy, deadmanv5, juanpablo2016, override9636, underbuster and kouhoutek. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com

What is Lego’s company motto? What does the word Lego mean? How do lego bricks not lose tension after years of repetitive play? If Lego had a patent on their interlocking bricks, why are there so many copycat versions? How many lego pieces are in circulation? What’s the biggest lego set? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed the basis of this discussion: madeleinedean, 080087, option8, squeevey, laeiryn and gragert. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/eli5ThePodcast/ or send us an e-mail: ELI5ThePodcast@gmail.com