PBS
Is Sad Music Actually Sad?
Be it Elliott Smith or Queen, classical or dub step, there's usually a clear understanding that some songs are sad, and some songs are happy. But what is it about the music that makes us feel these feelings we're feeling?
TED Talks
Esta Soler: How we turned the tide on domestic violence (Hint: the Polaroid helped)
When Esta Soler lobbied for a bill outlawing domestic violence in 1984, one politician called it the "Take the Fun Out of Marriage Act." "If only I had Twitter then," she mused. In this sweeping, optimistic talk, Soler charts 30 years of...
SciShow
Why Scientists Keep Trying to Break This 18th Century Law
It’s usually not a great idea to break laws, but breaking the laws of science is an exception! In fact, it’s often how we make progress.
SciShow
The Tiny Experiment That Transformed Physics
In 1956, a team of scientists conducted an experiment that, seemed kind of trivial, but the results would challenge one of our fundamental beliefs about the entire universe.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: How many universes are there? - Chris Anderson
The fact that no one knows the answer to this question is what makes it exciting. The story of physics has been one of an ever-expanding understanding of the sheer scale of reality, to the point where physicists are now postulating that...
TED Talks
TED: What will you tell your daughters about 2016? | Chinaka Hodge
With words like shards of glass, Chinaka Hodge cuts open 2016 and lets 12 months of violence, grief, fear, shame, courage and hope spill out in this original poem about a year none of us will soon forget.
SciShow
The Ghostly Particles That May Have Unbalanced the Universe
Almost all matter in the universe should have been annihilated shortly after the Big Bang, but looking around, we see galaxies, stars, planets, and, you know... us. So obviously that didn't happen, and the why of it may have something to...
SciShow
Why Do People Say We've Reached the End of Physics?
Our fundamental picture of the universe seems pretty nearly complete these days, to the point that some people are suggesting that we’ve arrived at some version of “the end of physics.” And sure, physics is at a turning point, but it...
TED Talks
TED: How to practice safe sexting | Amy Adele Hasinoff
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Sexting, like anything that's fun, runs its risks -- but a serious violation of privacy shouldn't be one of them....
SciShow
Schrödinger's iPad? New Breakthroughs in Quantum Computing
Two developments in quantum computing in the past couple of weeks are the harbingers of a whole new era of smart technology. Google announced that it's building a quantum computer designed by a company called D-Wave in partnership with...
TED Talks
TED: How revenge porn turns lives upside down | Darieth Chisolm
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. What can you do if you're the victim of revenge porn or cyberbullying? Shockingly little, says journalist and...
Crash Course
Market Economy: Crash Course Government and Politics
Today, we’re going to take a look at how the government plays a role in the economy. Specifically, the way the government creates and maintains our market economic system. Now sure, the government’s role in the economy can be...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How do executive orders work? - Christina Greer
On January 1, 1863, Abraham Lincoln legally changed the status of over 3 million people from "slave" to "free." But his emancipation proclamation wasn't a law - it was an executive order. The framers of the American Constitution made...
TED Talks
Carl Safina: The oil spill's unseen villains -- and victims
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...
SciShow
Those Pretty Road Medians May Be Bad for Bugs
Cities have been working hard to transform the areas around roads into healthy habitats for important pollinating insects. And these insects seem to love our roadside landscapes, but these areas might also be luring them to their...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The history of marriage - Alex Gendler
A white, puffy dress. Eternal love. A joint tax return. Marriage means something different to everyone and has changed over time and across cultures. Alex Gendler traces the history of getting hitched, providing insights on polygamy,...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Hawking's black hole paradox explained | Fabio Pacucci
Today, one of the biggest paradoxes in the universe threatens to unravel modern science: the black hole information paradox. Every object in the universe is composed of particles with unique quantum properties and even if an object is...
TED Talks
TED: When technology can read minds, how will we protect our privacy? | Nita Farahany
Tech that can decode your brain activity and reveal what you're thinking and feeling is on the horizon, says legal scholar and ethicist Nita Farahany. What will it mean for our already violated sense of privacy? In a cautionary talk,...
TED-Ed
Can you win a game of quantum foosball? | Matteo Fadel
After a long day working on the particle accelerator, you and your friends head to the arcade to unwind. The lights go out for a second, and when they come back, there before you gleams a foosball table. Always game, you insert your...
Crash Course
The Transatlantic Slave Trade Crash Course Black American History
Today we're learning about the Transatlantic Slave Trade, which brought millions of captive Africans to the Americas between the 16th and 19th centuries, with the largest number of people trafficked between 1700 and 1808. We'll look at...
TED Talks
TED: What moral decisions should driverless cars make? | Iyad Rahwan
Should your driverless car kill you if it means saving five pedestrians? In this primer on the social dilemmas of driverless cars, Iyad Rahwan explores how the technology will challenge our morality and explains his work collecting data...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How to understand power - Eric Liu
Every day, we move and operate within systems of power that other people have constructed. But we're often uncomfortable talking about power. Why? Eric Liu describes the six sources of power and explains how understanding them is key to...
PBS
The Physics of Life (ft. It's Okay to be Smart & PBS Eons!)
Our universe is prone to increasing disorder and chaos. So how did it generate the extreme complexity we see in life? Actually, the laws of physics themselves may demand it.
Crash Course
Presidential Powers 2: Crash Course Government and Politics
This week Craig continues our conversation on presidential powers by looking at those NOT found in the Constitution - implied or inherent powers. We’ll talk about how the president uses his or her power to negotiate executive agreements,...