TED Talks
Sarah Kay: "A Bird Made of Birds"
"The universe has already written the poem you were planning on writing," says Sarah Kay, quoting her friend, poet Kaveh Akbar. Performing "A Bird Made of Birds," she shares how and where she finds poetry. (Kay is also the host of TED's...
SciShow
How Does a Box-Shaped Fish Swim?
Box-shaped fish might seem like they don't have the most efficient body shape, but there are some surprising perks to being an underwater cuboid creature.
PBS
The Weird, Watery Tale of Spinosaurus
In 1912, a fossil collector discovered some strange bone fragments in the eerie, beautiful Cretaceous Bahariya rock formation of Egypt. Eventually, that handful of fossil fragments would reveal to scientists one of the strangest...
SciShow
How Volcanoes’ Music Could Help Us Predict Them
You might not think of volcanoes as particularly musical, but they do actually generate infrasound! And scientists may be able to use that sound to help predict when a volcano is about to erupt.
SciShow
This Fish Bulks Up When Danger is Near
Sometimes the hairs on the back of your neck raise up when you sense that danger might be near, but what if you were also able to bulk yourself up like a muscular balloon to fend off that danger? This fish, it turns out, can do exactly...
TED Talks
Li Wei Tan: The fascinating science of bubbles, from soap to champagne
In this whimsical talk and live demo, scientist Li Wei Tan shares the secrets of bubbles -- from their relentless pursuit of geometric perfection to their applications in medicine and shipping, where designers are creating more efficient...
TED Talks
TED: What everyday citizens can do to claim power on the internet | Fadi Chehade and Bryn Freedman
Technology architect Fadi Chehade helped set up the infrastructure that makes the internet work -- essential things like the domain name system and IP address standards. Today he's focused on finding ways for society to benefit from...
SciShow
Life on a Donut Planet
We're used to talking about planets as spherical objects, but a donut-shaped planet is theoretically possible. What would life be like on one of these?
SciShow
Top 10 New Species of the Year!
Scientists around the world discover about 18,000 new species every year. Each new organism has not only to be found, but also studied, compared, identified and organized -- that's taxonomy, the science of classifying living things and...
SciShow
Why Do Ribbons Curl?
Curly, festive ribbons are a delight, sure, but the physics behind HOW they curl is much more exciting!
SciShow Kids
The World’s Ugliest Animal
The blobfish has been called 'The World's Ugliest Animal', but it's actually really cool. Find out why it's shaped the way it is with Jessi and Squeaks.
TED Talks
Alan Kay: A powerful idea about ideas
With all the intensity and brilliance for which he is known, Alan Kay envisions better techniques for teaching kids by using computers to illustrate experience in ways -– mathematically and scientifically -- that only computers can.
MinuteEarth
How Do Some Waves Get SO Big?
All over the world, giant wave breaks appear because of underwater geology that supercharges their wave energy.
SciShow
Why We Hate the Word 'Moist'
SciShow Psych tackles the science behind what might be one of the most hated words in the English language: moist.
SciShow
DNA: Not Just for Life Anymore!
Our DNA stores the information that makes us who we are, but that's not all it can do! There are applications for DNA that go way beyond its use for life, like storing data and folding it into complicated shapes.
SciShow
Earth Used to Have 19-Hour Days (and Pluto Has Dunes!)
According to a new model, days on Earth used to really fly by, and today Pluto has wind-swept dunes made of very weird sand.
TED Talks
TED: The science of scent | Luca Turin
What's the science behind a sublime perfume? With charm and precision, biophysicist Luca Turin explains the molecular makeup -- and the art -- of a scent.
SciShow
The Most Dangerous Part of Space Travel Coming Home
SciShow Space takes you through perhaps the scariest part of every space mission -- re-entry. How do astronauts survive the turbulent return to Earth’s atmosphere? Math, y’all!
TED Talks
TED: Different ways of knowing | Daniel Tammet
Daniel Tammet has linguistic, numerical and visual synesthesia -- meaning that his perception of words, numbers and colors are woven together into a new way of perceiving and understanding the world. The author of "Born on a Blue Day,"...
SciShow
How Quantum Mechanics Affects Your Life
While you might not think about quantum mechanics being part of your everyday life, it turns out that it might play a role in some of the most familiar things, from the sunlight in the trees to the nose on your face! Chapters View all...
TED Talks
David Baker: 5 challenges we could solve by designing new proteins
Proteins are remarkable molecular machines: they digest your food, fire your neurons, power your immune system and so much more. What if we could design new ones, with functions never before seen in nature? In this remarkable glimpse of...
TED Talks
Paul Rothemund: Playing with DNA that self-assembles
Paul Rothemund writes code that causes DNA to arrange itself into a star, a smiley face and more. Sure, it's a stunt, but it's also a demonstration of self-assembly at the smallest of scales -- with vast implications for the future of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Inside a cartoonist's world - Liza Donnelly
From cave drawings to the Sunday paper, artists have been visualizing ideas -- cartoons -- for centuries. New Yorker cartoonist Liza Donnelly walks us through the many stages every cartoon goes through, starting with an idea and turning...
SciShow
Why We Started Shooting Lasers Into People’s Eyeballs
Your eyes might malfunction, but lasers can fix them. Here's how researchers developed those procedures.