Biology
Exploring "Why" questions about Biology
483 articles
Why do we feel like time has passed after sleeping but not after being given general anesthetic?
I had my first experience with general anesthesia this year and felt the same. Waking from a nap or a night's sleep, there a sense of time having passed. After general anesthesia there's just a blank
Why are so many invasive species in the US waterways from China?
Most of them are not actually from China. They may happen to exist in China, but they may just as well be brought over from other places in Asia. Besides, looking at a [list of invasive aquatic specie
Why are animals instinctively afraid of humans but when they see other species they’re often like “sup bro?” and go about their business?
The same reason humans are instinctively afraid of snakes, tigers, and crocodiles. We're evolved to be afraid of some species because before we positioned ourselves at the top of the food chain we wer
Why did the British give up the colonies so easily during the American Revolution?
They didn't. The American Revolution was, in effect, a sort of mini-First World War, with the French, Spanish and Dutch all waging all-out war on British interests overseas, both in the Americas and e
Why is there no pleasure response towards protein like there is towards fat or sugar?
You've never had a craving for steak or sushi, and a pleasure response when you gratify it?
Why was “Smells Like Teen Spirit” considered such a revolutionary song? And what’s so special about Kurt Cobain?
Nirvana gets a lot of the credit for starting the "grunge" movement. What makes smells like teen spirit so different is it's grunge sound and lyrical content. This was the first mainstream song to sor
Why aren’t race/bigotry motivated crimes committed by non-islamist groups not considered acts of terrorism by the media/general public?
Terrorism is a point a view, not an inherent fact to a situation. When the OK city bombing happened all the media rushed to say it was committed by Arab terrorists. When it was revealed to be perpetra
Why is way harder to find species where females have to impress males for matting?
Because growing a baby intrinsically requires more resources than providing sperm, therefore more care must be taken in selecting a mate. Waste a bit of sperm on a bad genetic partner? No big deal.
Why do names tend to cycle in and out of popularity throughout different generations?
"That's an old person name, I know an old lady at my work who is named that it's so icky" or "Haha gross I can't name my kid after my dad" "Haha gross I can't name my daughter after my gramma" "Oh man
Why is Android Insecure if Linux is Generally Very Secure?
Who told you that Linux is secure ? vulnerabilities keep popping up everyone and then, some of them are huge !! In fact, vulnerabilities in things like bash mess up everything based on that bash, so v