SciShow
We Don’t Know What the Sun Is Made Of
Unlike Earth, our Sun is a giant ball of mostly hydrogen and helium. Astronomers managed to figure that one out roughly 100 years ago. But after all this time, they still can't come to an agreement on what "mostly" means, precisely.
SciShow
The Gems That Solved a Himalayan Mystery
January babies, rejoice! This month's SciShow Rocks Box video is the story of garnets, and how these fabulous gemstones help us solve geological mysteries, from the Italian Alps to the Himalayas.
SciShow
Finding True North Is Harder Than You Think
Sure, you can point to the geographic north pole on a globe. But getting there, even with fancy equipment like GPS, isn't so straightforward. So scientists are looking into a navigation tool some animals use naturally.
SciShow
The Arctic Is Drowning in Plastic
Many people picture the Arctic as a pristine icy wilderness. But when it comes to microplastics, it's one of the most polluted places on Eart
SciShow
How Ancient Babylonians Predicted Eclipses
There's an eclipse coming up in April of 2024! You'd think it takes a lot of modern technology for us to know about it, but it turns out that humans have been able to predict eclipses for nearly three thousand years. And we've been using...
SciShow
The Last Living Thing Won't Be a Cockroach
There are several ways the world could end, and scientists have given a lot of thought to what the last living thing will be.
SciShow
How Long Have We Been Playing with Fire?
So we know that humans are pretty good at making fires, but how long have we been barbecue pit masters? Turns out the evidence is hardly a smoking gun.
SciShow
How to Move a Mountain
Almost 50 million years ago, the biggest landslide in Earth's history occurred in Wyoming. An entire mountain slid 45 kilometers at one-third the speed of sound. But how could this happen when the slope was only 2 degrees?
SciShow
The Volcanoes That May Have Started Life on Earth
The nitrogen cycle is essential to life on Earth, but biological nitrogen must be fixed before it can be used. Scientists aren't sure how the first nitrogen became available... but it might have been volcanoes.
SciShow
The Rock That's Helping Us Find the Origin of Life
Epidote might just look like a pretty little crystal, but it has a secret. thanks to the high-pressure circumstances where it forms, we can use it to help us uncover the origins of life on our planet, and maybe even find signs of life on...
SciShow
Were Humans Destined to Exist?
This is a snippet of a larger conversation taking place on Crash Course Pods: The Universe. Over 11 episodes, John Green and Katie Mack walk through the entire history of the universe…even the parts that aren’t written yet.
SciShow
Why NASA Put The Moon In A Pool
NASA has been using swimming pools to train astronauts since the 1960s. The largest is the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), which holds roughly 9 olympic pools worth of water and has contained not just mockups of space station and...
SciShow
We Discovered a New Natural Cycle!
So we all know about the carbon cycle, and the water cycle, and maybe even the nitrogen cycle. But new research has figured out there's a salt cycle, too. Problem is, that same research has found that we already broke it. Here's what...
SciShow
Can an Equation Really Tell Us How Many Aliens Exist?
In 1961, the astronomer Frank Drake wrote down what is now known as the Drake Equation. It's so important to the culture surrounding the search for extraterrestrial life that scientists have carved it into the upcoming Europa Clipper...
SciShow
Inside the Nepal Earthquake
SciShow News explains the forces at work behind the earthquake in Nepal, introduces you to a new species of dinosaur, and reveals a discovery in Antarctica.
TED Talks
TED: The climate solutions worth funding — now | Jonathan Foley
When it comes to climate solutions, "now is better than new, and time is more important than tech," says scientist Jonathan Foley. He presents a six-part framework to more efficiently address climate change, from better aligning capital...
TED Talks
TED: Life's an obstacle course — here's how to navigate it | Maryam Banikarim
Instead of seeing life's challenges as obstacles, I see them as an obstacle course — a fascinating array of tests that I'm curious to see if I can pass, says community builder Maryam Banikarim. Telling the story of her experience...
Be Smart
How Was the Grand Canyon Formed?
I was in Arizona recently for Phoenix Comic-Con, and had the amazing pleasure of seeing one of Earth's greatest natural wonders… the Grand Canyon. More than a mile deep, and several miles across, it just defies belief. But I couldn't...
SciShow
Is JWST Living Up to the Hype?
The James Webb Space Telescope is the most ambitious space observatory ever launched, and nobody hyped it more than us. So is it putting in work? Oh, boy, yes. Yes it is.
SciShow
The Moon is Rusting. It's the Earth's Fault.
The Moon is typically 380,000-ish kilometers from the Earth, so it doesn't seem like they have that much of a direct influence on one another. However, the presence of hematite on the lunar surface suggests our planet is causing the Moon...
SciShow
The Biggest and Brightest Space News of 2023
It's that time of year where we reflect on the events of 2023 - and if you're like us, you're thinking about all the coolest space-y finds of the year. So here's the brightest, faintest, and most magnetic stuff we saw in space this year!
SciShow
The Ocean's Most Important Crystal
When we think of the ocean and what's in it, you probably think of stuff like fish, or salt, or seaweed. But there's a crystal that is so vital to marine life that they take dissolved materials in that salty water and build it...
SciShow
Are Sharks Really Older Than the North Star?
If you've spent enough time on the internet, you may have stumbled upon the fact that sharks are older than Polaris, aka the North Star. But are they really? It turns out the truth is a little more complicated.
SciShow
How Do We Know How Old the Earth Is?
In the wake of World War 2, Clair Patterson embarked on a scientific quest to find out how old the Earth really is. His hard work paid off, but it also revealed a modern danger.