In this video Paul Andersen explains how humans use information technology and instrumentation to better understand their surrounds. Technologies (including X-rays, computers, and phones) use electromagnetic waves to improve the lives...

Without water, a human can only survive for about 100 hours. But there's a creature so resilient that it can go without it for decades. This 1-millimeter animal can survive both the hottest and coldest environments on earth, and can even...

A technology to ignore birds on radar ended up being useful to study and conserve them.

Every year, the world uses 35 billion barrels of oil. This massive scale of fossil fuel dependence pollutes the earth, and it won't last forever. On the other hand, we have abundant sun, water and wind, which are all renewable energy...

Water covers over 70% of the Earth, cycling from the oceans and rivers to the clouds and back again. It even makes up about 60% of our bodies. But in the rest of the solar system, liquid water is almost impossible to find. So how did our...

As the Earth's surface temperature gradually rises, it has become vital for us to predict the rate of this increase with as much precision as possible. In order to do that, scientists need to understand more about aerosols and clouds....

About 66 million years ago, a terrible extinction event wiped out the dinosaurs. But it wasn't the only event of this kind -- extinctions of various severity have occurred throughout the Earth's history -- and are still happening all...

Energy is neither created nor destroyed - and yet the global demand for it continues to increase. But where does energy come from, and where does it go? Joshua M. Sneideman examines the many ways in which energy cycles through our...

We've all had the experience: you're walking across a soft carpet, you reach for the doorknob and - ZAP. But what causes this trademark jolt of static electricity? Anuradha Bhagwat sheds light on the phenomenon by examining the nature of...

Published scientific studies can motivate research, inspire products, and inform policy. However, recent studies that examined dozens of published pharmaceutical papers managed to replicate the results of less than 25% of them - and...

Thousands of languages thrive across the globe, yet modern speech technology -- with all of its benefits -- supports just over a hundred. Computational linguist Kalika Bali dreams of a day when technology acts as a bridge instead of a...

Bringing together data from numerous sensor nodes and visualizing it is a critical part of the scientific process. But creating accessible visualizations is not easy, especially when those sensor nodes communicate...

Satellite images capture large footprints in South Texas. Could these footprints have been made by a monster? #whatonearth #sciencechannel Stream What on Earthef='https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/what-on-earth' target='_blank'...

Experts analyze satellite images of strange patterns drawn into the Utah desert. Could it be military activity? #whatonearth #sciencechannel Stream What on Earthef='https://www.discoveryplus.com/show/what-on-earth' target='_blank'...

Satellite images show a large shark shaped mound in Southern Florida. Is this a natural occurrence, or did ancient civilizations worship these creatures? #whatonearth #sciencechannel Stream What On