SciShow
Your Best Friend Probably Smells Like You
The microbes that crawl all over us give us our unique scents. And research shows that not only do we prefer our own, but we tend to choose friends with a similar smell.
SciShow
Glenn Seaborg: Shaking Up the Periodic Table
Hank synopsizes the life and work of Glenn Seaborg, pioneer of synthetic elements, member of the Manhattan Project, and the architect of the last great shake-up of the periodic table.
SciShow
Where Did the Moon Come From?
SciShow Space takes you to the moon! Learn about the competing theories about how Earth's closest neighbor formed.
SciShow
To Save Sinking Cities, Just Add Water
It's more than climate change putting coastal cities at risk of catastrophic flooding. Subsidence, or sinking, affects cities as they pump out groundwater to use. The solution might be as simple as putting it back.
SciShow
Should You Get Multiple Shots in the Same Arm?
When you get two doses of a vaccine, you might assume that it doesn't matter which arm gets the shots. But some evidence suggests that it does.
SciShow
The Rocky Road to the Most Powerful Rocket in History
In 2024, NASA plans to send the first humans to the Moon (well, around the Moon) in over 50 years ago. And in order to get the necessary oomph to hurl those astronauts over there, NASA will be using its most powerful rocket ever: the...
SciShow
The Rare Fossils We Find By The Thousands
Eurypterids are rare in the fossil record overall. But when we find these 400-million-year-old "sea scorpions," we find LOTS of them.
SciShow
The OTHER Genome Project That’s Transforming Medicine
You've heard of the Human Genome Project, and how having all that info about our genes could help us treat /tons/ of diseases. But a newer project wants to zoom out a little and use different genetic information to help us solve our...
SciShow
The Implant That Literally Freezes Away Pain
It's no secret that cold can help treat a source of pain, like a sprained ankle or even a burn. But new technology might be able to take that principle and apply it /directly/ onto your nerves!
SciShow
What Took Down These Three Ancient Civilizations?
When it comes to piecing together what happened to civilizations that no longer exist, it can be challenging to solve the mystery. But research into Angkor, the Akkadian Empire, and even the Norse of Greenland, is helping us see that...
SciShow
Why Do We Cry On Planes?
Have you ever found yourself getting teary-eyed on a plane, and not because of the lack of legroom? Turns out there's a few good reasons that science says that's totally normal. Don't forget to throw some tissues in your carry-on.
SciShow
How Long Can You Live Underwater?
In 2023, Joseph Dituri set a world record for the longest continuous stay underwater. And that 100 day stay had effects on both his body and mind. Scientists have been studying the effects of living underwater since the 1960s, but how...
SciShow
Have an Autoimmune Disease? Blame the Black Death
The bubonic plague killed so many people in Europe, the Middle East, and North Africa that that natural selection event is still rippling through our genomes today. But the same genes that helped your ancestors survive the Black Death...
SciShow
The Science Behind Sleep & Love Potions
Sure, potions of invisibility and immortality may be a little hard to come by in the real world, but there's some legit science behind less fantastic ones. Historical sleep and love potions are grounded in science, even if some of the...
SciShow
The Ice Bucket Challenge Actually Worked
The Ice Bucket Challenge raised millions of dollars for research into treatments for ALS, or Lou Gehrig's disease. Where did that money go? Into characterizing new genes that we may be able to target with chemotherapy drugs like paclitaxel!
SciShow
The Electric Light Bulb Was Invented Centuries Before Edison
Thomas Edison often gets credit for the invention of the light bulb, but a good argument can be made that they were around centuries earlier in the form of barometric light.
SciShow
This Probe Doesn’t Melt When it’s 1 Million Degrees Outside
In 2021, the Parker Solar Probe fulfilled its mission to “touch the Sun”. But the temperature over there was millions of degrees Celsius. How did the spacecraft not melt?
SciShow
Becoming a Predator Was Hard
Animals eating other animals seems like a tale as old as time, but it's only almost that old. Predation had to evolve in the Ediacaran period -- so let's look at early almost-predators like Auroralumina, Kimberella, Ikaria, and whatever...
SciShow
Cats Shouldn't Love Tuna (But They Do)
Tuna are big, fast-swimming ocean fish. They're hardly the natural prey of cats, whose ancestors evolved in the desert. Yet a study of taste receptors in cats shows that they're predisposed to LOVE tuna.
SciShow
You Have Four Ages
A person's chronological age doesn't tell us much about the health of their body's various systems. That's why scientists are beginning to study biological ages, and it turns out there may be a lot of them.
SciShow
The Parasite That Makes You King
Being infected with a parasite is bad, right? So why are wolves in Yellowstone National Park infected with Toxoplasma gondii some of the most successful individuals
SciShow
The Nuclear Bunker Full of Cannibal Ants
There's an abandoned Soviet nuclear bunker in Poland full of cannibal ants. And weird as it sounds, it's helping us learn more about the behavior of social insects.
SciShow
How Do Volcanoes Make Smoke Rings?
Occasionally, a volcano coughs up a ring of fog. How does it create that whimsical shape, and how similar is it to the smoke rings humans can make?
SciShow
We Finally Found a Green Use for Coal
One day, the world may partially run on clean hydrogen fuel. But a big barrier to that future is just how darn difficult it is to store hydrogen for later use. So one team of scientists have proposed making hydrogen "batteries" out of...