History
Exploring "Why" questions about History
491 articles
Why doesn’t Unit 731 ever get recognized when discussing the horrors of World War II?
Unfortunately events like this aren't talked about as much as they should be because very few people in the West knew about them at the time, because we never really put any forces into China. Plus th
Why is there such a stigma against smoking tobacco in the US?
Enough people complained. There's no conspiracy here. Tobacco costs our healthcare system [billions](_URL_0_).
Why didn’t any Ancient Grecians climb Mount Olympus? Wouldn’t SOMEONE want to see the gods?
Few things: 1. From our perspective looking back in time, it seems like everyone literally believed that the gods had a physical home on Mt. Olympus.
Why do we use winking and crossing our fingers behind our backs as a gesture of lying?
Crossing your fingers used to be used as a gesture of protection against hexes and curses. When lying, it was used to protect against being retaliated against if found out.
Why does a Jet breaking the sound barrier have a thunderous boom?
The thunderous boom is related to the sound barrier. Going supersonic creates a pair of pressure waves emitted in an expanding cone from the traveling object. There is a sudden rise then a drop in air
Why do we “need” to eat before taking any type of medication?
It depends on the medicine. The reasons to eat before taking the pill: it is digested and absorbed into blood faster, it won't damage stomach (eg aspirin or ketorolac can, it is not funny when you tak
Why does YouTube prevent some videos from working on mobile devices?
It depends. Sometimes it's the decision of the uploader to restrict a video from certain groups. But, probably more common, is the fact that the video contains copyrighted material that belongs to a t
Why were gladiators socially acceptable during Roman times?
Life was nasty, brutish, and short. It was a violent world and though there were almost certainly people who didn't think it was appropriate (Christians, for a start!) they were probably in a minority
Why does the ice cream machine in McDonald’s/Burger King breakdown so often?
Soft serve ice cream needs to be constantly stirred to keep it from hardening in the machine and to flow out when released, which means that the machine is constantly running for something like 18 hou
why does looking at the road keep you from getting carsick?
Motion sickness is when your eyes and your inner ear are experiencing different things. Sitting in the back seat of a car, you're mostly seeing the inside of the car which isn't moving as far as your