For tens of thousands of years our ancestors understood the world through myths, and the pace of change was glacial. The rise of scientific understanding transformed the world within a few centuries. Why? Physicist David Deutsch proposes...

On March 17, 2014, a group of physicists announced a thrilling discovery: the “smoking gun” data for the idea of an inflationary universe, a clue to the Big Bang. For non-physicists, what does it mean? TED asked Allan Adams to briefly...

A glowing, purple ribbon of light named STEVE is weirder than we thought and we now have evidence that there is water ice on the moon!

Scientists who piece together our past can do so through the rare fossil or artifact, or they can go to one convenient location: a hyrax latrine.

This week Craig is going to continue our discussion of due process. Technically, we started last week with the 4th amendment and search and seizure, but this week we’re going to look at the 5th and 6th amendments and how they ensure a...

Astronomers are trying to answer the question of how Pluto formed, and we have more evidence for the existence of Planet Nine!

The history books are full of mysteries, some of which we're just now getting around to solving.

Where did turtles come from? And how did the they get their shells? The answers to these questions would eventually cause scientists to rethink the entire history of reptile evolution.

Researchers have discovered an underground, liquid water lake on Mars! What might it be like, and why did it take us so long to find it?

The Cassini probe is getting more dangerous assignments as its mission nears its end, and the sun's surface may be simpler than we once thought.

It's virtually impossible to tell where a meteorite comes from, but in 2018, scientists were able to pull a feat of forensic astronomy and do just that.

We've all heard the theories on why the dinosaurs died -- but how did they come to dominate the earth for so long in the first place? (Hint: it has nothing to do with their size, speed, spikes or fantastic feathers.) Travel back in time...

In this video Paul Andersen explains how you can have your students plan and carry out their own investigations.

It's 1990. A prospective student has filed a complaint about Virginia Military institute's admissions policy that excludes women. The state argues that VMI's single sex education is an "important governmental objective" and that the...

We can’t find evidence of the Sun’s family, or how it might have formed, but we do have some pretty good theories.

Samples from the Curiosity rover suggest that Mars had a potentially habitable lake in its past, and gravitational lensing has helped scientists weigh a star!

Trust is on the decline, and we need to rebuild it. That's a commonly heard suggestion for making a better world ... but, says philosopher Onora O'Neill, we don't really understand what we're suggesting. She flips the question, showing...

Seventeenth-century Danish geologist Nicolas Steno earned his chops at a young age, studying cadavers and drawing anatomic connections between species. Steno made outsized contributions to the field of geology, influencing Charles Lyell,...

This video is the first of a five part series on scientific inquiry. Supporting material can be found below.

In the history of our species, we still don’t know exactly how and when early humans migrated across the world, but some ancient footprints might be helping us figure it out.

What does it actually mean when a label says something ‘causes cancer’? Those labels can be misleading, but knowing the legal and scientific reasoning behind them can help.

On April 3rd, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention started recommending that people wear a mask over their face when they go out in public. Except, for many of us, this isn’t the message we’ve gotten for the last couple of...

It's 1950. Anti-communist sentiment in the United States is at an all-time high. Senator Joseph McCarthy claims he has a list of communists who are influencing government policy. He makes his first accusation without providing any...

2022 is looking like a great year for space exploration! Let's dig into three of the missions that we're really excited to watch unfold!