In this video Paul Andersen explains how scalar fields can be used to show the distribution of scalar quantities. The most important scalar fields in AP Physics 2 deal with electric potential. Scalar addition can be used to combine...

When you have a study with a small sample size, how do you know that the results represent the broader population? Well, thanks to a brewer who needed to assess beer quality in the early 1900s, we now have a simple statistical test that...

Scientists were able to measure the emission lines of antimatter! And we may have some new clues about how dinosaurs lost their teeth on the way to becoming birds.

A lot of what we know about ancient human civilizations comes from the things they leave behind. But sometimes, humans don’t live in places long enough to leave these clues. So, some researchers have turned to techniques outside...

Optical illusions are images that seem to trick our minds into seeing something different from what they actually are. But how do they work? Nathan S. Jacobs walks us through a few common optical illusions and explains what these tricks...

On the genetic level, we're not all that different from chimps. But those small differences in DNA can have huge effects.

Well, they're not really "magic." Maybe "illusion" is a better way to say it. As we begin this journey of the history of cinema, we need to understand how movies trick our brains into even understanding that a movie is a movie. In this...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how a system can be viewed as an object and an object can be viewed as a system.

In this video Paul Andersen explains how inertial mass is defined and measured. When a force is applied to an object or a system it will accelerate. Using Newton's Second Law of Motion (F=ma) you can calculate the inertial mass.

You might consider yourself a visual learner, but is there really a way to categorize different types of students?

Nootropics are a group of chemicals that supposedly make you “smarter” without any side-effects. But don’t rush into it yet! It might be still too experimental to test it out.

A husband and wife were in despair. The woman had just given birth to their 13th child, and the growing family was quickly running out of food and money. Wandering into the woods, the father encountered a skeletal figure with sunken eyes...

Some people have this idea that dead batteries bounce if you drop them, but is it true?

You might have seen this story circulating on social media…but we’re here to let you know that children are NOT growing horns because they use cellphones. This is a great opportunity to learn from what can happen when both peer review...

You’ve heard that dogs are basically furry toddlers, with cognitive abilities on par with a 2 year old human. But while that might make sense on some levels, the minds of distinct species can work very differently.

2020 marks two decades of people living and working about the ISS, and from fireballs to microgravity grown crystals, they've been keeping busy.

In which John Green teaches you about the beginning of the so-called Age of Discovery. You've probably heard of Christopher Columbus, who "discovered" America in 1492, but what about Vasco da Gama? How about Zheng He? Columbus gets a bad...

In this video Paul Andersen shows conceptual thinking in a mini-lesson on causal patterns at varying scale.


TERMS
Patterns - regularity in
the world
Scale - the relative size or exte
nt of something
System - a set...

Astronomers have found the first asteroid orbiting closer to the Sun than Venus, and recently, some scientists have been looking at Earth, trying to understand the origins of our protective magnetic field.

That baby is staring at you, and you don't know why. Something in your teeth? Did you accidentally leave a tag on your clothes? Don't worry,that baby probably just likes your face.

Paul Andersen explains how populations experience exponential. He begins by address the major players; N (population size) and r (growth rate). He models population growth in rabbits through four generations. He then shows you how to...

When you learned about the Earth’s interior in school, you were probably shown a diagram that looked like a perfect layer cake. But we've known for a long time that that diagram is... inaccurate at best, and leaves out information that...

In this video Paul Andersen shows conceptual thinking in a mini-lesson on cause, mechanism and effect.

T
ERMS:
Cause - a thing that gives rise t
o an event
Ef
fect - an event
Mechanism - the process und
erlying a...

Puberty is an awkward time for just about everybody, but for transgender teens it can be a nightmare, as they grow overnight into bodies they aren't comfortable with. In a heartfelt talk, Norman Spack tells a personal story of how he...