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Why NASA Punched an Asteroid
Where did life come from? It’s one of the biggest questions humans have ever asked — and the answer might be locked in ancient space rocks that were around before life began. To find out, NASA pulled off one of its most ambitious...
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Space is Full of Junk. Here’s How to Clean It Up…
We know pollution is a problem on earth, but we’re filling space with our junk too. And if we don’t figure out a way to clean up space junk, we could end our interstellar dreams before they even get started. Today, we’re visiting some...
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Why the 2024 Solar Eclipse is Such a Big Deal
On April 8, 2024, the Moon’s shadow will fall on Earth, creating a total solar eclipse across North America, and if you have the chance to see it, you don’t want to miss it. It’s an amazing coincidence that total eclipses happen at all —...
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Measuring the Universe With a 14-Billion Light-Year Ruler
Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scientists have been constructing a cosmic measuring tape to measure the universe from our own backyard all the way to its ever-expanding edge: the cosmic distance ladder. In this video, we climb...
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Computers Can Predict When You're Going to Die… Here's How
Predictive analytics uses math and historical data to make predictions about the future. It’s used in commerce, sports, politics, social media and tons of other places. And as it turns out, people have been using math to predict people’s...
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The Real (Weird) Way We See Numbers
Would it surprise you to learn that fish and birds count in pretty much the same way that we do? And that infants can do math? Our animal brains deal with quantities in very specific ways, from quick counts of a few dots to how we...
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Why Trees Look Like Rivers and Also Blood Vessels and Also Lightning…
Why do the same, self-repeating patterns appear in trees, rivers, lightning, and even our bodies? Is there some essential, hidden rule of nature that makes these intricate designs appear all over the place? Let’s talk about fractals.
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Why You See Faces in Things
Have you ever looked at a cloud and seen a face? Or the front of a car and seen a face? Or an electrical outlet and seen a face? You definitely have. We all see faces everywhere we look thanks to a fun quirk of the human brain called...
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Why Do We Hate Certain Sounds
Ever wonder why certain sounds make us cringe or even feel sick? Join Joe as he reacts to some of the most hated sounds, from nails on a chalkboard to the infamous "moist," and explores the science of why these sounds are so unbearable...
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The Paradox of Voting
Political scientist Don Green joins Joe to figure out the complex psychological and social factors that motivate us to vote - or not to. They discuss how and why this decision making process may be in conflict with certain scientific...
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Why Don’t Humans Hibernate?
Nature has had to come up with some crazy ways to survive harsh winters. But none are weirder than hibernation. Turns out there is more than one kind of hibernation, and studying all these ways that life slows down in the cold might help...
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Camouflage Isn't What It Appears To Be
Camouflage is nature’s ultimate game of hide-and-seek, and the secret to winning this game is all in the brain. By studying the masters of disguise, we can see how they trick the brain to make themselves invisible — and what this can...
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How Scientists Cracked the Secret To Making Diamonds
For centuries, diamonds were one of the most mysterious materials on Earth. They were beautiful, indestructible, and completely unexplained. Today, we’re exploring how scientists unlocked their secrets, and how one lab recreates the...
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Why Useless Knowledge Can Be So Useful
Our lizard friend the Gila monster probably has no idea that a chemical in its spit inspired one of the most important medical advancements of the 21st century. But this story is really about something bigger. Something deeper, beneath...
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What Synesthesia Feels Like
Did you know some people 'see' letters in color or 'taste' music? In this video, we’ll talk about synesthesia, how it works in the brain, and why some people experience these fascinating sensory connections while most of us don’t.
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Will Earth Run Out of Oxygen
Plants eat sunlight and air to make life. But the key enzyme behind it all, called RuBisCO, isn’t actually all that great at its job. Let’s talk about how photosynthesis really works, why oxygen isn’t coming from where you think, and...
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Why Are Blood Types a Thing?
Across life on Earth, blood comes in red, blue, green, purple, even clear. But why? And what makes your blood different from mine? This video will teach you everything you need to know about the strange world of blood—what it does, why...
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The Dinosaurs Too Big To Be Dinosaurs
How did sauropods, uniquely large land animals, actually live, with their anatomy and physiology pushed to such extremes? Well, their unprecedented gigantism came with some equally massive costs…
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When the CIA Spied on Planet Earth
In 1995, a few years after the collapse of the Soviet Union, a top-secret, first-of-its-kind US spy satellite program was declassified, leading to the unexpected story of how former enemies would become scientific allies, and technology...
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Is this Chicken?
Our appetite for meat is one of the greatest environmental challenges we face. Join me on a mind-blowing visit to UPSIDE Foods, the world's most advanced cultivated meat production facility, as we ask whether cultivated meat can deliver...
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I Don’t Know How to Feel About 2023
2023 was a wild year with everything from scorching temperatures to massive wildfires. Even with more renewable energy than ever, 2023’s climate data still seems really bad. So how should we think about climate change today? And what can...
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The Surprising Power of Sex in Evolution
We all know Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, right? Natural selection? But what about his lesser-know theory of evolution: sexual selection. Let’s talk about how animals like peacocks, whose eye-catching physical traits make them...
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Why Your Grandma Is an Evolutionary Mystery
This is one of the weirdest mysteries of human evolution: Why do we have grandmas? From menopause to our slow maturation and super-long lifespans, humans are quite unique in the animal kingdom. Could grandma be an evolutionary secret...
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How Feathered Dinosaurs Accidentally Invented Flight
How did dinosaurs become birds—and what good is half a wing? Join Joe and a few brave chickens as they recreate a brilliant experiment that helps solve one of evolution’s greatest mysteries: the origin of feathered flight.