Despite their iridescent colors and smooth shapes, pearls are actually made of the exact same material as the craggy shell that surrounds them. Pearls, urchin spines, the shells of mussels, snails and clams, even coral— all these...

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...

Nuclear power: the energy crisis has even die-hard environmentalists reconsidering it. In this first-ever TED debate, Stewart Brand and Mark Z. Jacobson square off over the pros and cons. A discussion that'll make you think -- and might...

Atoms or molecules combine to form a new compound in a synthesis reaction. Examples include the addition of oxygen to magnesium metal to create magnesium oxide and the addition of carbon dioxide to water to crete carbonic acid. A...

Sleep is a crucial activity for our brains to function properly. But when you’re on the ISS, you face a myriad of distractions and obligations that make it difficult to get good shuteye. So how do these astronauts ever get restful sleep?

Scientists overwhelmingly agree that our climate is changing, Earth is getting warmer, sea levels are rising, and it's primarily because of humans putting lots of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Whether you already trust in the...

When you breathe, you transport oxygen to the body's cells to keep them working, while also clearing your system of the carbon dioxide that this work generates. How do we accomplish this crucial and complex task without even thinking...

What could be cooler than a permanent lava lake surrounded by snow!?

Need a determination boost to complete those New Year's Resolutions (or really any kind of resolution)? Look no further than this compilation of SciShow videos from SciShow of yore.

You may have heard that plants do better with verbal encouragement, but is there any evidence supporting this gardening tale?

Sitting around a campfire, you can feel its heat, smell the woody smoke, and hear it crackle. If you get too close, it burns your eyes and stings your nostrils. You could stare at the bright flames forever as they twist and flicker in...

Everyone loves slime... until it starts coming out of someone's nose, then all of a sudden it's "gross." But this slimy stuff is also really important to the lives of many animals, including humans!

Throughout Earth's history, climate has varied greatly. For hundreds of millions of years, the planet had no polar ice caps. Without this ice, the sea level was 70 meters higher. At the other extreme, about 700 million years ago, Earth...

In this collection of classic MinuteEarth videos, we travel beyond Earth and explore some of our favorite mysteries about space.

When the ocean changes, the planet changes -- and it all starts with microbes, says biological oceanographer Angelicque White. Backed by decades of data, White shares how scientists use these ancient microorganisms as a crucial barometer...

Out of billions of galaxies and billions of stars, how do we find Earth-like habitable worlds? What is essential to support life as we know it? Ariel Anbar provides a checklist for finding life on other planets.

What is genomics? How will it affect our lives? In this intriguing primer on the genomics revolution, entrepreneur Barry Schuler says we can at least expect healthier, tastier food. He suggests we start with the pinot noir grape, to...

Bacteria have evolved some pretty incredible abilities. They may never star in a big summer movie, but here are six bacteria with amazing superpowers.

You may be aware of certain hacks to sober up, but researchers have found a way to actually get booze out of our systems faster. And this discovery could help first responders when facing alcohol overdoses.

Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring. Every new season brings new...diseases.

Much like a cell membrane, our atmosphere forms a protective boundary between outer space and the biosphere that allows for all life to exist on Earth’s surface. Today, we’re going to talk about its composition and layers (the...

It takes a lot of fuel to heat our homes, preserve our food, and power our gadgets. And for 40 percent of the world, cheap, plentiful coal gets the job done. But coal also releases pollutants into the air, causing environmental damage...

Paul Andersen details the processes of photosynthesis and respiration in this video on free energy capture and storage. Autotrophs use the light reactions and the Calvin cycle to convert energy from the Sun into sugars. Autotrophs and...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how you can use Lewis Diagrams and VSEPR Models to make predictions about molecules. The Lewis diagrams are a two-dimensional representations of covalent bonds and the VSEPR models show how the...