Amoeba Sisters
Evolution
Explore the concept of biological evolution with the Amoeba Sisters! This video mentions a few misconceptions about biological evolution before providing a general definition. Then this video provides a description of four different...
TED Talks
Beyond the Stars: Embracing Curiosity and the Search for Extraterrestrial Life
Astrophysicist Avi Loeb believes we are likely not alone in the universe. He criticizes the approach of simply waiting for contact through radio signals, suggesting instead that we should actively search for evidence of other life. He...
TED Talks
TED: The difference between false empathy and true support | Chezare A. Warren
There's a right way and wrong way to do empathy, says author and scholar Chezare A. Warren. So how do we get it right? He unpacks the source of false empathy and explains the key shift in perspective we need to build healthy...
SciShow
How Long Have We Been Playing with Fire?
So we know that humans are pretty good at making fires, but how long have we been barbecue pit masters? Turns out the evidence is hardly a smoking gun.
SciShow
Do CPAPs Even Work for Sleep Apnea?
If you've been prescribed an expensive, cumbersome CPAP machine, you might want to know if it actually works. And while sleep doctors insist CPAP is the standard of care, out there in the real world, it's a little more complicated.
SciShow
How to Get the Most Out of Magnesium
Magnesium may be all the rage as a sleep aid, but does it actually work? We decided to dive into the research to find out, and ended up learning a lot about mice along the way.
SciShow
Why City Birds Love Cigarettes
Urban birds like house finches and house sparrows are great at finding materials to repel pests and parasites from their nests. Unfortunately, one of those materials is used cigarette butts.
SciShow
The World's Oldest Recipes
If you could throw a potluck with all the oldest foods in the world, what would you bring? We asked ourselves that question and prepared a menu of tasty snacks for you to consider, from tamales and noodles to our favorite ancient boozes....
TED Talks
TED: The climate solutions worth funding — now | Jonathan Foley
When it comes to climate solutions, "now is better than new, and time is more important than tech," says scientist Jonathan Foley. He presents a six-part framework to more efficiently address climate change, from better aligning capital...
SciShow
Everyone Was Wrong About Avocados - Including Us
If you’re a fan of avocados, you might have heard that they only exist thanks to prehistoric creatures called giant ground sloths. In fact, you’ve probably heard that from us. But as it turns out, the real story is way more complicated -...
SciShow
Can a Plug-In Really Improve Your Cat's Behavior?
Have you ever seen cat pheromones, sometimes branded as Feliway, that promise to address problem behaviors like cat scratching, fighting, and stress? These products are based on real science. But do they work?
SciShow
The Earthquake That Lasted Two Centuries
From an Australian fire that's been continually burning for millennia, to earthquakes that shake the ground for centuries, here are four natural disasters that lasted way longer than you might have expected.
MinuteEarth
Why We Haven’t Learned More In 101 Years Of Trying
Almost everything we know about the reproductive practices of European eels comes from a genius study conducted more than 100 years ago.
TED Talks
TED: The future of repairing the human body | Nina Tandon
As humans live longer than ever before, we need our implants to last as long as we do, says bioengineer Nina Tandon. Using stem cells and digital fabrication, she's working on growing anatomically precise spare parts for the human body,...
SciShow
Becoming a Predator Was Hard
Animals eating other animals seems like a tale as old as time, but it's only almost that old. Predation had to evolve in the Ediacaran period -- so let's look at early almost-predators like Auroralumina, Kimberella, Ikaria, and whatever...
SciShow
The Rocky Mountains Are in the Wrong Place
Mountain ranges usually don't form in the middle of continents. Except for the Rocky Mountains. We'll go into the baffling Laramide Orogeny and a few possible reasons why the Rockies might be in the wrong place.
SciShow
The Ominous Reason Phobos Has Lines on It
Mars’s moon, Phobos, is striped with grooves all across its surface. But if one theory about where they came from is true, does that mean this moon might be on its way out?
SciShow
We Don’t Know Why Astronauts Get Motion Sick
A majority of modern astronauts experience any one of a suite of symptoms scientists collectively call Space Motion Sickness, or SMS. But despite knowing about it for nearly as long as humans have gone into space, we still don't know...
SciShow
Does Tylenol Actually Do Anything?
The pain reliever known as acetaminophen or paracetamol, marketed under brand names like Tylenol, Calpol or Panadol, has an excellent reputation. But the quality of evidence that it actually works is shockingly poor. So, do doctors and...
SciShow
A Big Bang Beginner’s Guide | Compilation
While there's still a lot that astrophysicists don't know about the Big Bang, there are some things we do know. So today, let's get caught up on the Big Bang basics.
SciShow
Did Earth's Continents Come from Space?
Earth didn't always have the land beneath your feet, but what might have caused it to form is a bit of a mystery.
PBS
How Ankylosaurs Got Their Clubs
While clubs are practically synonymous with ankylosaurs, we’ve only started to get to the bottom of how they worked and how this unusual anatomy developed in the first place.
PBS
How Horses Went From Food To Friends
Do our modern horses descend from just one domesticated population, or did it happen many times, in many places? Answering these questions has been tricky, as we’ve needed to bring together evidence from art, archaeology, and ancient...
PBS
Is The Universe Finite?
Every time you walk out the door, light from the Big Bang strikes your face, enters your eyes. This is the cosmic microwave background radiation - the left-over heat-glow from the very early universe. We can’t see this microwave light...