TED-Ed
The dark history of arsenic | Neil Bradbury
No substance has been as constant an ally to insidious scheming as arsenic, the so-called “king of poisons.” In its chemically pure form, it isn’t much of a threat because our bodies don’t absorb it well; it’s when arsenic combines with...
TED-Ed
One of the most controversial medical procedures in history | Jenell Johnson
In 1935, researchers found that after removing the frontal lobes of two chimps, they no longer experienced frustration or anxiety. Neurologist Egas Moniz believed that replicating this in humans could cure mental illness— leading to one...
TED-Ed
The history of the world according to rats | Max G. Levy
Today, rats are often regarded as the most successful invasive species in the world. The most common species of rat scurried onto the scene roughly 1 to 3 million years ago in Asia. There, they craftily survived Earth’s most recent ice...
TED-Ed
The murderous medieval king who inspired "Macbeth" | Benjamin Hudson
Of all Shakespeare’s plays, perhaps none is stranger than “Macbeth”— a parable on power rife with supernatural elements. But according to texts from the 11th century, this tragedy has its roots in reality. What’s more, other accounts...
MinuteEarth
Why There Are No King Bees
Beehives always have a queen, who is the mother of the entire hive. But have you ever wondered, what happened to the king, if there was ever any? Can a male bee become a king?
MinuteEarth
Why Monkeys Can Only Count To Four
There’s an island in the Caribbean where David used to perform magic tricks for monkeys. And it was super cool because it suggested that they have the ability to count! (but only up to four)
MinuteEarth
Why is the Number of Languages Increasing?
Lots of languages and species are going extinct, but because others keep getting found or described, the official counts of languages and species are still increasing.
MinuteEarth
Why Hurricane Paths Are Weird
Hurricane path prediction seems straightforward, until it is not – that’s because hurricanes can encounter atmospheric effects that turn their paths into erratic nonsense.
MinuteEarth
Why Haven't We Cured Cancer?
A person’s genes alone don’t tell us enough about how to most effectively treat their cancer.
MinuteEarth
Why Don't Snakes Poison Themselves?
Many animal species stuff themselves with toxic chemicals for protection, which forces them to use a handful of distinct strategies to avoid becoming victims of their own weapons.
MinuteEarth
Why Don't Electric Eels Shock Themselves?
Electric eels can emit some of the largest shocks in the animal kingdom - but why don't they shock themselves?
MinuteEarth
Why Don’t All Rivers Make Canyons?
The Grand Canyon is super-wide and super-deep, which might make you think that the Colorado River, which carved it, is particularly old or powerful. Or at least that's what I thought.
MinuteEarth
Why Do Butterflies Bother Being Caterpillars?
It seems wild that some animals basically trade in their bodies for new ones during their lifetime, but it's actually really common – and it makes a lot of sense.
MinuteEarth
Who’s Eating All The Spiders?
The average human, in theory, eats 3 spiders a year. If you're not eating them and I'm not eating them, who is?
MinuteEarth
What Happens When Predators Disappear?
A world without predators. It sounds like a safer, happier world, but come on, this is science…
MinuteEarth
Electrical Wires Made Of Bacteria
Most living things on Earth need oxygen to survive, but scientists discovered a species of bacteria that uses oxygen totally differently from every other organism on Earth.
MinuteEarth
The Time I Was a Human Incubator
Premature babies majorly benefit from skin-to-skin contact with a parent –also known as “kangaroo care”– because it reduces infections and hypothermia and increases weight gain and parental involvement.
MinuteEarth
The Never Ending Lightning Storm
Venezuela’s Lake Maracaibo is home to a legendary lightning storm that has been going on for over 500 years.
MinuteEarth
The Deadliest Thing At The Beach
You might think the most dangerous thing that can happen at a beach is a shark attack, or that the scariest thing might be a tsunami - but instead, rip currents kill more beachgoers than all other causes combined.
MinuteEarth
The Crabs Are Coming
As the waters warm in the deep sea around Antarctica, ecosystem-crushing crabs are able to live closer and closer to the continent.
MinuteEarth
The Antarctic Ocean is Weird
Life in Antarctica's ocean has followed a completely different evolutionary path from other ocean life because of how cold and isolated the ocean is.
MinuteEarth
Memes Go Viral Cuz They're So Sick
When we say a meme goes “viral,” we aren't actually saying it's making people sick. But the math behind a meme’s spread suggests it's actually a pretty spot-on analogy.
MinuteEarth
How To Take A Dinosaur's Temperature
Despite the seemingly basic things we don't know about dinosaurs, we do know some surprising things – like their body temperatures.
MinuteEarth
How Much Gold is in Our Poop?
Because of the way digestion works, human poop not only contains dangerous microbes, it also contains a wide variety of other things, many of which we could potentially put to use.