Last week we lost legendary scientist Stephen Hawking. To honor of one of the greatest legacies in cosmology, we wanted to celebrate and unpack some of his most famous findings.

Hank explains how a recent astronomical discovery made in Antarctica could change what we know about the birth of the universe, and the rules of physics that govern it.

Listening to a bubbling stream can be pretty relaxing, up until the point when you realize you suddenly have to pee.

All the stars in a spiral galaxy rotate around a center -- but to astronomers, the speed that each star travels wasn't making sense. Why didn't stars slow down toward the edges as expected? Don Lincoln explains how a mysterious force...

Reid Reimers expands your mind with an explanation of white holes -- celestial objects that almost definitely are not real things that can be found in nature. Except, we might have actually seen one.

What's the science behind a sublime perfume? With charm and precision, biophysicist Luca Turin explains the molecular makeup -- and the art -- of a scent.

Our laws of physics are equations of motion, along with some associated constants. We've talked about the symmetries of these equations, and how they lead us to conserved quantities. But this is just the tip of the theoretical iceberg -...

While you might not think about quantum mechanics being part of your everyday life, it turns out that it might play a role in some of the most familiar things, from the sunlight in the trees to the nose on your face! Chapters View all...

Five years ago, TED Fellow Jennifer Brea became progressively ill with myalgic encephalomyelitis, commonly known as chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating illness that severely impairs normal activities and on bad days makes even the...

Many species of mantis shrimp rely on their incredible punching abilities to stun their prey. But it turns out they don’t have to be mature mantis shrimp to start getting their punch on. And baby Philippine mantis shrimp can punch nearly...

The word "theory" is used very differently in casual everyday life vs. in science. In science, the word "theory" means so much more! Learn about what a scientific theory is with The Amoeba Sisters and discover why a scientific theory...

Meet one of the newest celestial bodies to be discovered: rogue planets, worlds that hurtle around the galaxy without any parent star. Caitlin Hofmeister explains how we found them, and where we think they might have come from.

When two people are trying to make a deal -- whether they’re competing or cooperating -- what’s really going on inside their brains? Behavioral economist Colin Camerer shows research that reveals how badly we predict what others are...

Scientists have long been looking for a loophole for getting past the speed of light, and they might be one step closer to achieving that.

You might have felt it -- the feeling that you've experienced something before, but, in reality, the experience is brand new. There are over 40 theories that attempt to explain the phenomenon of deja vu. Michael Molina explains how...

Hank talks about how warp drives could potentially work.

How do we make sense of a world that doesn't? By looking in unexpected places, says mathematician Eugenia Cheng. She explains how applying concepts from abstract mathematics to daily life can lead us to a deeper understanding of things...

Hank gets to chat with David Bodanis: an author, and expert on Albert Einstein. They discuss Einstein's fame and his feelings about the aesthetics of science, as well as Bodanis' upcoming book: "Einstein's Greatest Mistake".

Over 100 years after Einstein proposed his theory of general relativity, we are proud to announce that his final major prediction has been verified! Gravitational waves have officially been detected by LIGO! This is a huge deal and an...

Though we’ve been able detect thousands of exoplanets in the last few decades, we’ve now directly imaged an exoplanet that changes our whole perspective on how we think planets like Jupiter form!

As we venture into the world of ethics, there are a lot of different answers to the grounding problem for us to explore. One of the oldest and most popular is the divine command theory. But with age comes a long history of questions,...

Explore the endosymbiotic theory with the Amoeba Sisters! This theory explains the development of the eukaryote cell from prokaryote cell symbiosis. Scientific theories are also briefly defined. Table of Contents: Intro 00:00 What is a...

There are more than 10,000 nuclear weapons in existence today, each one capable of causing immense destruction. Why don't we talk about this threat as much as some other major issues? In this practical talk, nuclear security expert Emma...

The fact that no one knows the answer to this question is what makes it exciting. The story of physics has been one of an ever-expanding understanding of the sheer scale of reality, to the point where physicists are now postulating that...