PBS
What do MP3s and Magic Spells Have in Common?
Both spells and music were born from a freely available folk culture, but are now sold as commercial goods. There are thousands of artists (and witches!) trying to figure out how to make a living in an age where their products can be...
PBS
Should Space be Privatized?
Will the future of space exploration be guided by public or private entities? Which is better?
PBS
The Weird, Watery Tale of Spinosaurus
In 1912, a fossil collector discovered some strange bone fragments in the eerie, beautiful Cretaceous Bahariya rock formation of Egypt. Eventually, that handful of fossil fragments would reveal to scientists one of the strangest...
PBS
Will A New Neutrino Change The Standard Model?
Since the discovery of the Higgs boson, physicists have searched and searched for any hint of new particles. That search has been fruitless. Until, perhaps, now. Today on Space Time Journal Club we'll look at a paper that reports a...
PBS
Understanding the Uncertainty Principle
Sometimes intuitive, large-scale phenomena can give us incredible insights into the extremely unintuitive world of quantum mechanics.
PBS
The Story of Saberteeth
Smilodon was a fearsome Ice Age cat, the size of a modern-day tiger, that had a pair of fangs nearly 18 centimeters long. But it was only the last and largest of the great sabertooths: ridiculously long canines had already been a trend...
PBS
Space Used to Be Orange!!
As long as we've been around, YES. But the universe gets much more exciting, AND much BRIGHTER, as we start winding our clocks back to the early days of the universe. Near the beginning of the universe, when space was rapidly expanding,...
PBS
The Facts About Dinosaurs & Feathers
Over the past 20 years, dinosaurs of all types and sizes have been found with some sort of fluff or even full-on plumage. These fuzzy discoveries have raised a whole batch of new questions so we're here to tell you everything we know...
PBS
Untangling the Devil's Corkscrew
In the late 1800s, paleontologists in Nebraska found huge coils of hardened sand stuck deep in the earth. Local ranchers called them Devil's Corkscrews and scientists called them Daemonelix. It was clear these corkscrews were created by...
PBS
Computing a Universe Simulation
Physics seems to be telling us that it's possible to simulate the entire universe on a computer smaller than the universe
PBS
The Vacuum Catastrophe
If vacuum energy really does have the enormous value predicted by quantum field theory then our gently expanding, geometrically flat universe shouldn't exist. This is the vacuum catastrophe.
PBS
Is Instagram Revolutionizing Photography?
With its ability to make boring cellphone photos look "vintage" and "artsy", the mobile application Instagram has exploded worldwide. Derided by its detractors as a tool for making bad photos worse, we take an alternate view and argue...
PBS
Dimetrodon: Our Most Unlikely Ancestor
With its lizard-like appearance and that distinctive sail on it back, Dimetrodon is practically the mascot of the Palaeozoic Era, a time before flowers, birds, mammals, and even crocodiles. But if you take a close look at this...
PBS
How to Signal Aliens
Everyone has their own opinion as to whether or not aliens exist. But let's assume they do for a second and we wanted to let them know we're here!!!! How should we signal our species' existence through the expanse of space? There are a...
PBS
Black Holes from the Dawn of Time
Primordial black holes may be lurking throughout our universe. How large are they, how many are out there and what would happen if they moved through our solar system?
PBS
Telescopes of Tomorrow
The telescopes of tomorrow will see in infrared and ultraviolet. They will peer through space and scan across time. They will allow us to find new supernovae, spot potentially hazardous asteroids, better understand dark energy and peer...
PBS
Can We Get DNA From Fossils?
In 1993, scientists cracked open a piece of amber, took out the body of an ancient weevil, and sampled its DNA. Or, at least, so we thought. It took another few decades of research, and a lot of take-backs, before scientists could figure...
PBS
Will Kickstarter Replace Hollywood?
Although it's funding is nowhere NEAR the amount Hollywood invests in moviemaking each year, crowdfunding is a way better indicator of what the audience wants to see, the one area Hollywood has failed in time and time again. Will...
PBS
Why Megalodon (Definitely) Went Extinct
For more than 10 million years, Megalodon was at the top of its game as the oceans' apex predator...until 2.6 million years ago, when it went extinct. So, what happened to the largest shark in history?
PBS
Strange Stars
What happens when matter can't get any denser yet somehow does? The answer - it becomes strange. Strange Stars may be the most massive stellar remnant that is just shy of forming a black hole. And they could be even cooler than black holes.
PBS
What Planet Is Super Mario World?
We've run, jumped, and stomped all over the world of Super Mario, but, where in the universe is Super Mario EXACTLY? It's virtual so it obviously DOESN'T exist but if it did, could Super Mario world be in our solar system? And what do...
PBS
Why Computers are Bad at Algebra
The answer lies in the weirdness of floating-point numbers and the computer's perception of a number line.
PBS
Is Piracy Helping Game of Thrones?
A huge amount of viewers of the HBO series Game of Thrones (not us of course, no no no) are downloading the show illegally. But despite being the most pirated show of 2012, the Game of Thrones DVDs are top sellers, breaking HBO's own...
PBS
Will Mars or Venus Kill You First?
Humans have been talking about space colonization for quite some time, but our neighboring planets are not exactly the most hospitable places. If we are ever going to be successful, we should probably figure out where we could reasonably...