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How the Meter Became The Meter
The meter is the world's ultimate measure, but how did it become "the" meter? What is this measurement based on? The story of this revolution in measurement traces its roots to the French Revolution. Scientists decided that an equal and...
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The Deadliest Flu Season in History?
The flu might feel like some minor illness that you don't need to worry about much, but tens of thousands of people still die from it every year. And back in 1918, Flu killed up to 5% of the world's population. Could a flu that bad...
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What is Luck?
Is luck real? It might feel like a mystical force tugging us toward good or bad fortune, but it turns out luck is really where probability runs into the human mind. That's right, there's a scientific side to luck, and if you study a few...
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Pay Attention!
It seems like every week someone tells us how the internet and the digital age are overloading our brains. Sure, sometimes it feels like we're being fed more information than we can handle, that we're paying attention to the wrong...
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Why Does February Have 28 Days?
Why does February only get 28 days when all the other months get 30 or 31? The answer is part superstition, part politics, and parts astronomy. Basically, it's the Romans' fault.
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Do Fish Pee?
You know you’ve wondered. Do fish actually pee? And what does that make the ocean… one big toilet?
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The Superb Owl!
As we get ready to watch that big football game that my lawyers tell me I'm not allowed to say the name of, let's celebrate a champion of the bird world: Stealthy and silent owls! Learn how owls fly so silently, how they see in the dark,...
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How Habits are Formed
Got a bad habit you just can't seem to break? That's because it's literally wired into your brain. Every single thought, action, and feeling changes your brain. When repeated enough times, a habit is formed. This week we'll talk about...
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The Most Extreme Life Forms On Earth.... And Beyond?
What have we learned from exploring Earth's harshest locations? That pretty everywhere we look for life, we find it. From smoking hot hydrothermal vents to icy deserts, up in clouds and inside rocks, extremophiles have found a way to...
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How Much Plastic is in the Ocean?
Ocean plastic pollution is a massive environmental problem. Millions of tons of plastic waste enter the ocean every year, even plastic that goes in the trash can often ends up in the sea! This week we learn about the Great Pacific...
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What This Chart Actually Means for COVID-19
Stay informed. Stay cautious, but not scared. Listen to scientists and public health officials and follow their guidance. By protecting yourself, you’re protecting the most vulnerable among us. Together we can flatten the curve on...
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How The Elements Got Their Names
Ever wonder what all those names on the periodic table actually mean? There's a whole lot of fascinating history on Mendeleev's table. Some carry names from antiquity, some are named for people, some are named for places, and some are...
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Much A-Do About Hair
All mammals have hair at some point in their lives, but none of them wear it quite like humans. Why does our hair grow where it does, and not grow where it doesn't? How does our hair get its color? And why does it go gray and often fall...
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Does The Moon Really Orbit The Earth?
According to Newton's law of gravitation, the sun should "pull" way harder on the moon than the Earth does. So does the moon actually orbit the Earth? Why?
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Asteroid Mining: Our Ticket To Living Off Earth?
Asteroid mining sounds like something out of a bad space movie, but harvesting materials from space rocks might be our ticket to building space colonies or living on Mars.
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Evolution Is Dumb - 12 Days of Evolution #6
Some of the biggest evolution questions finally answered.
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Why It Is What Time It Is (The History of Time)
How did we come up with our system of telling time? Why do we divide the day into 24 hours of 60 minutes each, and put 60 seconds in each minute? Where does the definition of a second come from? And who decides what clock shows the...
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Putting Hurricane Harvey In Perspective
How do we comprehend a storm like Hurricane Harvey? Let's put it into perspective.
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Why I'm Scared of Spiders
I'm scared of spiders. I'm not afraid to admit it. I love them in a scientific sense, or from a "let me look at you from way over here" sense, but that's as close as I get. Here's a look at the science of why some of us are afraid of...
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What's The Hottest Hot and Coldest Cold?
The hottest and coldest temperatures in our universe are rarely witnessed, but in these rare spots, our understanding of physics is challenged. Weird things happen at extreme hot and absolute cold.