Physicist and surfer Garrett Lisi presents a controversial new model of the universe that -- just maybe -- answers all the big questions. If nothing else, it's the most beautiful 8-dimensional model of elementary particles and forces...

Michael Aranda substitutes for Hank again in this week's News to tell you about the winners of the 2012 Visualization Challenge, an annual competition run by the journal Science that selects the most elegant and educational graphics,...

Where do glaciers and icebergs get their beautiful blue color? This unique blue might be nature's most brilliant, and the color arises in a very special way thanks to some surprising interactions between light and water molecules. Who...

* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, wants to spread her appreciation of design --...

In 2006, a movie took on authoritarianism and the violent aftershocks of the Spanish Civil War—all through the eyes of an innocent young girl and the fairy tale world she discovers in the woods. Pan's Labyrinth is both a beautifully...

MOMA design curator Paola Antonelli previews the groundbreaking show Design and the Elastic Mind -- full of products and designs that reflect the way we think now.

It may seem like there isn’t a lot going on in a baby’s brain. But as we continue to study them and our relationship with them, we begin to understand more about the complexities behind those big eyes, and this compilation takes a look...

In which John Green teaches you about what westerners call the middle ages and the lives of the aristocracy...in Japan. The Heian period in Japan lasted from 794CE to 1185CE, and it was an interesting time in Japan. Rather than being...

In his lab, Martin Hanczyc makes "protocells," experimental blobs of chemicals that behave like living cells. His work demonstrates how life might have first occurred on Earth ... and perhaps elsewhere too.

How do you read a two-thousand-year-old manuscript that has been erased, cut up, written on and painted over? With a powerful particle accelerator, of course! Ancient books curator William Noel tells the fascinating story behind the...

What's the awesomest place in the world? Scientists can think of at least 137, the newly released list of the most biologically important places on Earth. Hank explains how ecologists arrived at this list, and takes you on a tour of four...

Join John Hardy on a tour of the Green School, his off-the-grid school in Bali that teaches kids how to build, garden, create (and get into college). The centerpiece of campus is the spiraling Heart of School, perhaps the world's largest...

Bridges need to be functional, safe and durable, but they should also be elegant and beautiful, says structural engineer Ian Firth. In this mesmerizing tour of bridges old and new, Firth explores the potential for innovation and variety...

The Crab Nebula is one of the most studied things in the sky, but it took glimpses through various wavelengths of the electromagnetic spectrum to get a full picture of what’s hiding inside!

Radio host Julie Burstein talks with creative people for a living -- and shares four lessons about how to create in the face of challenge, self-doubt and loss. Hear insights from filmmaker Mira Nair, writer Richard Ford, sculptor Richard...

Asgard, a realm of wonders, was where the Norse Gods made their home. There Odin's great hall of Valhalla towered above the mountains and Bifrost, the rainbow bridge, anchored itself. Though their domain was magnificent, it stood...

How do you define "nature?" If we define it as that which is untouched by humans, then we won't have any left, says environmental writer emma Marris. She urges us to consider a new definition of nature -- one that includes not only...

Nick Veasey shows outsized X-ray images that reveal the otherworldly inner workings of familiar objects -- from the geometry of a wildflower to the anatomy of a Boeing 747. Producing these photos is dangerous and painstaking, but the...

When Jimmy Nelson traveled to Siberia to photograph the Chukchi people, elders told him: "You cannot photograph us. You have to wait, you have to wait until you get to know us, you have to wait until you understand us." In this...

Hank loves bananas and is worried about their future, so he did some investigating and wrote this episode of SciShow to share some kinda scary banana truths with us.

The people of Palau -- a pristine ocean state made up of more than 300 islands in the western Pacific -- warmly welcome travelers to their home every year. But the guests don't always know how to protect the country's beautiful beaches...

Mapping apps help us find the fastest route to where we’re going. But what if we’d rather wander? Researcher Daniele Quercia demos “happy maps” that take into account not only the route you want to take, but how you want to feel along...

Jacqueline Novogratz applauds the world's heightened interest in Africa and poverty, but argues persuasively for a new approach.

In 1997, Brazilian football player Roberto Carlos set up for a 35 meter free kick with no direct line to the goal. Carlos's shot sent the ball flying wide of the players, but just before going out of bounds it hooked to the left and...