In 1986, a prospecting crew in southern Romania was looking for a good place to build a geothermal power plant, when they accidentally discovered one of the oddest caves of all...

Under the sea, untold wonders await in the form of untapped medicinal potential. Chemist Sam Afoullouss dives into the science behind natural remedies, explaining why the ocean's great (and still largely unexplored) biodiversity is ideal...

The pandemic brought into sharp focus the crisis in caregiving in the United States, which woefully under provides support for parents. Activist and Girls Who Code founder Reshma Saujani has a proposal to address that -- something she...

Volcanoes can show nature's rage. What are the biggest eruptions we've witnessed in our history?

What mammal has the social life of an insect, the cold-bloodedness of a reptile, and the metabolism of a plant? Bald and buck-toothed, naked mole rats may not be pretty, but they are extraordinary. Thomas Park explains how mole rats'...

Business is screwed if we don't fix climate change, says economist Rebecca Henderson. In this bold talk, she describes how unchecked capitalism destabilizes the environment and harms human health -- and makes the case for companies to...

The wildly diverse, thoughtful and hilarious world of fanfiction -- where writers reimagine favorite stories like "Harry Potter," "Pokémon," "My Little Pony" and more -- is ever-growing and becoming a vital social and learning tool....

In India (and many other countries), girls and women still find themselves silenced by traditional rules of politeness and restraint, says social scientist Deepa Narayan. In this frank talk, she identifies seven deeply entrenched norms...

Who deserves to be in a museum? For too long, the answer has been "the extraordinary" -- those aspirational historymakers who inspire us with their successes. But those stories are limiting, says museum curator Ariana Curtis. In a...

Bees are amazing social insects, and their relationship with flowers is one of nature's coolest examples of "mutualism". It got me wondering: How do bees see the world? Enjoy this look at how bees see in ultraviolet and even sense...

We've found plenty of dinosaur bones all around the world, but is it possible to find any fossilized soft tissues from ancient animals?

You know that little pink thing nestled in the corner of your eye? It's actually the remnant of a third eyelid. In humans, it's vestigial, meaning it no longer serves its original purpose. There are several other vestigial structures in...

In which John Green, Hank Green, and Emily Graslie teach you about our Sun, and the formation of the planets. We're going to focus on the formation and development of the Earth, because that's where people live. You'll learn about the...

TED curator Chris Anderson shares his obsession with questions that no one (yet) knows the answers to. A short intro leads into two questions: Why can't we see evidence of alien life? And how many universes are there?

When you learned about the Earth’s interior in school, you were probably shown a diagram that looked like a perfect layer cake. But we've known for a long time that that diagram is... inaccurate at best, and leaves out information that...

What if you were holding life-saving medicine ... but had no way to administer it? Zoom down to the nano level with engineer Kathryn A. Whitehead as she gives a breakdown of the little fatty balls (called lipid nanoparticles) perfectly...

While comets were historically thought to be ill omens of war and famine, recent science has revealed that these celestial wonders actually contain amino acids, the building blocks of life on Earth. Justin Dowd explores the implications...

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Black American Women were struggling with both racism and misogyny as they fought for their rights. Black Women formed clubs and organized to make sure civil and political rights were extended...

Are humans nature's greatest architects? When we look elsewhere in nature, we find some pretty amazing animal architects. Species like ants, termites, prairie dogs, birds, and more have engineered some incredible structures. This week we...

We're back in Bozeman, Montana this week talking to Amy Atwater, Collections Manager at the Museum of the Rockies. MOR has among the largest collections of North American dinosaurs in the United States. We talk to Amy about her job and...

If you’ve watch American football on television, you may have wondered how they make that yellow first down line look like it’s actually down on the field.

Capt. Charles Moore of the Algalita Marine Research Foundation first discovered the Great Pacific Garbage Patch -- an endless floating waste of plastic trash. Now he's drawing attention to the growing, choking problem of plastic debris...

Frogs (and amphibians in general) are in danger -- worldwide, nearly one-third of the world's amphibian species are on the verge of extinction. And yet, frogs contribute to our well-being in many important ways. Kerry M. Kriger describes...

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?