In this video Paul Andersen explains how matter and energy are conserved within the Earth's system. Matter is a closed system and Energy is open to the surroundings. In natural systems steady state is maintained through feedback loops...

In this episode of the Space Time Journal Club Matt discusses how two independent research teams created their own Time Crystals, a form of matter that breaks time translational symmetry and could be used in quantum computers.

In this video Paul Andersen explains the differences between a system and an object. Depending on the scale it often times easies to view a system as an object if the constituent parts aren't relevant to the question being asked. He...

The history of medicine is about two of our big questions: one, what is life? What makes it so special, so fragile, so… goopy!?

Two, how do we know what we know? Why should I take my doctor’s advice? Why are deep-fried Oreos bad...

What is a change of basis, and how do you do it?

This video is about the difference between complexity and entropy, and how complex things like life can arise from disorder. Thanks to Google Making and Science for supporting this series, and to Sean Carroll for...

What is a change of basis, and how do you do it?

Ever stop to ponder how your brain ponders its own complexities? How does it know to tell your limbs to stop moving and have a think? Fear not, because we have answers to many questions about those wrinkly sponges!

When you're getting medical treatment, or taking part in medical testing, privacy is important; strict laws limit what researchers can see and know about you. But what if your medical data could be used -- anonymously -- by anyone...

In this video Paul Andersen shows conceptual thinking in a mini-lesson on structure and function.


TERMS
Structure - parts in a mater
ial object
Function - an activity or purp
ose for a thing
Shape - extern
al form of...

Conservation laws are among the most important tools in physics. They feel as fundamental as you can get. And yet they're wrong - or at least they're only right sometimes. These laws are consequences of a much deeper, more fundamental...

Let's talk about the mysterious zero-point energy and what it really can, and really can't do.

In 2009, researchers ran a simple experiment. They took everything we know about our solar system and calculated where every planet would be up to 5 billion years in the future. They ran over 2,000 simulations, and the astonishing...

Today we're going to talk about robots! Robots are often thought as a technology of the future, but they're already here by the millions in the workplace, our homes, and pretty soon on the roads. We'll discuss the origins of robotics to...

Have you ever panicked before a drug test because you just ate a poppy seed muffin? Check out this episode to see if there’s really something to worry about with poppy seeds.

So last week Andre talked about Atari's role in the rise of the video game industry, but Atari wasn't the only major player in the 1970s. So we're going to step back a few years and first talk about Ralph Baer who designed the first...

If you've ever wondered why you crave certain foods or what your appendix actually does, there's something in this collection for you!

Natural selection can lead to some pretty amazing adaptations, but sometimes the resulting traits aren’t the most efficient solutions to the problems at hand. With the bar set to “good enough,” here are some features that arose from...

Computers can beat us in board games, transcribe speech, and instantly identify almost any object. But will future robots go further by learning to figure out what we're feeling? Kostas Karpouzis imagines a future where machines and the...

The bizarre Arrow's Impossibility Theorem, or Arrow's Paradox, shows a counterintuitive relationship between fair voting procedures and dictatorships.

For architect Ole Scheeren, the people who live and work inside a building are as much a part of that building as concrete, steel and glass. He asks: Can architecture be about collaboration and storytelling instead of the isolation and...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how the CRISPR/Cas immune system was identified in bacteria and how the CRISPR/Cas9 system was developed to edit genomes.

Community organizer Raj Jayadev wants to transform the US court system through "participatory defense" -- a growing movement that empowers families and community members to impact their loved ones' court cases. He shares the remarkable...

In this video Paul Andersen shows conceptual thinking in a mini-lesson on complex structures.


TERMS
Complex structures - structures that consist of many different and conne
cted parts
System - a set of components...