So we all know that breathing is pretty important, right? Today we're going to talk about how it works, starting with the nameless evolutionary ancestor that we inherited this from, and continuing to the mechanics of both simple...

It was dark when two mysterious, shrouded figures appeared in a hillside village. The strangers knocked on every door in town, asking for food and shelter. But, again and again, they were turned away. Soon, there was just one door left:...

Are These Butterflies The Same?

For musician Teitur, singing is about giving away a piece of yourself to others. "If your intentions are to impress people or to get the big applause at the end," he says, "then you are taking, not giving." Listen as he plays on stage at...

In the wake of the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami, mixed into the wreckage were lost and damaged photos of families and loved ones. Photo retoucher Becci Manson, together with local volunteers and a global group of colleagues she...

We've known for millennia that lead pipes could make us sick, so why are we still drinking from them?

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...

When Joshua Prager was 19, a devastating bus accident left him a hemiplegic. He returned to Israel twenty years later to find the driver who turned his world upside down. In this mesmerizing tale of their meeting, Prager probes deep...

Get your groove on with Squeaks and his favorite band, The Whizpops, for a musical experience with Black Footed Ferrets!

You are more than you think you are, says former pro wrestler Mike Kinney -- you just have to find what makes you unique and use it to your advantage. For years Kinney "turned up" the parts of himself that made him special as he invented...

One day a pair of brothers working together as shoemakers had an explosive fight that split the family business in two. Over the coming years, this disagreement divided their town— residents and businesses chose sides. Could such a...

Kindness can go a long way when it comes to reshaping a business. Having saved a fashion company from the brink of bankruptcy, entrepreneur James Rhee shares the value of investing in a culture of compassion at work -- and shows why we...

Your town is holding a mayoral election and the stakes have never been higher. You suspect one of the candidates will begin pushing false information to swing the election. As the cybersecurity expert, your job is to inoculate the...

It's a bustling day in Pompeii. After a quick visit to the market, Fabia spots her brothers, Lucius and Marcus, crossing the Forum. The siblings begin discussing Lucius' wedding — but a deafening boom interrupts them. They watch Vesuvius...

If you live in the United States, you may live in the Eastern Standard Time Zone. Or maybe you live in Mountain Standard Time or one of the other standardized time zones. But these time zones have not always been around. In fact, it's a...

In 1925, 20 teams of sled dogs braved the harsh Alaskan winter to carry a package of diphtheria antitoxin over 1000 km to save a small town from a deadly outbreak!

Accepting his 2005 TED Prize, photographer Edward Burtynsky makes a wish: that his images -- stunning landscapes that document humanity's impact on the world -- help persuade millions to join a global conversation on sustainability.

Set in a small town in India, "The God of Small Things" revolves around fraternal twins Rahel and Estha, who are separated for 23 years after the fateful hours in which their cousin drowns, their mother's affair is revealed, and her...

SciShow takes you to Centralia, Pennsylvania, site of one of the oldest, biggest coal fires in the United States, and explains the chemistry of spontaneous combustion.

You’re on the trail of a werewolf that’s been terrorizing your town. After months of detective work, you’ve narrowed your suspects to one of five people. You’ve invited them to dinner with a simple plan: to slip a square of a rare...

Low-status neighborhoods in the US are often stuck between stagnating assistance from the government and gentrification at the hands of real estate developers. The result is that the brightest minds are convinced that "success" means...

In which John teaches you about the Seven Years War, which may have lasted nine years. Or as many as 23. It was a very confusing was. The Seven Years War was a global war, fought on five continents, which is kind of a lot. John focuses...

Modifiers are words, phrases, and clauses that add information about other parts of a sentence-which is usually helpful. But when modifiers aren't linked clearly enough to the words they're actually referring to, they can create...

In a staggering display of creativity and community, theater director Amir Nizar Zuabi introduces "The Walk": a theatrical journey following a nine-year-old refugee girl named Amal (represented by a giant, lifelike puppet) as she makes...