ELI5 Explain Like I'm 5: Bite sized answers to stuff you should know about - in a mini podcast

What are bed bugs? Can you see them? How long have they been around? We thought we had eradicated them at one point in the mid-20th century but why did they come back? Are there any health risks? How do I tell if I have them, and how does one get rid of bed bugs? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and co...

Why is Where’s Waldo called Where’s Wally in the UK and different names in other countries? How did the illustrator come up with the idea in the first place? Has Waldo become harder to find? Why is Where’s Waldo a well known example in cryptography for zero knowledge proofs? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose ques...

Why is it called Black Friday? Why is thanksgiving always on a Thursday? Did Macys invent the thanksgiving parade? Why is American Football a thanksgiving tradition? Why is the weekend after thanksgiving the busiest day in the year for plumbers? ... we explain like I'm five This episode was originally recorded in November 2021. Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the f...

Why aren't power lines in the US buried underground so that everyone doesn't lose power during hurricanes, wildfires and other natural disasters? What causes the audible electric 'buzzing' sound from overhead high voltage power lines? Why does Mozambique have some unique regulations for overhead powerlines? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particul...

If crab fishing is so dangerous (think Deadliest Catch) why aren’t there crab farms like we have with fish? How do crabs breathe both in the water and on land? What does the phrase ‘crab mentality’ 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: lthawkington, ye...

What’s the use of the cart that pushes back the airplane? Can planes not reverse without it? How can a cup of water not spill in an airplane when the plane tips its wings to make a broad turn? Why do military planes tend to have wings above the body and commercial planes have wings underneath the body? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular th...

Why do warmer countries/closer to the equator tend to be poorer than colder countries? Is it the temperature? Was this always the case, throughout history?  Why did the Industrial Revolution happen in Europe and England instead of somewhere else? ... 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...

If hot air rises and cold air falls, why is it generally hotter at lower elevations and colder at higher elevations? Why is the temperature near the equator hotter than at the poles of the earth? Why is Death Valley the hottest place on Earth when it’s not near the equator? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to Robert for Pittsburgh, Pa. for writing in with this question. Thank you to the r/ex...

Why do we have two different types of screws?  If the Phillips head is superior, why haven’t flathead screws just been phased out over time? What are the benefits of the Allen and Torx type screws? Why do manufacturers like IKEA like to use Allen wrench screws for self assembled furniture instead of standard Phillips or flathead screws? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeim...

Do laser beams get wider over a distance? Why are most lasers red and not white in color? What’s the difference between a powerful flashlight and a white laser? Did Albert Einstein invent the laser? ... 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: titaniumdragon, skonc...

How does siri hear me say “hey siri” if it isn’t constantly listening to my conversations or me speaking? Why are most voice assistants’ wake phrases 3 syllables? “Hey Siri”, “Alexa”, “Hey Google”. How are synthesized voices (like Alexa and Siri) made? Why did the guy who is the voice of Siri not even know his voice was being used? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive...

How does a country devalue their currency, and why would they want to do that? What does it mean when people say a government is manipulating a currency? And what does it mean to either ‘peg’ or ‘float’ a currency? Explain the Bretton Woods system? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comments formed t...

When and where did money originate? Why are there two prevailing theories for how it came about? Why are there issues with the barter theory? If not the barter theory, what’s the other theory? What are some of the interesting phrases written on paper money? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community. To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for al...

Do Saunas and Steam rooms offer any actual health benefits? Do they help one’s skin? What happens to your body in a sauna? How can I sit in a 85 degree celsius sauna and not get burned, while water of the same temperature would scald badly? What is the Finnish connection? How do wood structures in saunas not rot or get moldy? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive commun...

How effective are ice baths and what are the benefits? How did they become so popular? Is it wrong to take a hot shower after a big meal? Is there danger from taking a shower in a thunderstorm? ... 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: jimmyb3121, qjkxkcd, copno...

If there's 3.2 billion base pairs in the human DNA, how come there's only about 20,000 genes? What is a gene? What is the double helix? Why is it significant? Who deserves credit for the discovery of DNA? Why do some people think Rosalind Franklin should have been awarded a Nobel Prize? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following user...

Is it true that the temperature on Saturn is hot enough for it to rain diamonds. How can this be when the planet’s so far out from the sun? And how can this be given that Saturn is a gas planet? Why does Saturn have a Hexagon on its North Pole? Why are Saturn's rings almost perfectly flat and flush with each other? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in...

How do bears manage to keep their muscles strong after hibernation? If bears can hibernate through the winter living strictly on fat, could people potentially do the same and just sit around and not eat anything? What mechanism allows seed to hibernate for thousands of years and simply wake up to the first sign of water? Would a bear that's raised domestically, including sleeping indoors, still go...

Why does every elevator have a "door close" button if almost none of these buttons actually work? Is it a placebo? Why do some elevators have an up and a down button on their door, when they call the elevator to your floor regardless? If an elevator is falling to the ground, would jumping right before it hits save your life? Why do engineers say a space elevator would have to be built at the equat...

Why are there exactly four strokes in swimming? Why are the Native Americans credited with the invention of Front Crawl and why is it also called the Australian Crawl? How did Butterfly come about as a variation of breaststroke? When was the dolphin kick invented? ... we explain like I'm five To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Join us on...

What’s the difference between Pickleball and Padel? Why is it called Pickleball? Was it named after the family dog? Why is the court the same size as a badminton court? Who is investing significant money into the sport? Can Pickleball or Padel surpass tennis in popularity? ... we explain like I'm five To the ELI5 community that has supported us so far, thanks for all your feedback and comments. Jo...

What is the tesseract? The geometric shape, not the fictional Marvel space stone! How can we visualize a 4D shape in a 3D world? What did the great Carl Sagan say about why it’s so hard for us to imagine 4 dimensions? Who discovered the tesseract in the first place? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and...

What does a central bank do? What’s the difference between a central bank, a reserve bank and a monetary authority? Why are some people against having a federal reserve? What is a CBDC, a central bank digital currency? How is it different to crypto currencies? ... we explain like I'm five Thank you to the r/explainlikeimfive community and in particular the following users whose questions and comme...

How realistic are the Hollywood movie portrayals of amnesia compared to real-life amnesia? Why is it that when people get amnesia, they don't forget everything? Why do people with amnesia not forget their primary language for example? What’s the difference between retrograde and anterograde amnesia? Is there anything that can be done to treat or manage amnesia? Is it possible to ‘fake’ amnesia? .....

How do French words like “cul-de-sac” and “hors d'oeuvres“ end up part of the English language without being translated to English words? Why did a language as widely spoken as Latin completely die? Why does this 'dead' language still have such a powerful presence in modern English? What is a calque? Why do some Latin phrases remain untranslated in common usage, like "status quo," "vice versa"?  ....