Be Smart
Are We Running Out Of Food??
If you tried to sum up the last 150 years or so in one image, a chart of exponential growth would be a good place to start. It shows that some things change faster over time. You could apply it to life expectancy. Or compound interest....
SciShow
Gluten
Gluten is a sticky protein composite found in cereal grains. Hank gives us some insight into the importance of gluten in history, as well as its impact on health in our own time.
SciShow
The Amazing and Delicate World of Bees
Yes, there is a chance they might sting you, but bees are incredibly vital to our ecosystem as we know it. Join Hank for a compilation of our favorite bee episodes—we know this one is a real stinger! We mean, zinger!
SciShow
Viroids: Possibly the Smallest Pathogens on Earth
Potato spindle tuber disease wasn't a life-or-death situation, but it led to the discovery of viroids: infectious, replicating bits of RNA
SciShow
Earth Is Losing its Roots
Roots do more than hold plants in place -- they hold the planet in place. They're an important defense against drought and climate change, and of course, our actions are changing them.
SciShow
Beware the Bug Spit: How Spittlebugs Accidentally Doom Plants
Ever wondered what makes those balls of white foam you sometimes find clinging to plants? Spittlebugs create these bubbly cocoons after feeding on a plant’s fluids; but unfortunately, their eating habits help transmit a deadly bacteria...
SciShow
5 Underwater Farmers
Humans have been farming in the ocean for years, but we're not the only saltwater farmers out in the deep blue sea.
SciShow
Engineering Plants That Fertilize Themselves to Save the World
Humans have relied on fertilizers to grow their plants for thousands of years. But the production of synthetic fertilizers also requires an immense amount of energy that comes primarily from fossil fuels and therefore contributes to...
SciShow
When Climate Change Threatens Climate Solutions | SciShow News
When Climate Change Threatens Climate Solutions | SciShow News
TED Talks
TED: The wheat field that could change the world | Guntur V. Subbarao
Crop physiologist Guntur V. Subbarao and his team have developed an antibiotic-infused strain of wheat that naturally combats harmful, fertilizer-eating bacteria -- a "monster" contributor to climate change. Learn more about how this...
PBS
Refugees flee conflict sparked by climate change in central Africa
The climate crisis is now a reality worldwide, but it's nowhere more apparent than the parched landscapes of northern Africa. Thousands are on the move looking for water to grow crops and graze livestock. Special correspondent Willem...
TED Talks
TED: How quinoa can help combat hunger and malnutrition | Cedric Habiyaremye
On a mission to create a hunger-free world, agricultural entrepreneur Cedric Habiyaremye makes the case for cultivating quinoa -- and other versatile, nutrient-rich grains -- in places experiencing malnutrition, like his native Rwanda....
TED Talks
TED: Smelfies, and other experiments in synthetic biology | Ani Liu
What if you could take a smell selfie, a smelfie? What if you had a lipstick that caused plants to grow where you kiss? Ani Liu explores the intersection of technology and sensory perception, and her work is wedged somewhere between...
TED Talks
TED: To fight climate change, listen to young people | Nkosilathi Nyathi
The climate crisis has been largely caused by irresponsible adults in developed countries, but it's the children of developing nations -- like Zimbabwean environmental activist Nkosilathi Nyathi -- that suffer from the most disastrous...
MinuteEarth
We're Oversalting Our Food, And It's Not What You Think
Want to learn more about the topic in this week's video? Here are some keywords/phrases to get your googling started: soil salinity - when soils have high salt levels that have adverse effects on plants
SciShow
5 Underwater Farmers
Humans have been farming in the ocean for years, but we're not the only saltwater farmers out in the deep blue sea.
SciShow
How Worried Should We Be About the Bees?
You’ve probably heard about how the extinction of honeybees will lead to some sort of bee-pocalypse doomsday scenario for humanity. But what would actually happen if all the honeybees went extinct?
TED Talks
Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing
Honeybees have thrived for 50 million years, each colony 40 to 50,000 individuals coordinated in amazing harmony. So why, seven years ago, did colonies start dying en masse? Marla Spivak reveals four reasons which are interacting with...
SciShow
20 Minutes of Amazing Stuff About Bees
Bees, they're important and amazing creatures, and with spring on the way we thought we'd share another round of our favorite bee episodes.
MinuteEarth
Our Best View Of Bacteria Is...From Space?!
Observing the effects of microbes using satellites can give us all sorts of useful information about life on Earth ... and other planets too.
TED Talks
Jonathan Foley: The other inconvenient truth
A skyrocketing demand for food means that agriculture has become the largest driver of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental destruction. Jonathan Foley shows why we desperately need to begin "terraculture" -- farming for...
TED Talks
TED: A forgotten Space Age technology could change how we grow food | Lisa Dyson
We're heading for a world population of 10 billion people -- but what will we all eat? Lisa Dyson rediscovered an idea developed by NASA in the 1960s for deep-space travel, and it could be a key to reinventing how we grow food.
SciShow
The Terrifying Truth About Bananas
Hank loves bananas and is worried about their future, so he did some investigating and wrote this episode of SciShow to share some kinda scary banana truths with us.
MinuteEarth
The Secret Weapon That Could Help Save Bees
Honeybees are dying from parasites, pesticides, and poor nutrition, but we can help them in a number of ways, including by encouraging them to make a homemade antibiotic.