In the early 2000s, physicist found a diamond they’d been searching for. Find out what it was used for.

Dubious of performance art? Break into a cold sweat when you realize it’s about to begin? There’s a reason. Here we present you with a brief history of performance art and attempt to sway you to its potential charms.

So you look at a work of art and think to yourself, I could have done that. And maybe you really could have, but the issue here is more complex than that -- why didn't you? Why did the artist? And why does it have an audience? We delve...

The Art Assignment travels to New Orleans to meet with Tameka Norris, who makes art in a variety of media and often uses her body in her work. She challenges YOU to become someone else. Sarah then highlights Adrian Piper, who created an...

I left a physics job to do software engineering. Was it worth it? What do software engineers actually do?

Dianna Cowern from Physics Girl and Simone Giertz take this viral bucket riddle to the real world with a physical test. Which tank will fill first?

Ai Weiwei has been called an iconoclast, a radical, a voice for the voiceless, and was once named the most powerful artist in the world. Who is Ai Weiwei? And why is he considered one of the most renowned artists of our time?

According to Tolstoy himself, War and Peace was "not a novel, even less is it a poem, and still less a historical chronicle." And in this day and age of publishing, where word count, “readability”, and topical relevance are the lifeline...

With the success of Black Panther, the term Afro-Futurism got pushed into the mainstream. But what is Afro-Futurism and what is its place in Black storytelling? In this episode we give you the starter pack on answering that question....

In which we meet Cambodian artist Sopheap Pich and receive the assignment to make an IMPRINT. We filmed with Sopheap at Indianapolis Fabrications while he was in town installing a new work for the Indianapolis Museum of Art.

Tolkien is widely regarded as the most influential author on the fantasy genre… period. But one of the less-discussed aspects of his work is the way Tolkien used constructed language in his writing. Nowadays authors are constantly...

Polarized light is an unusual form of light. Can humans see when light is polarized?

Learn how to make a wispy cloud come out of your mouth, even when it's not cold out. Like any awesome trick, physics is to thank for the mouth cloud. This simple and fun demonstration can be used to explain the cloud in a bottle...

Few writers have had the sheer staying power, popularity, and prolific output as Stephen King. From insatiably flesh-hungry clowns and sentient cars to telekinetic teenagers and mystical gunslingers, if there’s one author who has taken...

PBS Digital Studio's The Art Assignment asks what the title "curator" really means, both traditionally and as it is used today. Can you be a curator of vintage sneakers? Let's talk about it in the comments.

This video provides a fascinating exploration of the enduring influence of Greek mythology on modern literature and culture, tracing its evolution from ancient times to contemporary retellings. Delving into well-known myths and...

We come to you from San Francisco's Exploratorium, where we met with artist-in-residence Zarouhie Abdalian. For her assignment, she wants you to focus on boundaries and the relationships between the spaces they separate. Sarah Green then...

The Guerrilla Girls are asking, nay demanding, that we complain! But we must do so in ways unique and memorable. We met up with them in London at Tate Modern's new Tate Exchange space, where the Guerrilla Girls were in residence and...

This week we speak to collaborating artists Mariam Ghani and Erin Ellen Kelly at the Indianapolis Museum of Art, and learn about their approach to learning about and working with landscapes.

Literary critics, writers, philosophers, bloggers--all have tried to tackle where and why and how an author may strike such lightning in a bottle that their works enter the pantheon of “Classical Literature”. Why this book is required...

You’ve heard his name. You’ve seen the Campbell’s Soup cans. You might know something about The Factory. But perhaps you’ve wondered why Andy Warhol gets so much attention or why his work even matters. What’s the deal with Warhol, and is...

You’ve heard of Jackson Pollock and know of his infamous “drip paintings,” but what is it that you’re supposed to do when you look at his work today? Why did it cause shockwaves in 1947, and what does it mean now? We explore the life,...

For much of human history, people made art by trying to represent the world as it appeared around them. Until about 100 years ago, when a bunch of artists stopped trying to do that. It was shocking then and it still upsets and confounds...

Correction: At 1:49, we accidentally said that Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was published in 1918, when it was published in 1818. We regret the error -- thanks to Stephen Pershing for catching this! Stories, tales, and myths from all...