Paul Andersen introduces the nucleic acids of life; RNA and DNA. He details the history of DNA from Griffith, to Avery, to Hershey and finally to Watson and Crick. He also details the difference between prokaryotic and eukaryotic...

We’ve gotten maybe too good at fishing, and as a result we’ve completely transformed the oceans. So what can we do to make fishing more sustainable and still enjoy our fish and chips?

The human body is a complicated thing! To be able to move, fight off diseases, and even see colors, lots of different systems and organs need to work together. Squeaks' robot body is pretty complicated, too, so Jessi has put together a...

Sam the Bat stopped by the fort today, and brought his famous pumpkin spice cookies! But what exactly is pumpkin spice?

We can now implant memories into birds’ brains to teach them how to sing, and human fetuses have a couple muscles that disappeared from our adult ancestors over 200 million years ago.

The biggest kidney stone on record weighed more than a kilogram and was 17 centimeters in diameter. The patient didn't actually swallow a stone the size of a coconut; kidney stones form inside the body. So how do they grow in the first...

Each year humanity produces roughly 400 million tons of plastic, 80% of which is discarded as trash. Of that plastic waste, only one-tenth is recycled. 60% gets incinerated or goes into the landfills, and 30% leaks out into the...

Squirrels eat a lot of things that are pretty tricky to find in the winter, like nuts and berries. Luckily for them, they have lots of clever ways to store up food to last them through the cold parts of the year!

What do macaroni salad and gasoline have in common? They are made of exactly the same stuff -- specifically, the same atoms, just rearranged. So, while we put the former in our mouths and the latter in our cars, they are really just...

If you traced your family tree back far enough, you'd see that you're related to all 7 billion people on Earth! And if you trace it back even farther than that you'll find our ancient human cousins, the Neanderthals!

When we began mass-producing matches in the 1800s, workers in the factories started dying mysteriously. The history of our sparking little flame-sticks is darker than you think.

Forget lab rats — meet the Chinese or striped-back hamster, an unassuming little rodent whose role in research over the years has led to breakthroughs in genetics, pharmaceutics and more!

Every year, tens of thousands of people have brain surgery without a single incision: there's no scalpel, no operating table, and the patient loses no blood. Instead, this procedure uses a machine that emits invisible beams of light at a...

Now that we've talked about your blood vessels, we're going to zoom in a little closer and talk about your blood itself. We'll start by outlining the basic components of blood -- including erythrocytes, leukocytes, platelets, and plasma...

Paul Andersen explains the importance of blood types in blood transfusions. He starts with a brief discussion of blood antigens and antibodies. He describes how the ABO differs from the Rh blood type. He shows you how to solve simple...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how covalent network solids form elementally (like graphite) or by combining multiple nonmetals (like quartz). Covalent network solids contain elements from the carbon group because they have four...

Is there a way to detect diseases like cancer and Alzheimer's before they advance too far? Doctors are using injected radioactive drugs that circulate through the body and act as a beacon for PET scanners. These diagnostic tools can...

Find out why these arachnids are among the least B of humanity's BFFs. Yeah, they're blood-sucking parasites, but that's not all of it!

In 1884, an unlucky patient who had a rapidly growing cancer in his neck came down with an unrelated bacterial skin infection. As he recovered from the infection, the cancer surprisingly began to recede. The infection had stimulated the...

Hank gives you at least three reasons to like mosquitoes even less than you do already, and tells you how you can literally decrease world suck by fighting mosquito-borne disease.

Paul Andersen explains how eukaryotic cells were formed through a process of endosymbiosis. He describes how aerobic bacteria became mitochondria and cyanobacteria became chloroplasts. He mentions an example of symbiosis that occurs...

Paul Andersen explains how linked genes behave and how linked genes were discovered. He shows how linked genes would be reflected in a dihybrid cross using a fruit fly simulator. He uses chromosome-based punnett squares to explain why...

The word bipolar means 'two extremes.' For the many millions experiencing bipolar disorder around the world, life is split between two different realities: elation and depression. So what causes this disorder? And can it be treated?...

Pick up a book, magazine or screen, and more than likely you'll come across some typography designed by Matthew Carter. In this charming talk, the man behind typefaces such as Verdana, Georgia and Bell Centennial (designed just for phone...