SciShow
The Oldest Living Thing was Trapped for 2 Billion Years
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...
SciShow
This Canadian Lake Changes Its Spots Every Year
This lake in Canada sports a stunning summer look - spots! And the weird geology and hydrology that makes these spots is definitely worth talking about. Plus, Spotted Lake may not be the only one of its kind, and might tell us more about...
SciShow
The Wildest Ways We Remove Lice from Salmon
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 infestations,...
SciShow
Exercise Actually Makes Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Worse
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 Seltzer, director of...
SciShow
The Flu May Cause Alzheimer's
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...
SciShow
We Know Exactly Who This Guy Is
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, and...
SciShow
The Grandfather of the Computer was the Loom
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 Geary...
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Mount Everest is Getting Taller
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. Hosted by: Stefan Chin (he/him)
SciShow
A Sugar-Coated Asteroid May Have Made All Life Possible
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 itself. Hosted by:...
SciShow
Recognizing Faces, Even When You Can't See Them
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. Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him)
SciShow
Why You Should STOMP Every Spotted Lanternfly
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...
SciShow
Why Is Lung Cancer in Non-smokers on the Rise?
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. Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
SciShow
Why Elephants Rarely Get Cancer
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 two...
SciShow
Scientists Are Arguing About Why This Rock Shimmers
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...
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What You Don’t Know About King Tut’s Space Dagger
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 a...
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Our Brains Shouldn’t Be So Big
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 the...
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The Wild Science Behind Extended Release Medications
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. Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)
SciShow
The Skeleton That Was 8 Different People
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...
SciShow
What’s Below Absolute Zero?
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,...
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Why On Earth Did We Think Urine Was Sterile?
You've probably heard that urine is sterile. And we're only just learning that's not true. Understanding the urinary microbiome could help us find new ways to treat kidney stones, UTIs, and even bladder cancer. Hosted by: Niba...
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This Is What Happens When Regular People Go To Space
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 how...
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We Don’t Know Where Chocolate Comes From
Chocolate being one of the world's most delicious foods, you'd think we would know everything about it. /Somebody/ domesticated wild cacao. It's just… nobody really knows who, or when… or where. But if we want chocolate for the long...
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We Used To Clean Our Clothes With Gasoline
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,...
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What Made These Perfectly Shaped Hills? | Weird Places
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 wind. Hosted...