Why can't we see evidence of alien life?
Adults Life SpaceStand by for an animated exploration of the famous Fermi Paradox. Given the vast number of planets in the universe, many much older than Earth, why haven't we yet seen obvious signs of alien life? The potential answers to this question are numerous and intriguing, alarming and hopeful.
Why Van Gogh's "Starry Night" Is Actually An Art Of Science
Adults Art SciencePhysicist Werner Heisenberg said, "When I meet God, I am going to ask him two questions: why relativity? And why turbulence? I really believe he will have an answer for the first." As difficult as turbulence is to understand mathematically, we can use art to depict the way it looks. Natalya St. Clair illustrates how Van Gogh captured this deep mystery of movement, fluid and light in his work.
How Bees Can See the Invisible
Adults Animals NatureFeeding and fertilizing. Bees are amazing social insects, and their relationship with flowers is one of nature's coolest examples of "mutualism". It got me wondering: How do bees see the world? Enjoy this look at how bees see in ultraviolet and even sense electric fields!
Epic Hot Air Balloon Rope Swing
Adults Internet Culture TransportationYouTube channel Devin Supertramp shows you what you get when you combine a rope with hot air balloons.
Why is the Sky Any Color?
Adults Science WorldIt's a question that you'd think kids have been asking for thousands of years, but it might not be that old at all. The ancient Greek poet Homer never used a word for blue in The Odyssey or The Iliad, because blue is one of the last colors that cultures pick out a word for.
The Science and Beauty of Auroras
Adults Science WorldSpace might seem like an empty place, but the area surrounding Earth is constantly being bombarded by waves of charged particles released by the Sun: The solar wind. Luckily, thanks to Earth's swirling, molten core (and the magnetic field it provides), we are protected from this planet-sterilizing onslaught like an invisible force field.
Vsauce Breaks Down The Problems Of Naming Everything In Our World
Adults History LanguageA misnomer is a word or term that suggests a meaning that is known to be wrong. Misnomers often arise because the thing named received its name long before its true nature was known. A misnomer may also be simply a word that is used incorrectly or misleadingly.
Katana Fight Between Two ABB Robots
Adults Gadgets TechnologyA katana fight between two ABB robots during an exhibition.
The Fear That Everything Has Already Been Done
Adults Photography SocietyThe frustration of photographing something amazing when thousands of identical photos already exist-the same sunset, the same waterfall, the same curve of a hip, the same closeup of an eye-which can turn a unique subject into something hollow and pulpy and cheap, like a mass-produced piece of furniture you happen to have assembled yourself.
Stardust
Adults Art Music TechnologyThe performers Saya Watatani and Maki Yokoyama look like two Tinker Bells dancing together!
Preparing for #CometLanding
Adults Science Space TechnologyAfter a ten-year journey, Rosetta and Philae had finally reached their destination, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Rosetta spent many weeks studying the comet, sending lots of information back to Earth. But where was Philae going to land? Eventually the scientists on Earth found the best place on the comet for Philae to land. Soon it was time to make the final preparations for Philae's great adventure. Both spacecraft couldn't wait any longer. The whole world would be watching as Rosetta and Philae prepared for their biggest challenge yet.
The language of lying
Adults Language SocietyWe hear anywhere from 10 to 200 lies a day. And although we've spent much of our history coming up with ways to detect these lies by tracking physiological changes in their tellers, these methods have proved unreliable. Is there a more direct approach? Noah Zandan uses some famous examples of lying to illustrate how we might use communications science to analyze the lies themselves.
Astronauts Grow a Water Bubble in Space
Adults Gadgets Physics SpaceDuring Expedition 40 in the summer of 2014, NASA astronauts Steve Swanson and Reid Wiseman - along with European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst - explored the phenomenon of water surface tension in microgravity on the International Space Station. The crew "submerged" a sealed GoPro camera into a floating ball of water the size of a softball and recorded the activity with a 3-D camera.
Life by the Numbers
Adults Animals Biology NatureThere are now more than 7 billion human beings on Earth, and that got me wondering: How successful are we compared to other species? I take a look at out how our numbers stack up to some other domains of life. It turns out that biomass, or what things weigh, can be more important than how many of something there are. Find out how our numbers stack up against everything from bugs to bacteria, and get ready for some mind-blowing numbers!