You can't just "find" motivation, says scientist Ayelet Fishbach — you have to learn how to motivate yourself. She shares a handful of tips backed by 20 years of motivation research, offering surprisingly simple wisdom on how to optimize...

Born to a sea nymph and a king, and trained by the legendary centaur Chiron, Achilles was a demigod destined for greatness. When Greece declared war on Troy, Achilles knew the war was written into his destiny. With horses born from the...

TED Fellow and chemosensory researcher Paule Joseph unveils the hidden power of a sense that's too often overlooked: smell. She delves into the science behind smell — from how it evokes memory and emotion to its potential for early...

What if AI could help connect you with the right medical care, exactly when you need it? Health systems entrepreneur, surgeon and TED Fellow Mohamed Aburawi explores how his digital health platform, Speetar, uses AI to bridge the...

What does a warming planet mean for the foods you love? Hosting a dinner party that features a menu of foods that could disappear within our lifetimes, culinary entrepreneur Sam Kass invites us to chew on the reality of climate change by...

Do We Have to Get Old and Die?

It feels like for an animal, having one's butt fall off would be pretty bad. But apparently that's not always the worst thing to happen, at least not for these specific animals.

How do Newton's Cradles connect to cancer treatments? Let's unpack the physics of some of our favorite desk toys, from dippy birds to perpetual motion machines, and explore how these scientific principles can be used beyond an office desk.

Rice is the world's largest food source — and it's also a massive emitter of methane gas, a key contributor to climate change. Fifth-generation rice farmer Jim Whitaker and his daughter, farmer and conservationist Jessica Whitaker Allen,...

Life on your planet depends entirely on Nuronium for normal cognition. Unfortunately, its source has been compromised and you are now at risk of extinction. Scientists have found an alternate energy source, Polixate, but it can't sustain...

When does vision loss become blindness? Writer, audio producer and editor Andrew Leland explains how his gradual loss of vision revealed a paradoxical truth about blindness -- and shows why it might have implications for how all of us...

Decision theorist Eliezer Yudkowsky has a simple message: superintelligent AI could probably kill us all. So the question becomes: Is it possible to build powerful artificial minds that are obedient, even benevolent? In a fiery talk,...

The concept of warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals is outdated because there are actually tons of different animal thermoregulation strategies.

On New Year's day, we said goodbye to George the Snail, marking the first extinction of 2019, and the way things are looking, it won't be the last.

If you're lucky enough to find a glowing rock, it likely doesn't mean you're the chosen one. In fact, it could have to do with one of these five phenomena! Learn about the quantum mechanics of glowing rocks in this new SciShow Episode...

Snakes have two penises (aka hemipenes) that come in a diverse array of shapes and sizes. And they could owe it all to their lack of legs.

Yapoks are cute aquatic marsupials, and they're the only living creatures that need pouches for their sacs.

It seems like a terrible idea to destroy and rebuild your own brain, but that is exactly what some ground squirrels are doing all winter long.

If you hear the word “baby-faced” you might picture a doe-eyed celebrity who never seems to age. But, really, you should be thinking of the axolotl. However, it is possible to transform these otherwise forever-babies, causing them to...

Fossils aren't just something you find at dig sites. Correction: 3:03 Actually, it was the American Museum of Natural History. But it was a Bruce Museum curator who found it!

Need a determination boost to complete those New Year's Resolutions (or really any kind of resolution)? Look no further than this compilation of SciShow videos from SciShow of yore. Why Our Brains Love Junk Food - 1:11 3 Terrible...

When camels drink, they do so at a rate that would kill most other animals. But where does all of that water go? Hint: It's not their humps!

Expired medicine might seem like a weird concept because a lot of it doesn’t get moldy or slimy like old food. Is it really a big concern?

Scientists were able to measure the emission lines of antimatter! And we may have some new clues about how dinosaurs lost their teeth on the way to becoming birds.