SciShow
Why Does Everything Decay Into Lead
If you look at a copy of the periodic table, you might notice that basically every element after lead is labelled as radioactive. And the vast majority of those elements wind up decaying into some version of lead eventually. But why is...
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
The Human Era Has an Official Start. It’s a Lake in Canada
Recently, a group of scientists have declared that the start of the Anthropocene, the time of outsize human influence on Earth, to be Crawford Lake in Canada. But how can a time be a place? We'll explain, and maybe grab some maple syrup.
PBS
How We Know The Earth Is Ancient
In astronomy we talk about billions of years like it’s no big deal. But how can we be sure about timescales so far beyond the capacity for human intuition? Our discovery of what we now call deep time is very recent - as recent as our...
SciShow
Inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone
SciShow takes you inside the site of the world's worst nuclear disaster to show you how, nearly 30 years later, life has adapted and persisted.
SciShow
How We Fixed the Most Radioactive Place on Earth
Once upon a time, there was a lake that was so radioactive, that standing on its shore for more than an hour would almost definitely kill you. Join Olivia to learn how it got that bad in the first place, and what was done to fix it!
SciShow
Can We Predict Earthquakes?
Hank talks about why it is so difficult for scientists to predict earthquakes in the short term.
SciShow
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors (LFTR): Energy for the Future?
Hank addresses a highly requested topic - liquid fluoride thorium reactors - and tells us how LFTR might be the future of energy in ... China?
SciShow
How Ancient Human Clues Ended Up in Rock
A lot of what we know about ancient human civilizations comes from the things they leave behind. But sometimes, humans don’t live in places long enough to leave these clues. So, some researchers have turned to techniques outside...
TED Talks
TED: Thorium, an alternative nuclear fuel | Kirk Sorensen
Kirk Sorensen shows us the liquid fuel thorium reactor -- a way to produce energy that is safer, cleaner and more efficient than current nuclear power.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: History's deadliest colors - J. V. Maranto
When radium was first discovered, its luminous green color inspired people to add it into beauty products and jewelry. It wasn't until much later that we realized that radium's harmful effects outweighed its visual benefits....
SciShow
3 Ways to Save Earth from an Asteroid
Hank gives us the skinny on three plans NASA scientists have come up with to save Earth from an asteroid impact. Hopefully we'll never have to use any of them.
SciShow
Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors LFTR Energy for the Future
Hank addresses a highly requested topic - liquid fluoride thorium reactors - and tells us how LFTR might be the future of energy in ... China?
TED-Ed
How much land does it take to power the world? | TED-Ed
No matter how we make electricity, it takes up space. Coal requires mines, and plants to convert it into electricity. Nuclear power takes uranium mines, facilities to refine it, a reactor, and a place to store the spent fuel safely....
TED Talks
Steven Cowley: Fusion is energy's future
Physicist Steven Cowley is certain that nuclear fusion is the only truly sustainable solution to the fuel crisis. He explains why fusion will work -- and details the projects that he and many others have devoted their lives to, working...
SciShow
The History (And Future!) of the Chemistry Set
Whatever happened to chemistry sets? They turned entire generations of children on to chemistry, and they also have their own illustrious history. Hank takes you through a tour of the chemistry set over time, and tells you how you can be...
SciShow
Oklo, the Two Billion Year Old Nuclear Reactor
SciShow takes you to a uranium deposit in Africa where, eons ago, a unique set of conditions came together to form the world's only known natural nuclear reactor. Check it out! No radiation suit required!
SciShow
The Manhattan Project
Some of the greatest advances in science have come from humanity's more destructive impulses. This is not the fault of science - when we discover powerful truths about the universe it's up to us to decide how to use them because they can...
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.
Crash Course
Marie Curie and Spooky Rays: Crash Course History of Science
It's time to talk about one of the most awesome scientists that has ever been awesome: Marie Curie. She figured out ways to get an amazing education despite the limitations of her homeland, discovered some really important answers to the...
Bozeman Science
Conservation of Charge in Reactions
In this video Paul Andersen explains how the charge is conserved in nuclear reactions. When elementary particles are created or destroyed in a reaction the net change in charge will remain constant. Alpha, beta -, and beta+ decay are all...
SciShow
A Better Way to Do Nuclear Energy?
Nuclear energy has a bit of a bad rap, but there's an element out there that might make them safer and more efficient.
Crash Course
The Future of Clean Energy: Crash Course Engineering #31
This week we are exploring alternative energy sources. We'll look at how biomass can be burned as a fuel source, how hydrogen can be used in a fuel cell to generate electrical power, and how nuclear fission provides power to the grid....
Bozeman Science
Energy-Mass Equivalence
In this video Paul Andersen explains how the law of conservation of energy applies to both energy and mass. Einstein showed that mass and energy are equivalent and that the amount of energy contained within matter can be calculated using...