Two billion years ago, an igneous rock in northern South Africa formed. Not long after, some bacteria crawled into cracks in that rock, and got trapped inside when the cracks got plugged up by a bunch of clay. But that bacterial colony...

If you've ever had lice, you probably think of them as a temporary annoyance. But for the salmon industry, these pesky invertebrates cause real damage. So here are some of the wildest ways that science helps us fight these...

ME/CFS, or myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, is way more than being tired at the end of the day. And, contrary to situations like that, exercise is the last thing you'd want to do.



Thanks to Jaime...

Scientists are starting to find a strange connection between neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, ALS, MS, and dementia. They all seem to follow on the heels of common but severe infections. And that means we might...

If you've ever heard about things like mammoths being found in permafrost, you may have an image in your head of what that looks like. But you might be wrong! So let's talk about what permafrost really is, why it's so important, and...

In the 1930s, a skeleton was discovered at the bottom of a well at the site of a medieval Norwegian fortress, severely injured and buried under large rocks. And to uncover his story, we need a combination of carbon dating, genetics,...

In the early 19th century, a French weaver named Joseph-Marie Jacquard was searching for a better way to make fabric. And in so doing, he managed to invent a loom that inspired the first proper computer.



Hosted by: Savannah...

Mount Everest is the tallest mountain in the world. But it didn't earn that title by coincidence. Even after achieving that superlative, it keeps growing taller today.<b<br/>r/>

Hosted by: Stefan Chin (he/him)

Arrokoth, an asteroid in the Kuiper Belt, is the most distant object ever explored by the New Horizons spacecraft. And it's covered in sugar. Here's why that might be important for understanding the nature of life...

Blind people use the same part of their brains to recognize faces as sighted people, and can even identify a face from the sound of someone chewing. <b<br/>r/>

Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him)

You may have heard about a new invasive menace in the US. The spotted lanternfly is a relatively recent arrival from China, and while they may be tiny, they have the potential to cause some serious problems. So let's talk about what...

Lung Cancer has been stigmatized as something that mainly happens when you smoke cigarettes. But non-smoking lung cancer may be a new disease changing the narrative.<b<br/>r/>

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

One fun fact about elephants is that they're a lot less likely to get cancer than other animals (including us). Another fun fact is that unlike most warm-blooded animals, their testes are deep inside their bodies. It turns out, these...

Iridescent hematite, aka turgite, is rust with a great makeup artist. This beautiful mineral shines in all the colors of the rainbow. And scientists are completely split as to why. This month, SciShow Rocks Box subscribers will receive...

In the 1920s, archaeologists discovered that the young pharaoh Tutankhamun was buried with a fancy iron dagger. It wasn't just fancy because part of it came from outer space; it was also made by artisans in another kingdom and given as...

It's no secret that humans have big brains, especially compared to the rest of the animal world. But big brains require big energy to power them, and shifting around all our calories to fuel our massive brains was no small feat. From...

Inventing cutting edge medicines to cure devastating diseases is one thing. Getting them into patients is another. Today we talk about a scientist who figured out how to do just that.<b<br/>r/>

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

In the 1970s, archaeologists discovered a strange grave in western Belgium, dating back to 100 CE or so. Unlike the 76 other graves, it actually had a skeleton inside it. But 50 years later, we learned it was even weirder, because that...

It's impossible to have something colder than absolute zero...right? That's why it's called "absolute zero". Well, it turns out you can get certain substances to negative absolute temperatures (e.g. -1 Kelvin)...but in order to do so,...

In 2021, a crew of civilian astronauts spent three days in Earth orbit. While they were up there, they performed a bevy of experiments. And not only did we learn more about what space travel can do to the human body, we also learned...

Dry cleaning has gone from kerosine to perc to wet cleaning in an attempt to make it less ...deadly. Over the years, dry cleaning has evolved to address the dangers of flammability, interactions with your lungs, and environmental harm,...

The Chocolate Hills of Bohol, Philippines are so perfectly shaped that local legends say they were crafted by giants. Geologists can't agree exactly what happened, but the answer might be as simple as limestone, water, and...

Humans have known that uranium can cause health problems since at least the 1820s. But that hasn't stopped us from making stuff with uranium in it over the past two centuries. Like teeth, toys, and diabetes treatments!



Hosted...

It's one of the great boomer vs. millennial debates: Do you have to sort your laundry? It's tedious to pull apart lights and darks, hot water and cold water, but thanks to advancements in science, that all may be a thing of the...