TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The rise and fall of the Maya Empire’s most powerful city | Geoffrey E. Braswell
During the 8th century CE, warfare and failing agriculture forced Maya people to move north, to hotter, drier Yucatán. Because of its freshwater access, Chichen Itza became the most powerful Maya city, with nearly 50,000 citizens at its...
SciShow
Fool’s Gold Might Be Better Than the Real Thing
This month's Rocks Box is pyrite, also called fool's gold. But this fool's gold might not be so foolish, since we can use it to get all kinds of other minerals we really need, and it may be a key to getting real gold after all.
SciShow
Glenn Seaborg: Shaking Up the Periodic Table
Hank synopsizes the life and work of Glenn Seaborg, pioneer of synthetic elements, member of the Manhattan Project, and the architect of the last great shake-up of the periodic table.
SciShow
No One Knows Where These Gems Came From
Montana sapphires come in a beautiful array of colors found in a few other places in the world. But geologists have no idea where they originated.
SciShow
Why Do Golf Balls Have Dimples?
The size, shape, and designs of the balls used in sports are usually the results of decades or even centuries of trial and error, and the cute, dimply li'l golf ball is no different!
Crash Course
Witches and Hags: Crash Course World Mythology #39
This week, Mike is teaching you about the most mythic of mythological creatures: Dragons. Cultures across the world (and across Westeros) tell stories of dragons, and their power to destroy, their power to prop up kings, and their power...
Crash Course
Mythical Language and Idiom: Crash Course World Mythology #41
It's the end of the world, everybody. Well, it's the end of our mythology series, anyway. This week, we're talking about how mythological themes have made their way into the English language. We're taking on the Herculean task of...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: This one weird trick will get you infinite gold | Dan Finkel
A few years ago, the king decided your life would be forfeit unless you tripled the gold coins in his treasury. Fortunately, a strange little man appeared and magically performed the feat. Unfortunately, you promised him your first-born...
TED Talks
TED: 5 values for repairing the harms of colonialism | Jing Corpuz
Indigenous wisdom can help solve the planetary crises that colonialism started, says lawyer Jennifer "Jing" Corpuz. Her ancestors, the Kankanaey-Igorot people of the Philippines, are known for creating the Banaue Rice Terraces:...
Curated Video
Look at cash machine that dispenses gold, reax
1. Wide pan of officials and media assembling for launch of ATM
2. German entrepreneur, Thomas Geissler, who is behind the idea for the ATM
3. Pan of media
4. Unveiling of ATM
5. Close of screen on ATM
6. Pan from ATM to media
7....
SciShow
How Alchemy Led to Modern-Day Chemistry & Medicine
At the heart of alchemy was the quest to turn ordinary metals into gold. Despite the hopelessness of that goal, alchemists still made a lot of discoveries that formed the foundation of modern chemistry and medicine.
Curated Video
Mansa Musa and Islam in Africa: Crash Course World History
In which John Green teaches you about Sub-Saharan Africa! So, what exactly was going on there? It turns out, it was a lot of trade, converting to Islam, visits from Ibn Battuta, trade, beautiful women, trade, some impressive...
Crash Course
Expansion and Consequences: Crash Course European History
European exploration had a lot of side effects. When the Old World and the New World began to interact, people, wealth, food, animals, and disease began to flow in both directions. In the New World, countless millions were killed by...
Crash Course
Reformation and Consequences: Crash Course European History
The Protestant Reformation didn't exactly begin with Martin Luther, and it didn't end with him either. Reformers and monarchs changed the ways that religious and state power were organized throughout the 16th and early 17th centuries....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Which animal has the best eyesight? | Thomas W. Cronin
The animal kingdom boasts an incredible diversity of eyes. Some rotate independently while others have squiggly-shaped pupils. Some have protective lids, others squirt blood. But which creature has the best sight? Which sees best in the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The true cost of gold | Lyla Latif
In 2020, Mali produced over 71 tons of gold— an amount worth billions of dollars. But Mali saw only $850 million dollars from that gold. And this situation isn't unique: a number of other gold-rich countries in Africa aren't seeing the...
SciShow
Hiding a Nobel Prize From the Nazis
To keep their solid gold Nobel Prizes away from the Nazis, James Franck and Max von Laue sent their medals to trusted colleague Niels Bohr. But when Germany invaded Denmark in 1940, the medals were no longer safe - so chemist George de...
TED Talks
Chris McKnett: The investment logic for sustainability
Sustainability is pretty clearly one of the world's most important goals; but what groups can really make environmental progress in leaps and bounds? Chris McKnett makes the case that it's large institutional investors. He shows how...
PBS
Are Olympic Competitors Geniuses?
Everyone is obsessed with the Olympics right now, watching these geniuses push the boundaries of their field. Wait, did we say GENIUSES? Yes! We normally associate the word "genius" with intellectual accomplishments, but athletes are...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The uncertain location of electrons - George Zaidan and Charles Morton
The tiny atoms that make up our world are made up of even tinier protons, neutrons and electrons. Though the number of protons determines an atom's identity, it's the electrons -- specifically, their exact location outside the nucleus --...
SciShow
Making Reactions Go Faster Since the 1700s | Great Minds: Elizabeth Fulhame
The chemical process of catalysis happens in a myriad of places in our modern world - from industry to inside your cells. Our knowledge of catalysis today springs from Elizabeth Fulhame, who over 225 years ago became the first person to...
TED Talks
Aaron Huey: America's native prisoners of war
Aaron Huey's effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people -- appalling, and largely ignored -- compelled him to refocus. Five years of work later,...
SciShow
How the Ocean Floor Got Filled with Riches
Deep below the surface, the ocean floor is full of riches. There’s gold, iron, and lots of other rare, precious metals. What kind of geochemical processes can leave loot all over the seafloor?
SciShow
Will We Ever Run Out of Dinosaurs?
Some paleontologists wonder how many species of dinosaurs are left for us to discover, and how many fossils of them are out there. Find out how long the experts think the world's supply of dinosaur fossils will last!