This video explains Shor’s Algorithm, a way to efficiently factor large pseudoprime integers into their prime factors using a quantum computer. The quantum computation relies on the number-theoretic analysis of the factoring problem via...

So, variables. There are lots of them when trying to test an idea. The trick is to isolate one variable at a time to get reliable results every time. But, how do we do that? In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to...

How is it that a breathalyzer can measure the alcohol content in someone’s blood, hours after they had their last drink, based on their breath alone? And could we use this same technology to detect disease by analyzing a person’s breath,...

This video explains how Shor’s Algorithm factors the pseudoprime number 314191 into its prime factors using a quantum computer. The quantum computation relies on the number-theoretic analysis of the factoring problem via modular...

Earthquakes have always been a terrifying phenomenon, and they've become more deadly as our cities have grown - with collapsing buildings posing one of the largest risks. But why do buildings collapse in an earthquake? And how can it be...

This week we’re exploring aerospace engineering and its two main fields: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. We’ll explore life & buoyancy, propulsion systems, and the challenges of managing the human body in space.

Christian Benimana wants to build a network of architects who can help Africa's booming cities flourish in sustainable, equitable ways -- balancing growth with values that are uniquely African. From Nigeria to Burkina Faso and beyond, he...

In this episode, we looked at food engineering. We explored how food’s capacity to spoil makes it a unique challenge from an engineering viewpoint. We saw how many branches of engineering come into play to process ingredients, ensure...

This video is about how we don't just need energy to power our lives, we need *low entropy* energy! Thanks to Google Making and Science for supporting this series, and to Sean Carroll for collaborating on it! This video is about how we...

We've talked about variables and solving problems. But how do we keep working on a problem if the first solution doesn't fix it? Trials! In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina shows us how to use Trials to figure out what the...

Batteries are a triumph of science-they allow smartphones and other technologies to exist without anchoring us to an infernal tangle of power cables. Yet even the best batteries will diminish daily, slowly losing capacity until they...

This video is about two-photon (gamma-gamma) physics, and how photons can interact with each other - either mediated by a passing lepton, or gravitationally via lensing, or via vacuum fluctuation pair production of vertical particles...

Dr. Shini Somara joins us on the Talk Show today to talk Crash Course Physics and her background in fluid dynamics and television. Then Jessi from Animal Wonders brings on Sydney, their Brush-tailed Bettong.

Over-the-counter pregnancy tests give potentially life-changing results with a pretty high rate of accuracy. But how do they work? Tien Nguyen explains how each test performs a scientifically rigorous, multi-stage experiment that goes...

Roboticist Auke Ijspeert designs biorobots, machines modeled after real animals that are capable of handling complex terrain and would appear at home in the pages of a sci-fi novel. The process of creating these robots leads to better...

We give scientists and engineers great technical training, but we're not as good at teaching ethical decision-making or building character. Take, for example, the environmental crisis that recently unfolded in Flint, Michigan -- and the...

This video is about why it's harder to successfully land spacecraft and landers and rovers on Mars than on Earth, or Venus, or the Moon, or Titan, or asteroids. It all comes down to atmospheric density! When there's no atmosphere, you...

These animals can detect heat through some fascinating biological mechanisms, and they are proving to be boons to the scientific community.

This joke video is about how Internet Service Providers (aka ISPs, internet companies, telecommunications companies, etc) violate the basic axioms of Zermelo-Fraenkel set theory. Like the axiom of choice (sometimes Well-ordering...

Thanks to Google Making and Science for supporting this series, and to Sean Carroll for collaborating on it! AMAZING Interactive Entropy explainer by Aatish Bhatia: http://aatishb.github.io/entropy/ This video is about why entropy gives...

This video is about the Portal Paradox - a paradox in the video game Portal (and Portal 2) regarding whether or not a companion cube passing through a moving portal plops out of the other end with no speed (velocity, momentum), or shoots...

Taking design cues from origami, robotician Jamie Paik and her team created "robogamis": folding robots made out super-thin materials that can reshape and transform themselves. In this talk and tech demo, Paik shows how robogamis could...

I want you to reimagine how life is organized on earth, says global strategist Parag Khanna. As our expanding cities grow ever more connected through transportation, energy and communications networks, we evolve from geography to what he...

In this intimate talk filmed at TED's offices, energy innovator Amory Lovins shows how to get the US off oil and coal by 2050, $5 trillion cheaper, with no Act of Congress, led by business for profit. The key is integrating all four...