In which John Green teaches you about the Holy Roman Empire by teaching you about Charles V. Charles Hapsburg was the holy Roman Emperor, but he was also the King of Spain. And the King of Germany. And the King of Italy and the Lord of...

In which John Green teaches you about Imperialism, but not from the perspective of the colonizers. This week John looks at some Asian perspectives on Imperialism, specifically writers from countries that were colonized by European...

In which John Green teaches you about water! So, we talk about resources a lot on Crash Course, and today is no exception. It turns out people can't live without water, which means it's absolutely necessary for civilization. Today John...

In which John Green talks about the methods of writing history by looking at some of the ways that history has been written about the rise of the West. But first he has to tell you what the West is. And then he has to explain the Rise of...

In which John Green teaches you about how Islam has interacted with politics during it's history, and how it continues to do so today. Islamist movements are in the news a lot lately, but how did that happen. John will point out that...

In 2009, a man named Edwin Rist planned a museum heist. His target wasn't jewels, or fossils, or the Declaration of Independence. It was bird skins. It took just over a year for authorities to track him down, largely because the...

You've heard of Stonehenge. It's that big rock circle over in England. But there's a lot more to it than that, and researchers have been studying it for centuries. From the people who lived near it to how and when it was made, here are...

Crocodiles, and birds, and dinosaurs—oh my! While classifying organisms is nothing new, phylogeny— or, grouping organisms by their evolutionary relationships—is helping us see life in a whole new light. In this episode of Crash Course...

Evolution vs Natural Selection

As a scientific concept, evolution was revolutionary when it was first introduced. With the help of all three of our hosts and the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History’s new Deep Time Hall, we’ll try to explain how evolution...

Charles Darwin encountered a tiny fox-like creature during his famous voyage but instead of discovering its fascinating evolutionary story, he just knocked it on the head with his geology hammer.

There’s a lot of confusion out there about what is and isn’t a dinosaur. And you’d be forgiven for being kinda confused. Maybe paleontologists are just messing with us. Or… maybe the question of what is and isn’t a dinosaur goes deeper...

In the 1800s, Wilhelm Kühne created an image of a window from the eyes of a rabbit. Was this technology applicable to humans? Hosted by: Michael Aranda

Squeaks is feeling a little wired and needs some story time to get sleepy this evening, so Jessi is showing him some videos about amazing scientists from history!

Paul Andersen reviews the major concepts within the second unit of the new AP Biology framework. He starts by describing how life is organized into three domains. He explains how the history of life on the planet is...

(NOTE: Statements in this talk have been challenged by scientists working in this field. Read "Criticisms & updates" below for more details.) Elaine Morgan was a tenacious proponent of a theory that is not widely accepted. The aquatic...

In this video Paul Andersen describes several types of evidence for common ancestry. This evidence is contained in the fossils, embryos and molecules of living organisms. Even though life on our planet is incredibly diverse there are...

Hank talks about some of the structures in our bodies that are "leftover" from previous evolutionary phases of humanity.

As natural garbage collectors, vultures are vital to our ecosystem -- so why all the bad press? Why are so many in danger of extinction? Raptor biologist Munir Virani says we need to pay more attention to these unique and misunderstood...

Hank introduces us to comparative anatomy, which studies the similarities and differences in animal anatomy to support the theory of evolution and the shared ancestry of living things.

If you trace your way back along the tree of life, eventually you'd come face-to-face with the very first animal. But what exactly would that animal have looked like?

We’re having a birthday party for one of the world’s most famous scientists, Charles Darwin!!!

Evolution vs Natural Selection

In 1812, four men at Cambridge University met for breakfast. What began as an impassioned meal grew into a new scientific revolution, in which these men -- who called themselves “natural philosophers” until they later coined “scientist”...