Crash Course
MMORPGs - Crash Course Games
So we ended the last episode with casual gaming and a more connected gaming community, but these connected communities started much before smartphones and Facebook. Today, we're going to talk about MMORPGs - or Massively Multiplayer...
Crash Course
The Dawn of Video Games: Crash Course Games
Over the next few episodes we're going to talk about the history of video games. Today, we're going to start with the first re-programmable computers in the 1940's. Now, these computers were serious tools. They were for codebreaking and...
TED Talks
Caroline Phillips: Hurdy-gurdy for beginners
Caroline Phillips cranks out tunes on a seldom-heard folk instrument: the hurdy-gurdy, a.k.a. the wheel fiddle. A searching, Basque melody follows her fun lesson on its unique anatomy and 1,000-year history.
TED Talks
Ze Frank: My web playroom
On the web, a new "Friend" may be just a click away, but true connection is harder to find and express. Ze Frank presents a medley of zany Internet toys that require deep participation -- and reward it with something more nourishing....
SciShow
We Had Catnip All Wrong
Why do cats love catnip so much? Researchers have found a possible evolutionary answer to this adorable feline phenomenon!
TED Talks
Andrew Bird: A one-man orchestra of the imagination
Musical innovator Andrew Bird winds together his trademark violin technique with xylophone, vocals and sophisticated electronic looping. Add in his uncanny ability to whistle anything, and he becomes a riveting one-man orchestra.
TED Talks
Sirena Huang: An 11-year-old's magical violin
Violinist Sirena Huang gives a technically brilliant and emotionally nuanced performance. In a charming interlude, the 11-year-old praises the timeless design of her instrument.
TED Talks
Stefon Harris: There are no mistakes on the bandstand
What is a mistake? By talking through examples with his improvisational jazz quartet, Stefon Harris walks us to a profound truth: many actions are perceived as mistakes only because we don't react to them appropriately.
TED Talks
TED: How play helps a kid's brain grow | Jesse Ilhardt
A little bit of playtime can have big benefits for a child's developing brain, like a superfood -- but adult participation is a crucial ingredient for best results. Early-education leader Jesse Ilhardt makes the case for you to put down...
TED Talks
Jennifer Lin: Improvising on piano, aged 14
Pianist and composer Jennifer Lin gives a magical performance, talks about the process of creativity and improvises a moving solo piece based on a random sequence of notes.
TED Talks
Bruce McCall: What is retro-futurism?
Bruce McCall paints a retro-future that never happened -- full of flying cars, polo-playing tanks and the RMS Tyrannic, "The Biggest Thing in All the World." At Serious Play '08, he narrates a brisk and funny slideshow of his...
TED Talks
Joe Kowan: How I beat stage fright
Humanity's fine-tuned sense of fear served us well as a young species, giving us laser focus to avoid being eaten by competing beasts. But it's less wonderful when that same visceral, body-hijacking sense of fear kicks in in front of 20...
TED Talks
TED: Easy DIY projects for kid engineers | Fawn Qiu
TeD Resident Fawn Qiu designs fun, low-cost projects that use familiar materials like paper and fabric to introduce engineering to kids. In this quick, clever talk, she shares how nontraditional workshops like hers can change the...
SciShow Kids
The Amazing Flag Raiser! | Solving Problems with Engineering | SciShow Kids
Jessi and Squeaks want a way to let their friends know when it's time to play at the Fort, so they work together and use engineering to build a prototype solution! NGSS: ETS1.A : Defining and Delimiting Engineering Problems A situation...
SciShow
Real Pain and ‘Explosive’ Brains - Fibromyalgia
Fibromyalgia is not a well-understood malady, but scientists are making breakthroughs that could eventually help pin down both the causes and the cures.
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How plants tell time - Dasha Savage
Morning glories unfurl their petals like clockwork in the early morning. A closing white waterlily signals that it's late afternoon. And moon flowers, as their name suggests, only bloom under the night sky. What gives plants this innate...
TED Talks
Ji-Hae Park: The violin, and my dark night of the soul
In her quest to become a world-famous violinist, Ji-Hae Park fell into a severe depression. Only music was able to lift her out again -- showing her that her goal needn’t be to play lofty concert halls, but instead to bring the wonder of...
TED Talks
Pamelia Kurstin: The untouchable music of the theremin
Virtuoso Pamelia Kurstin performs and discusses her theremin, the not-just-for-sci-fi electronic instrument that is played without being touched. Songs include "Autumn Leaves," "Lush Life" and David Mash’s "Listen, Words Are Gone."
Crash Course Kids
(LEGO) Block Party
Playing with LEGOS is fun. But, they can also teach us something about matter. In this episode of Crash Course Kids, Sabrina chats about chemical reactions and the Conservation of Matter.
TED Talks
Raul Midon: "Tembererana"
Singer/guitarist Raúl Midón performs "All the Answers" in a world premiere at TED2007, followed by the sprightly "Tembererana."
PBS
Can Dungeons & Dragons Make You Confident & Successful?
There are some deeply ingrained stereotypes about Dungeons & Dragons, and those stereotypes usually begin and end with people shouting "NERD!!!" But the reality of the D&D universe is a whole lot more complex. Rather than being an escape...
Crash Course
Greek Comedy, Satyrs, and Aristophanes: Crash Course Theater #4
Get ready for hilarity, because this week, we're diving head first into Greek Comedy. Actually, though, maybe don't get TOO ready for hilarity. Taste in humor has changed a little over the last couple of thousand years. You already know...
TED Talks
TED: Don't fear superintelligent AI | Grady Booch
New tech spawns new anxieties, says scientist and philosopher Grady Booch, but we don't need to be afraid an all-powerful, unfeeling AI. Booch allays our worst (sci-fi induced) fears about superintelligent computers by explaining how...
TED Talks
Sleepy Man Banjo Boys: Bluegrass virtuosity from ... New Jersey?
All under the age of 16, brothers Jonny, Robbie and Tommy Mizzone are from New Jersey, a US state that's better known for the rock of Bruce Springsteen than the bluegrass of Earl Scruggs. Nonetheless, the siblings began performing...