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
TED-Ed: The diseases that changed humanity forever | Dan Kwartler
Since humanity’s earliest days, we’ve been plagued by countless disease-causing pathogens. Invisible and persistent, these microorganisms and the illnesses they incur have killed more humans than anything else in history. But which...
SciShow
Have an Autoimmune Disease? Blame the Black Death
The bubonic plague killed so many people in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa that that natural selection event is still rippling through our genomes today. But the same genes that helped your ancestors survive the Black Death...
SciShow
Even Locusts Hate Plagues of Locusts
Plagues of locusts have been documented since ancient times, and they affect the food supply of one in ten people today. How can we stop them? Well, computer models of locusts swarms tell us every locust is scared to death of its neighbors.
Crash Course
Crash Course European History Preview
John Green is teaching history again. This time, we're looking at the history of Europe in 50 episodes. We'll start at the tail end of the so called Middle Ages, and look at how Europe's place in the world has developed and changed in...
Crash Course
Pee Jokes, the Italian Renaissance, Commedia Dell'Arte: Crash Course Theater #12
This week, we're going to Italy for a Renaissance. The Middle Ages are over, and it's time to talk about the flourishing of art and humanism across Europe. Painting, sculpture, music, architecture, and plays with fart jokes were all...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: The past, present and future of the bubonic plague - Sharon N. DeWitte
The bubonic plague, which killed around 1/5 of the world's population in the 14th century, is still around today -- but it now claims only a few thousand lives each year. How did that number shrink so drastically? Sharon N. DeWitte...
SciShow
Meet Dragon Man, Humans’ Possible New Relative | SciShow News
In a bone-filled week, a rediscovered cranium from China might represent an entirely new species of human that's possibly our closest evolutionary relative. And, while studying a 5,000-year-old skeleton, scientists found evidence of what...
SciShow
Ancient Plagues & A New Pandemic
Hank explores the science behind the topics of the day, including a look at the current "pandemic" of concussions in professional sports and new insights into what really caused the worst plagues in human history, and what it portends...
SciShow
5 Things Humans Got Really Wrong About Our Bodies
Throughout history, people have been trying to figure out how our bodies work and how to fix them when things go wrong. This has led to some ideas that, with the benefit of hindsight, seem very strange
SciShow
6 Diseases That Have Shaped Human History
Infectious diseases have had some pretty major impacts on human history… and that’s putting it mildly. Here are 6 diseases that shaped human history
Crash Course
Cathedrals and Universities: Crash Course History of Science
Until roughly 1100, there were relatively few places of knowledge-making. Monasteries and abbeys had special rooms called scriptoria where monks copied manuscripts by hand. But the biggest places where knowledge was made were the Gothic...
SciShow
THE CICADAS ARE COMING!
Cicadas have developed an amazing strategy for growth, survival, reproduction, and overcoming predation by...doing nothing. They do nothing for years (except sip at the juice excreted from root structures) before emerging in huge,...
SciShow
Why Is The Measles Virus So Contagious?
You might be surprised to hear that measles is 10 times more contagious than Ebola or the plague. How do epidemiologists quantify a disease's catchiness?
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Are locust plagues unstoppable? | Jeffrey A. Lockwood
A ravenous swarm stretches as far as the eye can see. It has no leader or strategic plan; its only goals are to eat, breed, and move on. These are desert locusts— infamous for their capacity for destruction. But most of the time desert...
SciShow
Could the Plague Rise Again?
How likely is a 21st-century epidemic of the plague? Unlike other diseases, the plague is alive and well in some parts of the world, but scientists and doctors are continuing to develop better treatments.
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why plague doctors wore beaked masks | TED-Ed
The year is 1656. Your body is wracked by violent chills. Your head pounds and you're too weak to sit up. In your feverish state, you see a strange-looking man wearing a beak-like mask, his body covered from head to toe. Without seeing...
TED-Ed
The myth of Loki and the deadly mistletoe | Iseult Gillespie
Baldur was the gentlest and most beloved being in all of Asgard. But lately, he had been plagued by gruesome visions foretelling his own imminent death. Determined to protect her son from these grim prophecies, Queen Frigg travelled...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Mysteries of vernacular: Quarantine - Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel
Stemming from the days of bubonic plague in Medieval Europe, quarantines were originally used to prevent potentially plague-infested ships from disembarking at a port city. Jessica Oreck and Rachael Teel explain how the length of the...
SciShow
6 Dangerous Diseases Hiding in U.S. Backyards
Microbes are all around us, on everything we touch, drink, or eat. While most microbes can't hurt us, you don't have to go much farther than your own backyard to find some that really can! Chapters PLAGUE 0:39 TULAREMIA 4:48...
SciShow
6 of the Coolest Things We've Found in Amber
Amber is amazing stuff! It can preserve organisms whole, and essentially freeze them in time, and the specimens we’ve found in it so far range from amazing to downright bizarre. Here are six of the coolest things we’ve found trapped in...
SciShow
6 Mysterious Ancient Outbreaks
Epidemiologists are always trying to get one step ahead of the next big outbreak - and often the best clues we have come from outbreaks of the past. Chapters BUBONIC PLAGUE VICTIMS 0:25 THE GREAT DYING 17th Century 0:47 WAMPANOAG LAND...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why is meningitis so dangerous? - Melvin Sanicas
In 1987, thousands of people gathered in Saudi Arabia for the annual Hajj pilgrimage. But what started out as a celebration led to a worldwide health crisis: more than 2,000 cases of meningitis broke out, spreading across Saudi Arabia...
Crash Course
Newton and Leibniz: Crash Course History of Science
The standard story of the Scientific Revolution culminates with the long life of one man: Sir Isaac Newton—a humble servant of the Royal Mint, two-time parliamentarian, and a scientific titan whose name, along with Einstein’s, is...