SciShow
Distant Volcanoes Collapsed Dozens of Empires
Volcanoes, climate change, and Chinese history may seem like three phrases spit out of a random word generator, but the three things are more inherently linked than one may assume.
Crash Course
The Railroad Journey and the Industrial Revolution: Crash Course World History 214
In which John Green teaches you about railroads, and some of the ways they changed the world, and how they were a sort of microcosm for the Industrial Revolution as a whole. Prior to the invention of steam powered railroads, pretty much...
TED Talks
Humanity's planet-shaping powers -- and what they mean for the future | Achim Steiner
Humanity now has incredible power to shape nature and the Earth: the power to destroy and the power to repair, says sustainability champion and UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner. In this action-oriented talk, Steiner shows how this power...
TED Talks
Stephen Cave: The 4 stories we tell ourselves about death
Philosopher Stephen Cave begins with a dark but compelling question: When did you first realize you were going to die? And even more interesting: Why do we humans so often resist the inevitability of death? Cave explores four narratives...
TED Talks
TED: The radical act of choosing common ground | Nisha Anand
To achieve lasting change sometimes requires the hard, even radical, choice of partnering with people you'd least expect. Justice reform advocate Nisha Anand shares her story of working with her ideological opposite to make history and...
TED Talks
How web video powers global innovation - Chris Anderson
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. TED's Chris Anderson says the rise of web video is driving a worldwide phenomenon he calls Crowd Accelerated...
TED Talks
Andrew McAfee: Are droids taking our jobs?
Robots and algorithms are getting good at jobs like building cars, writing articles, translating -- jobs that once required a human. So what will we humans do for work? Andrew McAfee walks through recent labor data to say: We ain't seen...
Crash Course
The Anthropocene and the Near Future: Crash Course Big History
In which John Green, Hank Green, and Emily Graslie teach you about the Anthropocene, an unofficial geological era that covers the last century or so, in which humanity has made massive progress. We've discovered the Higgs-Boson particle,...
TED Talks
Carolyn Porco: This is Saturn
Planetary scientist Carolyn Porco shows images from the Cassini voyage to Saturn, focusing on its largest moon, Titan, and on frozen Enceladus, which seems to shoot jets of ice.
SciShow
The Ancient Footprints that Changed The Timeline of Human History
In the history of our species, we still don’t know exactly how and when early humans migrated across the world, but some ancient footprints might be helping us figure it out.
TED Talks
Josette Sheeran: Ending hunger now
Josette Sheeran, the head of the UN's World Food Program, talks about why, in a world with enough food for everyone, people still go hungry, still die of starvation, still use food as a weapon of war. Her vision: "Food is one issue that...
TED Talks
Will Marshall: Tiny satellites show us the Earth as it changes in near-real-time
Satellite imaging has revolutionized our knowledge of the Earth, with detailed images of nearly every street corner readily available online. But Planet Labs' Will Marshall says we can do better and go faster -- by getting smaller. He...
TED Talks
Nick Bostrom: What happens when our computers get smarter than we are?
Artificial intelligence is getting smarter by leaps and bounds -- within this century, research suggests, a computer AI could be as "smart" as a human being. And then, says Nick Bostrom, it will overtake us: "Machine intelligence is the...
Crash Course
Migrations and Intensification Crash Course Big History 7
In which Hank and John Green teach you about humanity conquering the Earth. Or at least moving from Africa into the rest of the Earth. As human beings spread out across the world and populations grew, humanity reached a critical mass of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Claws vs. nails | Matthew Borths
Consider the claw. Frequently found on animals around the world, it's one of nature's most versatile tools. Bears use claws for digging as well as defense. An eagle's needle-like talons can pierce the skulls of their prey. Even the...
TED Talks
TED: A new understanding of human history and the roots of inequality | David Wengrow
What if the commonly accepted narratives about the foundation of civilization are all wrong? Drawing on groundbreaking research, archaeologist David Wengrow challenges traditional thinking about the social evolution of humanity -- from...
SciShow
6 Mysterious Ancient Outbreaks
Epidemiologists are always trying to get one step ahead of the next big outbreak - and often the best clues we have come from outbreaks of the past. Chapters BUBONIC PLAGUE VICTIMS 0:25 THE GREAT DYING 17th Century 0:47 WAMPANOAG LAND...
Crash Course
How We Got Here: Crash Course Sociology
So we know that sociology is the study of society, but what exactly *is* a society? Today we’re going to find out. We’ll look at Gerhard Lenski's classification of societies into five types, and the technological changes that turn one...
TED Talks
TED: What separates us from chimpanzees? | Jane Goodall
Jane Goodall hasn't found the missing link, but she's come closer than nearly anyone else. The primatologist says the only real difference between humans and chimps is our sophisticated language. She urges us to start using it to change...
SciShow
Save Tesla!
Hank comes to you from his inner sanctum of science news to bring you a couple of things you never knew about human origins, the latest from his best friend on Mars, and what you can do to help one of the craziest, greatest people in the...
Crash Course
Globalization II - Good or Bad Crash Course World History
In which John asks whether globalization is a net positive for humanity. While the new global economy has created a lot of wealth, and lifted a lot of people out of poverty, it also has some effects that aren't so hot. Wealth disparity,...
SciShow Kids
Solving Mysteries with Archaeologists!
Learn all about archaeologists: the scientists who solve the great mysteries of human history!
SciShow
How the First Americans Got There
This week, researches published a genetic analysis of the 11,500-year-old remains of a baby found in Alaska, near where the first Americans crossed the Bering land bridge. That analysis has answered some lingering questions about human...
Curated Video
The Persians & Greeks: Crash Course World History
In which John compares and contrasts Greek civilization and the Persian Empire. Of course we're glad that Greek civilization spawned modern western civilization, right? Maybe not. From Socrates and Plato to Darius and Xerxes, John...