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Why I Love PBS
1. Tell us what you love about public media using #IlovePBS 2. Learn more about public media at http://pbs.org/value. 3. Find your representative at https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members
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Can You Bend Light Like This?
The other day I got bored and noticed this weird thing happened when I held my finger up to my eye, so I had to science it and figure it out! Let me know if you try these light-bending experiments too, especially that last one that I...
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How Science Defines A Year
It's been one (tropical/sidereal/anomalous) year since I uploaded the very first It's Okay To Be Smart. Here's everything that's happened since!
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Nobel Prizes: Past, Present... and Future?
The controversial history, present and future of the Nobel Prizes.
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Why Your Brain Is In Your Head
Part 1 of 3 in my series about why our bodies are shaped the way they are.
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Exoplanets: Are There Other Earths?
We live in one of a hundred billion of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. And now, thanks to modern astronomy, we know that the Milky Way is home to perhaps a hundred billion planets! In the past two decades, these...
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There's Science Hidden In Our National Monuments
I took a trip to Washington D.C. to check out some of our nation's most famous monuments. Where do they come from? From the depths of the Earth to the distant reaches of the cosmos, you'll never look at history the same way again
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Why Don't Other Animals Wear Glasses?
Vision impairment is common in humans, so why not the rest of the animal kingdom?
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What is Farthest Away?
The edge of everything used to be the edge of the map. But now, thanks to what we know about astrophysics and the universe, the edge of everything might not even exist....
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Your Salad Is Trying To Kill You
Plants are the most important source of nutrients for pretty much all of Earth's animals, and many of the planet's bacteria and fungi too. Humans like them so much that we line them up in salad bars so we can feast upon their crunchy...
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Your #ScienceWoman Heroes
We teamed up with Amy Poehler's Smart Girls to ask you who your #sciencewoman heroes are. Here's what you told us!
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Relationship Advice from the Animal Kingdom
Ever find yourself wishing for relationship advice and have no one to turn to? Looking for the secrets to a long and happy relationship but can't find the answers? Maybe you just want to know how to tell that certain someone that you...
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How Many Species Are There?
How many species are there on Earth? In biology, this is one of a fundamental question that we still don't have a very good answer for. Imagine if chemists didn't know all the elements of the periodic table, or if physicists didn't know...
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Your Mom is LITERALLY Part Of You!
They say mom's never far away, but I don't think this is what they had in mind. In this episode, learn about the mind-blowing connection you share with your mom. A little bit of you never leaves the other!
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Eight Incredible Deep Sea Oddities
We know more about some other planets than we do about the deepest corners of Earth's oceans, and the species we've found there are almost alien. Here's some of the most unbelievable oddities ever observed! Special thanks to the Monterey...
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Is Height All in Our Genes?
I'm tall. Most of the people in my family are tall. Does that mean my son will be tall? Turns out the inheritance of height is a lot more complicated than we thought. Scientists know that nature (genes) and nurture (environment) both...
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20 MILLION Year-Old Spider!! Unweaving Spider Silk
Living things have engineered some pretty awesome materials, but I'm not sure anything measures up to spider silk. It's as strong, as stretchy, and as resilient than even humans' most advanced creations like Kevlar and steel. So how do...
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The Auroras
Space might seem like an empty place, but the area surrounding Earth is constantly being bombarded by waves of charged particles released by the Sun: The solar wind. Luckily, thanks to Earth's swirling, molten core (and the magnetic...
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Why Do We Laugh?
Laughing is a universal human behavior, one that transcends borders of language and culture. But it's also REALLY WEIRD. Why do we do it? The answer has less to do with humor than you might think
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Can Evolution Create Information? - 12 Days of Evolution #9
Some of the biggest evolution questions finally answered.
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What Color is the Universe?
When you stare up at the night sky, you might think that the universe is really black, but that's just because our eyes aren't sensitive enough to see the billions and billions of multicolored stars out there. Ever wonder why certain...