One of the most popular team sports in the Winter Olympics is hockey. More than just a physical game, for scientists, it's a showcase for physics on ice--especially when it comes to the slapshot. Three-time Olympian Julie Chu, Thomas...

In this video, the teacher explains the science behind soap and how it cleans our skin. They discuss how soap is made from fatty acids and salt, and how it emulsifies to mix with water and remove dirt and grime from our skin. The teacher...

This video discusses the use of polygraphs or lie detectors in police interrogations. It explains how the polygraph operates by measuring physiological responses such as heart rate, breathing, blood pressure, and perspiration. However,...

Olympic athletes have long worn special competition clothing to gain an edge. Science and technology continue to improve on what they wear. Hear from Olympians Chad Hedrick, Steve Holcomb and Erin Hamlin, and Melissa Hines, the...

As athletes push themselves to their limits and sometimes crash or collide, they rely on protective gear to keep them safe. NSF-funded scientists Katharine Flores, an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and...

In skiing events like the downhill, slalom or ski jump it's often the skis that are bound to an athlete's feet--and the materials used to make them--that give these athletes an edge over the competition. U.S. Ski Team members Julia...

Every four years, we watch the stakes for Olympic figure skaters get higher, as they try to increase rotation in the air with their triple axels and quadruple toe loops. How do they do that? It's a scientific principle that we asked...

The United States hasn't won an Olympic medal in cross-country skiing since 1976, but in 2010, several skiers hope to change that. If they're successful, you can be certain it's due to their incredible endurance--cross-country skiers...

The winter games in Vancouver provide a chance for the United States' four-man bobsled team to win its first gold medal in more than 60 years. And with the help of Paul Doherty, senior scientist at the Exploratorium in San Francisco,...

The science that makes ice slippery also makes the Olympic Winter Games possible. But exactly what makes ice slippery? Ken Golden, a mathematician at the University of Utah, explains how the unique surface of ice makes the slide and...

This video discusses the concept of cloning, explaining the different types of cloning and providing examples of cloned animals. It also addresses the misconception that clones always look identical, highlighting that while clones are...

Everyone is obsessed with the Olympics right now, watching these geniuses push the boundaries of their field. Wait, did we say GENIUSES? Yes! We normally associate the word "genius" with intellectual accomplishments, but athletes are...

Here on the internet, we love us some memes. But where do they come from? Yes we know, they are user generated. But to an internet layman, they seem to just appear, in HUGE quantities, ready for cultural consumption. Are they a sign of a...

WIRED takes an in-depth look at the science and mathematics behind Olympic Archery with Brady Ellison and Mackenzie Brown. Still haven’t subscribed to WIRED on YouTube? ►►tp://wrd.cm/15fP7B7'WebrTwitterlFacebook=Pinterest'Google+e?...

The Cold War certainly happened on a multitude of fronts like sports, science and of course the military. Each super power had to prove that their ideology was superior through advancements in science or medals during the Olympic Games....

Curling has been in the Winter Olympics for four years now, but it still seems a little strange to most of us. John Shuster, the captain--or "skip"--of the U.S. Curling Team in Vancouver, explains this unusual sport, and NSF-funded...

In February, Olympic skiers such as Julia Mancuso, Ted Ligety, Marco Sullivan and Scott Macartney will race down Vancouver's Whistler Mountain at speeds of up to 90 miles an hour. Paul Doherty, senior scientist at the Exploratorium...

The Olympics are a unique chance to marvel at the physical abilities of these world-class athletes. But what makes them unique? After all, they're made of the same flesh and blood as the rest of us--how did they become Olympians? Dan...

It's been called "the Queen of Sciences"--mathematics. It might not be as obvious in Olympic sports as physics or materials-engineering, but math--from simple arithmetic to calculus--is part of every jump, every spin, every move the...

The ice skates worn by this year's hockey players, figure skaters and speed skaters are vastly different from what were once used. Melissa Hines, the Director of the Cornell University Center for Materials Research, and Sam Colbeck,...

This year, the U.S. team is a serious medal contender in Nordic Combined, a sport that combines ski jumping with cross-country skiing. U.S. hopefuls Todd Lodwick and Bill Demong, along with NSF-funded scientists Paul Doherty, senior...

The U.S. speed skating team has two best hopes against a powerful South Korean team that took three- of-a-possible-four golds in Torino: Apolo Ohno and J.R. Celski--an 18-year-old World Champion in his first Olympics. Speed skating is...

The stakes are high for the snowboarders in Vancouver as they try to master new tricks to unseat the star of Torino, American Shaun White. But to get "max air" off the half-pipe without losing their balance, they might want to check...

NASA engineer Manuel Vega can see one of the Olympic ski jump towers from the rooftop of the South Korean weather office where he is stationed. Vega is not watching skiers take flight, preparing for the 2018 PyeongChang Winter...