TED Talks
Evan Williams: The voices of Twitter users
In the year leading up to this talk, the web tool Twitter exploded in size (up 10x during 2008 alone). Co-founder Evan Williams reveals that many of the ideas driving that growth came from unexpected uses invented by the users themselves.
TED Talks
Sherwin Nuland: The extraordinary power of ordinary people
Sherwin Nuland, a surgeon and a writer, meditates on the idea of hope -- the desire to become our better selves and make a better world. It's a thoughtful 12 minutes that will help you focus on the road ahead.
TED Talks
Joshua Silver: Adjustable liquid-filled eyeglasses
Josh Silver delivers his brilliantly simple solution for correcting vision at the lowest cost possible -- adjustable, liquid-filled lenses. At TEDGlobal 2009, he demos his affordable eyeglasses and reveals his global plan to distribute...
TED Talks
Lesley Hazleton: On reading the Koran
Lesley Hazleton sat down one day to read the Koran. And what she found -- as a non-Muslim, a self-identified "tourist" in the Islamic holy book -- wasn't what she expected. With serious scholarship and warm humor, Hazleton shares the...
TED Talks
TED: The dangers of willful blindness | Margaret Heffernan
Gayla Benefield was just doing her job -- until she uncovered an awful secret about her hometown that meant its mortality rate was 80 times higher than anywhere else in the US. But when she tried to tell people about it, she learned an...
SciShow
Why These Two Planets SHOULD Be the Same
You'd think that two planets with similar stats, orbits, and parent stars would grow up to be pretty similar, but these twins have atmospheres that beg to differ.
SciShow
Why Doesn't Earth Have Rings?
Plenty of other planets in the Solar System have rings. So why not Earth?
SciShow
Am I 1% Nacho?
If you weighed 99 lbs, and ate 1 lbs of nachos, would that make you 1% nacho? Hank attempts to answer this question with a series of deeper questions on this episode of SciShow quick questions.
MinuteEarth
Why "Nothing" Matters in Science
Null results often get a bad rap, sometimes characterized as a study "finding nothing," but there's a lot we can learn from studies whose results fail to support their hypotheses.
MinuteEarth
Why People Hate Hyenas
Throughout history and around the world, most people dislike hyenas. But why?
SciShow
Skateboarding Science: Master the Ollie!
If most people got on a skateboard, they would roll forward slowly for a few feet, then fall down and break their wrists. But there are a proud few who can do some pretty amazing tricks on a board, and they use physics to pull them off....
PBS
Neutron Stars Collide in New LIGO Signal?
Last year LIGO announced the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes. The science world went a little crazy. Only a few weeks ago a new rumour emerged: that LIGO had, for the first time, spotted gravitational...
SciShow
The Tiny Molecule Responsible for Startle Syndrome
Flinching in response to an unexpected loud noise might not be pleasant, but it's also not a problem for most people. For one family, however, getting startled would cause their bodies to go stiff and fall.
TED Talks
Henry Lin: What we can learn from galaxies far, far away
In a fun, exciting talk, teenager Henry Lin looks at something unexpected in the sky: distant galaxy clusters. By studying the properties of the universe's largest pieces, says the Intel Science Fair award winner, we can learn quite a...
TED Talks
JP Rangaswami: Information is food
How do we consume data? At TED@SXSWi, technologist JP Rangaswami muses on our relationship to information, and offers a surprising and sharp insight: we treat it like food.
MinuteEarth
The Best Pokémon (According to Science)
There’s lots of debate as to which original starter Pokémon is the best fighter among squirtle, bulbasaur, charmander, and pikachu, but only one is the most biologically plausible.
MinutePhysics
E=mc2 is Incomplete
You've heard of E=mc2... but you probably haven't heard the whole story.
SciShow
When Two Species Mix
We often think of categories as fixed, with a species being a species no matter what. The thing is, life doesn’t have to follow our rules.
SciShow
Eat Off Your Toilet Seat
Hank talks about how your toilet is actually one of the cleanest places in your house, despite its function. Research has shown that cutting boards, dish towels and sponges have FAR more fecal bacteria on them than your toilet seat,...
SciShow Kids
4 Facts to Know About Reindeer
It's getting really cold where Jessi and Squeaks live, and that has her thinking about a super cool animal that's always ready for super cold weather: Reindeer!
PBS
The End of the Habitable Zone
The Sun is getting brighter and the planets in our solar system that are habitable are changing.
SciShow
How Our Brains Learn Consciousness
Neuroscience is abound with debates over the nature of consciousness. Which makes sense, because it’s a very abstract idea. We know we are conscious, but theories of why, how and what brain activity causes it are still simply that:...
TED Talks
Omar Ahmad: Political change with pen and paper
Want your local politician to pay attention to an issue you care about? Send a monthly handwritten letter, says former mayor Omar Ahmad -- it's more effective than email, phone, or even writing a check. He shares four steps to writing a...