Biology
Exploring "Why" questions about Biology
483 articles
Why don’t humans produce the enzyme required to digest cellulose?
Because we instead produce the enzymes and have a digestive system capable of digesting meat. The critters that can eat cellulose generally are full herbivores and can't do that, because their digesti
Why is mental health, dental, and vision care not lumped in with general medical care?
This gets misunderstood all the time. This is the real answer. Health insurance is really two products packaged together.
Why is the human tongue so strong? Evolutionarily, how did it develop that way?
The tongue is something that often gets taken for granted. When you think about it, it is incredibly important for eating. It's main job (beyond speech) is to move food around in your mouth to the opt
Why are “virtual machines” generally regarded as impenetrable/safe?
A virtual machine is like The Matrix. When you're inside The Matrix, you're not aware that what you're doing is taking place in a virtual world -- to you it's real life. You could go on a killing spre
Why do twins often time have different personalities— even if they share the same chromosomes and live in the same environment?
They don't live in the same environment. They live with each other. While they share the same genetics, they are not treated the same much like any other set of siblings.
Why do humans have different races? Why do different species exist?
> Are races to humans species to animals? No, all humans belong to the same species: *Homo sapiens*. Races to humans are more like dog breeds; they have some superficial differences but they're all
Why is twoxchromosomes a default sub while there is no default male counterpart?
Guys can find a welcome audience to talk about guy things in nearly any sub, so there's not really a need for a special "guys only" sub. This is like if someone opens a vegetarian restaurant and you a
Why doesn’t a specialized battery company like Duracell compete with Tesla’s Powerwall?
The same reason Nokia didn't react when iPhone and Android first came to market, they will pay for their mistake sooner or later.
Why are European cars in general much smaller than US cars?
European roads are, generally, much smaller than US roads. That's historical, the buildings in European city centers constrain the size of the roads. American cities are hundreds of years newer.
Why couldn’t Bill Gates or any billionaire fix endangered species by buying land in Africa?
1) The land probably isn't for sale, even corrupt African dictators don't like foreign powers buying up vast tracts of their land. 2) The endangered animals won't stay on the land. Most large mammals