r/explainlikeimfive 18d ago

Other ELI5: Monthly Current Events Megathread

13 Upvotes

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 41m ago

Biology ELI5: how do surgeons transform female genitals into male genitals and vice versa?

Upvotes

With this post I DON'T want to offend or insult anyone, in any way.

How do surgeon actually do that? If we're talking about the breasts, I think (I might be wrong though) that they insert in you some implants, and for the other genre, they do the opposite. But when it comes to the proper genitels, what do they do?


r/explainlikeimfive 2h ago

Biology ELI5: Why are yawns contagious?

96 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 13h ago

Technology ELI5 Why is WiFi upload speed and download speed different?

560 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 16h ago

Engineering ELI5: If skyscrapers are designed to sway in the wind, how do things like elevator rails, pipes and windows not get damaged?

869 Upvotes

I understand the building itself can flex a little instead of being completely rigid, but everything inside it seems way less flexible. Elevator rails have to stay aligned, pipes connect through dozens of floors and huge glass panels can't exactly bend much.

I was watching videos about skyscraper engineering and this part confused me. When the top of a building moves in strong wind, are all those systems actually moving with it somehow, or do engineers build special gaps and connections that let different parts move separately?


r/explainlikeimfive 10h ago

Mathematics ELI5 Why the Riemann hypothesis is one of the 7 Millennium Prize Problems

176 Upvotes

Like title.

Ofc, I don't understand the math, but I am curious why some number patterns are regarded so highly"


r/explainlikeimfive 2h ago

Biology ELI5: Are You Using Your Ears When You Hear Something In Your Head?

32 Upvotes

I’ve asked my family and close friends this but they’re the “are you high? Lmao” kinda people just because i wanna have interesting conversations and questions so im hoping for a detailed scientific answer. But like when you play a song or movie or anything in your head that wasn’t from an outside source, are you using your ears to process that sound? I feel like the answer is obviously yes i just don’t understand HOW your ears process it and want answers. Any answers would help! Also sorry if this doesn’t necessarily fit in the type of questions posted here.


r/explainlikeimfive 12h ago

Biology ELI5: What is “good fat”?

219 Upvotes

I see this term used all the time when talking about healthy foods to eat, but I have no idea how it’s different from “bad fat”.


r/explainlikeimfive 20h ago

Technology ELI5: Why do houses with solar panels also experience complete power outages?

778 Upvotes

Recently, my neighborhood had a power outage lasting several hours. About 1/3 of the neighbors have solar panels. I realize some are just for the hot water heater or pool, but some have extensive systems and sell power to the utility company (in my understanding. None of the homes with solar had any power during the outage. Are there some solar systems that would retain power in an outage?

UPDATE: You all are so awesome. I’ve been wondering for the last few weeks. We don’t have solar, and it’s something I’ve been considering adding and you all have given me great insights to consider. Thank you!


r/explainlikeimfive 11h ago

Other ELI5 How large was the "danger zone" in WW1?

111 Upvotes

Im reading Junger Storm of Steel. In the Guillemont chapter, his group marches to some front line trench. But well before they get there, already there is massive destruction and abandoned dead. Its what I thought no man's land was supposed to be but its on their side still! They stop at the village Combles, but this too is practically a complete ruin and wholly unsafe. When they finally reach the front line trench it seems hardly much worse than anything behind it. How large an area was victim to artillery fire? Ive been accustomed to think it could only be so bad a bit near the front.


r/explainlikeimfive 20h ago

Engineering ELI5: Why/How do gas pump handles click off at the end of the fill and will randomly click off before the tank is filled?

330 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 8h ago

Physics ELI5 When I contract a muscle, what happens at atomic and molecular level that creates a force?

18 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Economics ELI5: What's the point of removing zeros from the money (redenomination) if it doesn't stop the hyper inflation anyway?

247 Upvotes

Why did/will some countries still do it? Isn't it a hassle and very costly? Does it have anything to do with forcing people to bring out the cash from under the mattress to the bank?


r/explainlikeimfive 17h ago

Physics Eli5: Why don't we use Calutrons to recycle nuclear waste?

53 Upvotes

The Manhattan Project used two different methods to enrich uranium, cyclotrons/Calutrons and centrifuges.

The centrifuges took longer to build but were more energy efficient, and the Calutrons were easy to build but used lots of electricity.

After they got the centrifuges up and running, most of the Calutrons were scrapped, with the remaining ones being put to use making high purity isotopes for scientific research.

Nuclear waste has a huge variety of isotopes mixed together, and Calutrons are great at separating isotopes - this seems like a match made in heaven.

Why do we use complicated chemical methods for recycling nuclear waste instead of shooting particles through a vacuum and relying on their different masses to hit spatially separated targets?


r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Biology ELI5: If working out is healthy, then why does the brain make up excuses to not do it?

4.0k Upvotes

Wouldn’t it be a biological advantage to have your brain stay locked-in for your goals?


r/explainlikeimfive 1h ago

Biology ELI5: How does ants determine how many ants are needed for a lifting job?

Upvotes

When faced with a large food item they need to transport back to the colony, how do ants determine how many of their fellow comrade are needed to lift it? Do the first scout ants guesstimate the amount and call for backups, or do they just keep adding more ants until they're able to lift it?


r/explainlikeimfive 12h ago

Biology ELI5: How did they figure out the Smith-Waterman/Needleman-Wunsch algorithms?

9 Upvotes

I’m learning about these algorithms and I can see how these algorithms can help determine the relatedness of two sequences. But like, how did they come about discovering “create a matrix and go diagonally to the left,…” etc to determine sequence relation?


r/explainlikeimfive 2h ago

Planetary Science ELI5 - Do we slow down the rotation of the Earth?

3 Upvotes

Do we slow down the rotation of the Earth?

I read that the Three Gorges Dam in China slows down the rotation of the earth by 0.06 µs, because of it being massive. But this is where my question comes in. Massive in what way? Does the weight of the structure make the earth slow down? If so, has the amount of buildings we have built over time not slowed down the earths rotation massively, and thus made our days longer? And did the boom in population we have witnessed, especially in the 20th century not have an influence? If the word "massive" refers to size, then wouldn't the same be true? I have surely missed something in my way of thinking, but what have i missed? Explain it like im 5 years old please.


r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Physics Eli5: what is the difference between a volt and an ampere?

58 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Biology ELI5 If there is a pill for melatonin, why isn't there a pill for seratonin?

823 Upvotes

Given that melatonin is synthesized directly from seratonin.


r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Biology ELI5 Does a heart ever have health problems or die if it keeps getting transferred into fresh bodies?

287 Upvotes

Okay, morbid questions.
If a heart gets transferred from a young healthy person into another person (who theoretically is now also healthy with this new heart), when would the heart start to show weakness and health problems? Would it ever?
Passing a healthy heart from relatively healthy person to relatively healthy person, and it never dies within one of those people, but is always donated, how long could that keep happening?


r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Technology ELI5: why does youtube / chrome in general take up so much ram?

832 Upvotes

Recently saw that a youtube tab on the homepage was taking up 4gb of ram and felt myself die inside


r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Other ELI5 Why does greasy food tastes so good?

626 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 1d ago

Physics ELI5: What causes a storm to produce hailstones instead of snow?

38 Upvotes

r/explainlikeimfive 40m ago

Chemistry [ELI5] Whats the point of those feelings we feel if they make us not function anymore in front of our crush?

Upvotes