Do you remember the exciting rumor about NASA’s EMdrive? Well, now it’s official: NASA has created their own EM drive! Meanwhile, SpaceX has a plan which will make the internet more accessible.

You use your brain's executive function every day -- it's how you do things like pay attention, plan ahead and control impulses. Can you improve it to change for the better? With highlights from her research on child development,...

Self-driving cars have been “coming soon” for years. What’s so hard about making a machine that drives itself!?

Meet the friendly robot that could deliver your next burrito. Ali Kashani introduces us to Postmates' autonomous delivery robot and explains how it could help reduce carbon emissions and free up valuable real estate in cities everywhere....

In our tech-driven, interconnected world, we've developed new ways and rules to court each other, but the fundamental principles of love have stayed the same, says anthropologist Helen Fisher. Our faster connections, she suggests, are...

Salting roads in the winter is pretty commonplace in areas of the world that see freezing temperatures, but it isn't the only solution.

Hank gets all up in your face about kissing -- where does it come from, why do it we do it, and do other animals do it? From ancient India to that date you were on last night (which we won't tell anyone about if you won't), we explore...

Autonomous cars are coming -- and they're going to drive better than you. Chris Gerdes reveals how he and his team are developing robotic race cars that can drive at 150 mph while avoiding every possible accident. And yet, in studying...

In which Craig Benzine introduces a brand new Crash Course about U.S. Government and Politics! This course will provide you with an overview of how the government of the United States is supposed to function, and we'll get into how it...

CRISPR gene drives allow scientists to change sequences of DNA and guarantee that the resulting edited genetic trait is inherited by future generations, opening up the possibility of altering entire species forever. More than anything,...

Why do fingers become pruney when they get wet? Likely, for the same reasons that tires have treads. Mark Changizi examines the evolutionary reasons for pruney fingers, while exploring natural and manmade phenomena, like river networks,...

The only way we're going to make substantial progress on the challenging problems of our time is for business to drive the solutions, says social impact strategist Wendy Woods. In a data-packed talk, Woods shares a fresh way to assess...

It might sound like science fiction, but if you press on a crystal of sugar, it will actually generate its own electricity. This simple crystal can act like a tiny power source because sugar happens to be piezoelectric. Ashwini...

Many of the bewildering correlations in our world - like that between Beryllium-7 and the Asian monsoon - are a result of huge and unseen forces that tie them together.

Paved roads are nice to look at, but they're easily damaged and costly to repair. Erik Schlangen demos a new type of porous asphalt made of simple materials with an astonishing feature: When cracked, it can be "healed" by induction heating.

Using robotics, laser rangefinders, GPS and smart feedback tools, Dennis Hong is building a car for drivers who are blind. It's not a "self-driving" car, he's careful to note, but a car in which a non-sighted driver can determine speed,...

We're continuing our look at engineering materials with third main type of material that you'll encounter as an engineer: polymers. They're made of long, repeating chains of smaller molecules known as monomers and today we'll explore...

Can two people who make the same bad decision bear different levels of moral responsibility? Today, we try to address this question with the concept of moral luck. Hank explains the difference between moral and causal responsibility, and...

By the end of the 19th century, nearly 40% of American cars were electric. But these vehicles had a few major problems — early car batteries were expensive and inefficient, and the vehicles were twice the price of a gas-powered car. And...

Hank introduces us to some freaky parasites that use mind control to hijack the brains of their hosts.

How would you measure a personality? What, exactly, is the self? Well, as you've come to expect, it's not that easy to nail down an answer for those questions. Whether you're into blood, bile, earth, wind, fire, or those Buzzfeed...

Left vs Right

Guitar World's Paul Riario heads over to Marshall HQ in NYC to demo the new Marshall JCM800 Modified. This amp delivers iconic Marshall sound with modern upgrades, including master volume, a mid-boost switch and gain boost

This week's news are on topics everyone loves: sex, food, and cars. But the details may not be what you expect. The last segment is so important, we may address it in more detail in a Monday HCT episode soon.