SciShow
Why Billions of Passenger Pigeons Died in Under a Century
How could the most abundant bird in North America go extinct so quickly? Short answer: us.
TED Talks
Thomas Insel: Toward a new understanding of mental illness
Today, thanks to better early detection, there are 63% fewer deaths from heart disease than there were just a few decades ago. Thomas Insel, the director of the National Institute of Mental Health, wonders: Could we do the same for...
Crash Course
Representing Numbers and Letters with Binary: Crash Course Computer Science
Today, we’re going to take a look at how computers use a stream of 1s and 0s to represent all of our data - from our text messages and photos to music and webpages. We’re going to focus on how these binary values are used to represent...
TED Talks
TED: How augmented reality could change the future of surgery | Nadine Hachach-Haram
If you're undergoing surgery, you want the best surgical team to collaborate on your case, no matter where they are. Surgeon and entrepreneur Nadine Hachach-Haram is developing a new system that helps surgeons operate together and train...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why are there so many insects? - Murry Gans
If insects suddenly morphed into large beings and decided to wage war on us, there's no doubt that humans would lose. There are an estimated 10 quintillion individual insects on earth, outnumbering humans by more than a billion to one....
Be Smart
The Odds of Finding Life and Love
Love is a complicated combination of brain chemicals and behavior that scientists are only just beginning to figure out. And it's remarkable that in every society that we have looked at on Earth, romantic love exists. So if love is so...
TED Talks
Charles Fleischer: All things are Moleeds
In a presentation that can only be described as epic, comedian Charles Fleischer delivers a hysterical send-up of a time-honored TED theme: the map. Geometry, numbers, charts and stamp art also factor in (somehow), as he weaves together...
3Blue1Brown
Essence of linear algebra preview
The introduction to a series on visualizing core ideas of linear algebra.
SciShow
THE CICADAS ARE COMING!
Cicadas have developed an amazing strategy for growth, survival, reproduction, and overcoming predation by...doing nothing. They do nothing for years (except sip at the juice excreted from root structures) before emerging in huge,...
TED Talks
TED: Why you should care about whale poo | Asha de Vos
Whales have a surprising and important job, says marine biologist Asha de Vos: these massive creatures are ecosystem engineers, keeping the oceans healthy and stable by ... well, by pooping, for a start. Learn from de Vos, a TED Fellow,...
3Blue1Brown
Essence of Linear Algebra: Preview
The introduction to a series on visualizing core ideas of linear algebra.
TED Talks
Damon Horowitz: We need a "moral operating system"
Damon Horowitz reviews the enormous new powers that technology gives us: to know more -- and more about each other -- than ever before. Drawing the audience into a philosophical discussion, Horowitz invites us to pay new attention to the...
SciShow
What Megalodon’s Teeth Say About Their Parenting
A shark's teeth usually says "stay away", but we can learn a lot from them, including what type of parents they were.
SciShow
Whale Poop Helps Cool Our Planet
You might not think of a sea creature as helpful in the prevention of climate change, but sperm whales have been doing their part to cool the planet by doing what most animals do best: pooping.
TED Talks
TED: The actual cost of preventing climate breakdown | Yuval Noah Harari
Nobody really knows how much it would cost to avoid the worst impacts of climate change. Yet historian Yuval Noah Harari's analysis, based on the work of scientists and economists, indicates that humanity might avert catastrophe by...
3Blue1Brown
Music And Measure Theory
How one of the introductory ideas in a field called "measure theory" can be thought of in terms of musical harnomy and dissonance.
TED Talks
TED: Zombie roaches and other parasite tales | Ed Yong
In this fascinating, hilarious and ever-so-slightly creepy talk, science writer Ed Yong tells the story of his favorite parasites -- animals and organisms that live on the bodies (and brains!) of other organisms, causing them to do their...
SciShow
Why Are Periodical Cicadas So ... Periodical?
Certain cicada species in North America emerge from the ground by the millions every 13 or 17 years. But why those specific intervals? Are cicadas secretly prime-number-loving mathematicians?!
SciShow
The Cosmic Ladder That Lets Us Map the Universe
Considering how massive our universe is, we know the distances to cosmic objects surprisingly well. What tools and clues do scientists use to measure distances that are so enormous they sound like made-up numbers?
TED Talks
Nathalie Miebach: Art made of storms
Artist Nathalie Miebach takes weather data from massive storms and turns it into complex sculptures that embody the forces of nature and time. These sculptures then become musical scores for a string quartet to play.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The high-stakes race to make quantum computers work - Chiara Decaroli
Get to know the unique properties of quantum computers and the obstacles that have prevented this theoretical technology from becoming a reality. -- Quantum computers could eventually outstrip the computational limits of classical...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Can you solve the giant cat army riddle? - Dan Finkel
The villainous Dr. Schrodinger has developed a growth ray and intends to create an army of giant cats to terrorize the city. Your team of secret agents has tracked him to his underground lab. You burst in to find. . . that it's a trap!...
PBS
Why Computers are Bad at Algebra
The answer lies in the weirdness of floating-point numbers and the computer's perception of a number line.
SciShow
Ada Lovelace: Great Minds
Ada Lovelace, Daughter of Lord Byron, was somehow the first author of a computer program...even though she lived more than a century before the first modern computer.