Backed by stunning illustrations, David Christian narrates a complete history of the universe, from the Big Bang to the Internet, in a riveting 18 minutes. This is "Big History": an enlightening, wide-angle look at complexity, life and...

We are approaching a whole new era! . . .or at least a new epoch. Michael Aranda explains how humans are leaving their mark on the Geologic Time Scale.

As oil and gas companies continue to make record profits off of the same forces driving climate chaos, war and soaring energy bills, it's become clear that boom times for the fossil fuel industry are bad times for the rest of us, says...

No matter how we make electricity, it takes up space. Coal requires mines, and plants to convert it into electricity. Nuclear power takes uranium mines, facilities to refine it, a reactor, and a place to store the spent fuel safely....

Hank talks about a few - maybe crazy, maybe reasonable - geoengineering schemes that some scientists have come up with in order to "fix" climate change, including designer clouds, ocean fertilization, and stratospheric shading with...

In which John looks at what it even means to live in a global age, as we've been talking about Europe's role in the gobal community for 47 episodes now. But, pedantry aside, the world is more connected than ever, and that has had effects...

Even as the Deepwater Horizon tragedy unfolded, Carl Safina took the stage at TEDxOilSpill to share what the facts were known at the time. In a blood-boiling cross-examination, he suggests that the consequences will stretch far beyond...

Climate change is unfair. While rich countries can fight against rising oceans and dying farm fields, poor people around the world are already having their lives upended -- and their human rights threatened -- by killer storms,...

All new products must pass through the "valley of death" before they reach the market. Many never make it out, and sometimes that's OK -- if they don't work, don't fill a need or for any number of reasons. One of the fields where this...

Carbon dating is a lot more than just getting the age of a dinosaur bone. We can learn a lot about the world through its use, and it turns out, we have.

In this video Paul Andersen explains how humans have consumed energy through history and may consume energy in the future. Sources of energy have included food, animals, wood, wind, coal, oil, and natural gas. However non-renewable...

We're not in a clean energy revolution; we're in a clean energy crisis, says climate policy expert Michael Shellenberger. His surprising solution: nuclear. In this passionate talk, he explains why it's time to overcome longstanding fears...

Despite the rise of renewable energy, the backbone of the power grid is fossil fuels. Adapting the grid to green energy sources is more complicated than flipping a switch.

In this video Paul Andersen explains how the global climate is changing as a result of natural phenomenon and human actions. Changes in the solar radiation due to variations in the Earth's tilt and orbit have caused the ice ages....

Breathing clean air is every child's human right, says grassroots campaigner Rosamund Adoo-Kissi-Debrah, sharing the heartbreaking story of her seven-year-old daughter, Ella Roberta, whose asthma was triggered to a fatal point by air...

India has a historic opportunity to power its industrialization with clean energy -- and its energy choices will make or break the world's fight against climate change, says clean energy executive, physicist and author Varun Sivaram....

Carbon dating transformed fields like archeology and paleontology, but its use might be in danger.

This week we are exploring alternative energy sources. We'll look at how biomass can be burned as a fuel source, how hydrogen can be used in a fuel cell to generate electrical power, and how nuclear fission provides power to the grid....

What exactly is the carbon cycle? Nathaniel Manning provides a basic look into the cyclical relationship of carbon, humans and the environment.

In this video Paul Andersen discusses the technology, advantages and disadvantages of six sources of renewable energy; biomass, hydroelectric, solar, geothermal wind, and hydrogen. He also explains how changes in the storage and flow of...

Indigenous communities have looked after their ancestral forests for millennia, cultivating immense amounts of knowledge on how to protect, nourish and heal these vital environments. Today, 470 million Indigenous people care for and...

Biofuels can provide energy without the reliance on environmentally harmful fossils fuels -- but scientists are still searching for a plentiful source. Craig A. Kohn demonstrates how cellulose, the naturally abundant tough walls of plant...

Humans have relied on fertilizers to grow their plants for thousands of years. But the production of synthetic fertilizers also requires an immense amount of energy that comes primarily from fossil fuels and therefore contributes to...

Every day, tens of thousands of cargo ships, filled to the brim with goods, release heavy pollution into the air as they make their way across the ocean. In this eye-opening talk, reporter Maria Gallucci introduces a planet-friendly...