What if human consciousness isn't the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn's clever strategy game to rule the Earth? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see the world from a plant's-eye view.

SciShow Space preps you for the Delta Aquarids, a meteor shower, and explains what makes them so unique. Plus, join "aquanauts" on one of NASA's least-known missions, a nine-day tour in its NEEMO undersea laboratory.

Astronauts ate some space-grown lettuce, and astronomers discovered a ring of galaxies that's so big it defies the laws of physics.

For decades, people have used the Rorschach Test to diagnose mental illnesses and determine personality traits, which hasn't always been the best idea. But modern studies suggest that this test actually can tell us some things about the...

Humans are great at understanding medium-sized things, like how far the supermarket is from your house, or how to find the bathroom in the dark. But imagining distances in light-years is a lot harder -- so you'll have to use a trick or two.

We can get to Mars in 3 days, . . .sort of, maybe. In this episode of SciShow Space Reid Reimers explains the possibilities of photonic propulsion in use with space travel.

You work at the college library. You're in the middle of a quiet afternoon when suddenly, a shipment of 1,280 books arrives. The books are in a straight line, but they're all out of order, and the automatic sorting system is broken. How...

In this edition of IDTIMWYTIM, Hank explains why the common understanding of "equinox" is wrong, what the equinox actually is, and then rages a little against astronomers and their stupid confusing Latin terms.

Daffodils are cheerful symbols of spring… and also cold blooded killers. But it turns out, the poison in these plants may actually be helpful to us humans!

A new experimental design that can sustain mouse embryos outside the uterus means that soon, we may be able to watch mammalian embryo development in real time.

Hank takes us on a trip through the history of pregnancy tests through the ages, from ancient Egypt to the first home pregnancy tests of the 1970s. It's generally not a very pretty story, but it should help make us very grateful for the...

We chose not to give a numerical value for how many characteristics of life there are, because we do not want to imply that what we are listing must be a specific order, or that it cannot be expanded upon or include exceptions....

At TEDU 2009, Erik Hersman presents the remarkable story of Ushahidi, a GoogleMap mashup that allowed Kenyans to report and track violence via cell phone texts following the 2008 elections, and has evolved to continue saving lives in...

New York City residents produce 11,000 tons of garbage every day. Every day! This astonishing statistic is just one of the reasons Robin Nagle started a research project with the city's Department of Sanitation. She walked the routes,...

After a skirmish at sea and long days of being battered by waves, Väinämöinen— a powerful bard as old as the world itself— washed up on the shores of distant Pohjola. A cunning witch nursed him back to health but demanded a reward for...

I visited the Howard Hughes Medical Institute last week.

We need women to work, and we need working women to have babies. So why is America one of the only countries in the world that offers no national paid leave to new working mothers? In this incisive talk, Jessica Shortall makes the...

The suits, numbers and colors in a deck of cards correspond to the seasons, moon cycles and calendar. Marco Tempest straps on augmented reality goggles and does a card trick like you've never seen before, weaving a lyrical tale as he...

Elephant seals are among the only known animals on earth to migrate twice a year, but how they do it makes the already incredible feat even more astounding.

The way we experience seasons don't necessarily line up with how they're technically defined - here's why.

To some they look like bow-legged cowboys. To others, swaggering pirates. Either way, the two-legged molecules known as motor proteins are what get the job of living done in most of your cells.

Models of the universe’s early days have only been possible with dark matter as a variable, but we still don’t have proof that dark matter exists. But recently, scientists may have found a way to replicate the results without the...

Ever notice how adding "super" in front of something makes it way more awesome? Hank gives us the rundown on the Yellowstone SUPERcomputer.

The earth is a big place to keep clean. With Litterati -- an app for users to identify, collect and geotag the world's litter -- TED Resident Jeff Kirschner has created a community that's crowdsource-cleaning the planet. After tracking...