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...

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.<b<br/>r/>

Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him)

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...

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,...

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.



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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...

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...

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,...

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...

Humans have known that uranium can cause health problems since at least the 1820s. But that hasn't stopped us from making stuff with uranium in it over the past two centuries. Like teeth, toys, and diabetes treatments!



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It's one of the great boomer vs. millennial debates: Do you have to sort your laundry? It's tedious to pull apart lights and darks, hot water and cold water, but thanks to advancements in science, that all may be a thing of the...

Ever wondered why you tense up, get pale, and eat too much when stressed? There's a very good evolutionary reason. <b<br/>r/>

Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)

This is a love letter to water, life’s solvent, and one of the most wonderful molecules around. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn about how water’s polarity and hydrogen bonding help it sustain life on a larger scale....

How can you tell two species apart? It’s not always simple. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll learn about speciation—a process that can happen over millions of years, or within a single generation. Along the way, we’ll...

There are lots of ways that evolution happens, and natural selection is just one of them. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll find out how this process works and shapes traits in all living things —from ginkgo trees to howler...

Whether we’re talking about tigers, trees, or tarantulas, evolution happens at the level of the population. In this episode of Crash Course Biology, we’ll find out how natural selection, gene flow, genetic drift, and other processes...

When the Bald Eagle population started to decline in the mid-20th century, scientists began to ask why. Population ecology, the study of organisms of the same species, played a big role in answering that question. In this episode of...

Duncan Keegan doesn't consider himself a poet, but this deeply beautiful talk shows otherwise. With simple grace and quiet eloquence, he celebrates family, connection and togetherness, often most called for at the hardest of times.

What if the race to save the planet is harming the people who protect it? Indigenous advocate Galina Angarova exposes the hidden cost of the green energy transition, where the demand for minerals like nickel and lithium threatens to...

There's an invisible super-pollutant heating up the planet — but it's surprisingly easy to reduce, if we try. Revealing how methane contributes (way) more in the short term to global warming than carbon dioxide, chemical engineer Daniel...

Why do wolves howl? With the help of AI, we're getting closer to an answer. Linguist and software engineer Jeffrey T. Reed shares his research on wolf sounds in the wild, revealing the surprisingly complex range of vocalizations — barks,...

Scott Loarie has a challenge for you: go outside and take a picture of a living thing. He introduces the global community of people building a living atlas of the natural world by sharing their nature photos with scientists — and shows...

Why do we find it easier to trust some concepts and ideas over others? Mathematician and TED Fellow Adam Kucharski explores the science of uncertainty, revealing how the very human need for explanation shapes trust in science, fear of...

Is space the “final frontier” — or the perfect place to revolutionize life on Earth? Space architect Ariel Ekblaw reveals how self-assembling structures could build orbiting real estate in space dedicated to solving humanity’s greatest...