PBS
Can a Chess Piece Explain Markov Chains?
In this episode probability mathematics and chess collide. What is the average number of steps it would take before a randomly moving knight returned to its starting square?
PBS
5 Ways to Stop a Killer Asteroid
When it comes to dangerous asteroids striking Earth, it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. We have begun to track projectiles large enough to destroy our planet, and we are in the clear for the foreseeable future. However,...
PBS
How Many Humans Have the Same Number of Body Hairs?
Do two people on the planet have the exact same number of body hairs? How about more than two? There's a simple yet powerful mathematical principle that can help you find out the answer. Kelsey Houston-Edwards breaks down the Pigeonhole...
PBS
Should We Colonize Venus Instead of Mars?
Mars One. The Mars Rover. Bruno Mars. Mars Bars. It's pretty clear we're OBSESSED with the idea of Mars, especially in regard to it being a potential colony for earthlings. But is that really the best option? Is there a better place for...
PBS
The Origin of Matter and Time
We've broken down our preconceived notions about mass and time, now let's redefine what they really are. Since we know that time is not a universal constant, what is? Matt defines causal order and explains how even though time may look...
PBS
How Gaia Changed Astronomy Forever
The great advances in any science tend to come in sudden leaps. April 25th of 2018 marks the beginning of just such a leap for much of astronomy. In the early hours of the morning, the Gaia mission's second data release dropped. Our...
PBS
Neutron Stars Collide in New LIGO Signal?
Last year LIGO announced the detection of gravitational waves from the merger of two black holes. The science world went a little crazy. Only a few weeks ago a new rumour emerged: that LIGO had, for the first time, spotted gravitational...
PBS
Quantum Vortices and Superconductivity + Challenge Answers
Scientists studying quantum vortices and their impact on superconductivity just won the Nobel Prize.
PBS
The End of the Habitable Zone
The Sun is getting brighter and the planets in our solar system that are habitable are changing.
PBS
What Does It Mean to Be a Number? (The Peano Axioms)
If you needed to tell someone what numbers are and how they work, without using the notion of number in your answer, could you do it?
PBS
What is a Random Walk?
To understand finance, search algorithms and even evolution you need to understand Random Walks.
PBS
Is an Ice Age Coming?
We're living in a brief window of time where our planet isn't frozen underneath a giant layer of glaciers. How much longer will the moderate climate that we've come to know as "normal" continue? This episode looks at how the changes in...
PBS
The Real Star Wars
Anti-Satellite weaponry, giant X-ray lasers and kinetic impact missiles nicknamed the "Rods from God." Find out about the history of the real star wars that have been waged over the past 50 years.
PBS
Can a Circle Be a Straight Line?
On this week's episode of Spacetime, Gabe talks about what it actually means for a line to be straight so we can better understand what we mean by the idea of "curved Spacetime". This is Part One of our series on General relativity, so...
PBS
Is Facebook Changing Our Identity?
With 955,000,000 worldwide users, Facebook seems like just about everyone makes use of the social media giant to connect with friends, share photos, and update everyone they've ever met since grade school about their dinner plans. But...
PBS
Is Minecraft the Ultimate Educational Tool?
Some experts have brought Minecraft into the classroom, allowing teachers to customize lessons and students to engage with concepts in new ways. And while educational games aren't new, Minecraft has some unique advantages that could...
PBS
Can Dungeons & Dragons Make You Confident & Successful?
There are some deeply ingrained stereotypes about Dungeons & Dragons, and those stereotypes usually begin and end with people shouting "NERD!!!" But the reality of the D&D universe is a whole lot more complex. Rather than being an escape...
PBS
Russian Meteorites and Surveillance Culture
A meteorite crashed into earth!!!! This wasn't the first time and it won't be the last, but it is the first time such an event was captured by SO MANY CAMERAS! But besides providing the world with some hilarious, frightening, and amazing...
PBS
Quantum Theory's Most Incredible Prediction
Quantum field theory is notoriously complicated, built from mind-bendingly abstract mathematics. But are the underlying rules of reality really so far from human intuition? Or are physicists just showing off? For better or worse, the...
PBS
Quantum Physics in a Mirror Universe
When you look in mirror, and see what you think is a perfect reflection, you might be looking at universe whose laws are fundamentally different.
PBS
Pilot Wave Theory and Quantum Realism
There are some pretty out-there explanations for the processes at work behind the incredibly successful mathematics of quantum mechanics - things are both waves and particles at the same time, the act of observation defines reality, cats...