SciShow
A Universal Cure for Snake Bites?
If you're bitten by a snake, you might need a horse to save your life. Researchers are searching for better antivenoms to treat illnesses like snake bite, and they're turning to monoclonal antibodies, made in a lab, to replace the...
SciShow
The Rocket That Took Tortoises to the Moon
Months before Apollo 8 took humans around the Moon for the first time, two Russian tortoises (plus some other lunar tourists) had already made it back home. This was Zond 5 — the first mission to return to Earth after visiting another...
SciShow
The Earth's "Boring Billion" Years Were Anything But
About 1.8–0.8 billion ago, the Earth went through a period known as the Boring Billion, where not a lot changed in terms of geology, evolution, or even the number of hours in a day. Some scientists call it “the dullest period in Earth’s...
SciShow
How To Make The Best Coffee, According To Science
If you drink coffee, you might wonder if you're doing the most to make your absolute best cup of coffee. And fortunately for you, science has the answers, from getting the perfect grind to finding out the best beans for you. So pull up a...
SciShow
Why So Many Ladybugs Don't Look Like Ladybugs
Ladybugs are red with black spots, right? Well, not always. There's a lot of genetic and evolutionary reasons that they can be different colors with wacky patterns.
SciShow
You’re Not a Lab Mouse, but You Might Be a Wild Mouse
The lab mice we use for genetic studies are not only closely related, but live out their whole lives in a sterile environment, so they don’t tell us everything we need to know about actual humans. The answer might be grabbing a wild...
SciShow
Why Do Animals Eat Their Own Babies?
It might seem pretty dark from a human point of view, but for some animals, feasting on your own offspring is the best way to ensure you and your other babies might have a more successful life.
SciShow
Meet Nell: The Skeleton Rocket That Flew
In 1926, Robert Goddard launched Nell — the very first (successful) liquid fuel rocket. But Nell wasn't built like other modern rockets, including a notable lack of casing and an exhaust nozzle suspended above the propellant tanks.
SciShow
Should We Put Wind Turbines on Kites?
The future of wind energy is solarpunk. At least according to some manufacturers who want to put wind turbines on kites, blimps, or just generally up in the air where wind can generate green energy and fight climate change more efficiently.
SciShow
What Are These Weird Rings In Space?
Over the past few years, astronomers have discovered their own kind of UFO called Odd Radio Circles, aka ORCs. They're a little too round, and a little too invisible at non-radio wavelengths, to immediately know what they are and what's...
SciShow
What Shape Are Black Holes? Yes.
What shape is the event horizon of a black hole? Well, the answer to that question changes if our universe is hiding an extra dimension (or more). Black holes could come in an infinite number of shapes — including a precisely spinning...
SciShow
Should We Be Raising Kids Barefoot?
While most of us only think about our shoes in terms of how they complete our outfits, there's a lot more impact that your choice of footwear can have on your life. Turns out that shoes can change how your feet grow and develop. So is it...
SciShow
The Crabs That Revolutionized Neuroscience
We used to think neural circuits were rigid and robotic, but now we know that's not true -- thanks to crab stomachs.
SciShow
Does COVID Mess With Your DNA?
As more and more are infected with COVID-19, there's a growing group of people who have what's called Long COVID, meaning they still have symptoms for weeks or months after getting sick. While we still don't know for sure the cause of...
SciShow
Burn Your Waste With... Water?
Supercritical water produces fire without flames, which is great for making clean drinking water from our waste in space or breaking down forever chemicals here on Earth.
SciShow
Does the Food Chain Stop At Jellyfish?
Jellyfish aren't the most nutritious animals in the ocean. Yet sea turtles and many other organisms get their nutrition from almost nothing else. Here's why they don't totally starve to death.
SciShow
How to See Inside Anything
You might think of x-rays as the go-to particle to see through solid objects. But there's a subatomic particle out there that can see through everything from volcanos to lead shielding in nuclear reactors. It's called a muon, and...
SciShow
The Sun Is Green
The Sun is green, actually. We'll go into why the blackbody effect means the Sun emits more green visible light than any other color, and why evolution and color perception mean it's ok to see it as yellow, anyway.
SciShow
This Parasite Needs To Ruin Three Lives
Why do so many parasites, especially helminths aka flatworms, jump around as many as THREE hosts to complete their life cycle? Why isn't one host good enough for them? We'll find out why parasites evolve complex life cycles that don't...
SciShow
The Return of Thalidomide
Thalidomide is the infamous drug at the heart of one of the world's worst drug safety catastrophes in modern medicine. And yet, more recent research is finding that thalidomide is still worth using, despite the risks. So what makes this...
SciShow
Can We Treat Alzheimer's With Period Blood?
From diabetes to Alzheimer's, there's a lot that we hope to be able to treat using stem cell therapies. But the stem cells we use tend to be hard to come by. But it turns out there's a new source of stem cells that has researchers...
SciShow
Is That “New Car Smell” Dangerous?
Some of us can't get enough of that new car smell. But certain volatile organic compounds (VOCs) that help create this aroma are linked to cancer. While this doesn't mean new car smell definitely increases your chance of getting cancer,...
SciShow
Fentanyl is Very Deadly… Here's Why
Fentanyl has become a primary cause of the opioid overdose epidemic in the past decade. But what is it about this drug that's so dangerous? There's more to the story than meets the eye. If you’re ever in the position where you think...
SciShow
Can Sponges “Think” Using Light?
Sponges might not look like particularly complex animals, but they've had billions of years to evolve their own special systems. And one of those systems might involve sending messages through their body in the form of light.