In this video Paul Andersen explains how chemical differs from physical change. In the laboratory macroscopic observations are used to infer changes at the particulate level. Evidence for chemical change include gas production, change in...

The blurred line between legend and science.

We believe a lot of things because we've been told - from our personal acquaintances and also experts. With so many belief systems being passed to us, how do we know whom to trust? Using contemporary examples, Ram Neta explains when...

Despite some bold claims, most supplements can’t really "boost" your metabolism, and the actual changes we can make to it are pretty limited.

Just because something is difficult doesn't mean it's impossible. Over the past centuries, archaeologists, historians, and engineers have reconstructed a great deal of the technology and science used to build the Egyptian pyramids. This...

While many researchers are focusing on finding a difference in brains of people with dyslexia, some new research suggests it might not just be in their brains, but in their eyes.

Today we're going to finish up our discussion of Bayesian inference by showing you how we can it be used for continuous data sets and be applied both in science and everyday life. From A/B testing of websites and getting a better...

Evidence strongly suggests that men have, on average, a shorter lifespan than women, but scientists aren't exactly sure why that is. Check out today's QQ to learn more about this mortality mystery.

In this video Paul Andersen explains how to have your students engage in argumentation in the science classroom.

We're always learning more about far away galaxies and exoplanets, but we still have some pretty big mysteries hanging out here in the solar system, like why Venus spins the way it does.

Przybylski’s Star has been puzzling astronomers for decades, and it might contain elements or isotopes that scientists have never seen before!

Jessi and Squeaks grab a snack and learn all about why boiling eggs makes them hard! Second Grade Next Generation Science Standards Disciplinary Core Ideas: PS1.A: Structure and Properties of Matter - Different kinds of matter exist and...

There's one crater that may be older than any that we know of. Except there's a snag, it might not actually be a crater at all.

The name “The Big Bang” makes it sound like there was a big explosion in one particular spot, but if that’s the case, where did it happen?

Today we explore what obligations we hold with our personal beliefs. Hank explains epistemic responsibility and the issues it raises with everything from religious belief, to ship owning, to vaccinations.

More than 90% of the plants on Earth are angiosperms, flowering plants whose seeds are enclosed inside fruit. And they’re everywhere -- but exactly how and when these plants came to be so ubiquitous is one of the most stubborn questions...

Today we're going to begin our three-part unit on p-values. In this episode we'll talk about Null Hypothesis Significance Testing (or NHST) which is a framework for comparing two sets of information. In NHST we assume that there is no...

A short explanation of why Bayes' theorem is true, together with discussion on a common misconception in probability

You might have heard the myth that you can tell when someone is lying based on how their eyes move. While that is not exactly true, there has been plenty of science that looks into where and how we look when we think.

Last week we introduced p-values as a way to set a predetermined cutoff when testing if something seems unusual enough to reject our null hypothesis - that they are the same. But today we’re going to discuss some problems with the logic...

Credits (and Twitter handles): Script Writer: David Goldenberg (@dgoldenberg) Script Editor: Alex Reich Video Illustrator: Qingyang Chen Video Director: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida) Video Narrator: Kate Yoshida (@KateYoshida) With...

Perspective is everything, especially when it comes to examining your beliefs. Are you a soldier, prone to defending your viewpoint at all costs -- or a scout, spurred by curiosity? Julia Galef examines the motivations behind these two...

You are probably aware of the fact that elephants make trumpeting noises - but did you know that most of their communication is so low pitched that humans can’t even hear it?

In this video Paul Andersen explains how light can be treated as both a particle and a wave. Physicists use scale to determine which model to use when studying light. When the wavelength of light is equivalent to the size of the object a...