Be Smart
Whose Air do we Share?
Earth's atmosphere is big, but not as big as many people think. All the air that keeps us alive is just a thin candy shell around our planet. In this episode, echoing the words of John F. Kennedy, I'll show you the science of how we all...
Be Smart
What Are The Most Important Science Images Ever?
Science isn't always a visual medium, but I think it's most important moments have often been captured in photos and illustrations. I picked out some of my favorite science images from history.
Be Smart
How To Hit A Fastball (According To Science!!!)
DISCLAIMER: I have very bad hitting form. Baseball was never my thing :)
Be Smart
Should You Be Worried About Zika?
Mosquitos have been dangerous for, well... forever. So what's new about Zika?
Be Smart
Should You Eat Everyday?
An intermittent fasting diet is one of the hippest new nutrition and fitness philosophies, based around the idea that going hungry can be good for your health. Some think it's a weight loss secret that calls upon our ancient evolutionary...
Be Smart
What If You Never Forgot Anything?
How does memory work? And how does.... un-memory work? Our brain does a lot of remembering and forgetting every day, so you should probably make room for som info on how it works. You'll also get to meet some people who can't make...
Be Smart
I Don't Think You're Ready for These Jellies
Joe Hanson went behind the scenes at the Monterey Bay Aquarium to learn about jellyfish.
Be Smart
The Invisible Creatures That Keep You Alive!
A complete microbiome lives inside us, and believe it or not, that's a good thing.
Be Smart
How Many Trees Are There?
It may be an impossible questions, but we can at least get close.
Be Smart
Building Curiosity
My tribute to Curiosity, both the NASA rover and the human desire to discover, featuring words from some of science's greatest minds and LEGO's special edition Mars rover set
Be Smart
Title: The Recipe For Life
If the human body could be distilled down into one molecule, what would our chemical formula be? And WHY is it that way? There’s a whole lot of elements on the periodic table, but life depends on relatively few of them in order to build...
Be Smart
There Was No First Human
If you traced your family tree back 185 million generations, you wouldn't be looking at a human, a primate, or even a mammal. You'd be looking at a fish. So where along that line does the first human show up? The answer may surprise you
Be Smart
CRISPR and the Future of Human Evolution
In part 4 of our special series on human ancestry and evolution, we look into the future. Now that genetic engineering tools like CRISPR allow us to edit our genes, how will that impact human evolution going forward? Are designer babies...
Be Smart
Understanding Climate Science
Scientists overwhelmingly agree that our climate is changing, Earth is getting warmer, sea levels are rising, and it's primarily because of humans putting lots of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Whether you already trust in the...
Be Smart
Thomas Jefferson and The Giant Moose
America's first great science battle wasn't the space race or the atom bomb, it was fought between Thomas Jefferson, a French nobleman, and in the middle a giant moose. Some people call Jefferson our only scientist-President, and T.J....
Be Smart
There's No Such Thing As Cold
You've felt cold before. Sometimes it's cold outside. But what if I told you that "cold" isn't real? There's no substance or quantity called "cold" in science. We can't measure the amount of "cold" in something. Instead it's about what's...
Be Smart
How Well Do Masks Work? (Schlieren Imaging In Slow Motion!)
Wearing a mask is a cheap and easy way to help stop the spread of airborne infections like COVID-19. It’s also a sign that you want to help protect other people and have them protect you… that we’re all in this together. Here’s some...
Be Smart
Einstein Was Right: Gravitational Waves Edition
A theory of physics 100 years in the making.
Be Smart
How Many Smells Can You Smell?
We walk through life led by our noses. Literally. Because they're on the front of our faces. How does the sense of smell work, and how sensitive are our noses? Why are smell-related memories so vivid? How many different smells could we...
Be Smart
How to Figure Out the Day of the Week For Any Date Ever
You might think that computers are the only things that run algorithms, but you're wrong. Here's a neat mental trick for calculating the day of the week for any day ever, developed by famous mathematician John H. Conway.