SciShow
These Scrolls Got Destroyed by a Volcano, But It’s Fine
The eruption of Mt Vesuvius buried the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum, and one ancient library was burned to a crisp. However, scientists are now using machine learning and AI to decipher the writing on them and recover lost works of...
SciShow
Why Isn't Mount Denali a Volcano?
Alaska has the most volcanoes out of all the US states, but researchers think they don't have enough. Here's the weird science behind looking for Alaska's volcanoes, and what we've learned about volcanism along the way.
SciShow
Autoimmune Diseases Are Sexist. Here’s Why
Autoimmune diseases like lupus disproportionately affect women five to one. Researchers have finally pinpointed a unique silencing gene on the X chromosome that may help explain why.
Women Get More AutoImmune Diseases. Here’s Why.
SciShow
Fool’s Gold Might Be Better Than the Real Thing
This month's Rocks Box is pyrite, also called fool's gold. But this fool's gold might not be so foolish, since we can use it to get all kinds of other minerals we really need, and it may be a key to getting real gold after all.
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Something's Been Making Weird Pits in the Seafloor
For years, scientists couldn't solve the mystery of strange pits on the floor of the North Sea. Initially they blamed methane seeps, but it seems like the pits were actually made on porpoise.
SciShow
How to Get the Most Out of Magnesium
Magnesium may be all the rage as a sleep aid, but does it actually work? We decided to dive into the research to find out, and ended up learning a lot about mice along the way.
SciShow
The Volcanoes That May Have Started Life on Earth
The nitrogen cycle is essential to life on Earth, but biological nitrogen must be fixed before it can be used. Scientists aren't sure how the first nitrogen became available... but it might have been volcanoes.
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Wait, We JUST Banned Asbestos?
Amphibole asbestos has been (mostly) illegal in the United States since 1989. So why is the EPA just banning chrysotile asbestos in the year 2024? And is chrysotile really safer?
SciShow
Room Temperature Is A Lie
An entire field of science is dedicated to identifying the perfect indoor temperature. And it's a lot more complicated than simply setting the thermostat to 21 degrees Celsius (70 degrees Fahrenheit).
SciShow
Our Galaxy May Be 10 Times Bigger Than We Thought
The Milky Way is often described as measuring 100,000 light years across and containing the mass of a trillion Suns. But our home galaxy is actually far bigger, and might be much less massive. Astronomers aren't sure what the exact stats...
SciShow
The Metal Claw Hiding in Your Food
Have you ever seen "calcium disodium EDTA" on an ingredients label and wondered what it's doing in your food? As it turns out, ethylenediamene triacetate is an important preservative that's helping to preserve your food. It's totally...
SciShow
The Rock That's Helping Us Find the Origin of Life
Epidote might just look like a pretty little crystal, but it has a secret. thanks to the high-pressure circumstances where it forms, we can use it to help us uncover the origins of life on our planet, and maybe even find signs of life on...
SciShow
Were Humans Destined to Exist?
This is a snippet of a larger conversation taking place on Crash Course Pods: The Universe. Over 11 episodes, John Green and Katie Mack walk through the entire history of the universe…even the parts that aren’t written yet.
SciShow
Why NASA Put The Moon In A Pool
NASA has been using swimming pools to train astronauts since the 1960s. The largest is the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory (NBL), which holds roughly 9 olympic pools worth of water and has contained not just mockups of space station and...
SciShow
We Discovered a New Natural Cycle!
So we all know about the carbon cycle, and the water cycle, and maybe even the nitrogen cycle. But new research has figured out there's a salt cycle, too. Problem is, that same research has found that we already broke it. Here's what...
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How Pandas Got Such a Bad Reputation
Look, we've all heard the rumors that giant pandas are an evolutionary dead end. But we are here to set the record straight and show you that these adorable fluff balls are a lot tougher than they seem.
SciShow
The Rare Disorder That Turns Everyone Else Into Demons
Prosopometamorphopsia is an extremely rare disorder of facial processing that makes other people's faces look demonic or seem to melt. But in the process of treating these people, we can also learn how our brain understands what a face...
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These Birds’ Nests Are Terrible for a Reason
Some birds' nests are works of art. These are not those. But we'll see why the terrible nesting habits of the cuckoo or jacana or even pigeons are the right thing for their survival.
SciShow
The Surprisingly Useful Physics of Desk Toys
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.
SciShow
Can an Equation Really Tell Us How Many Aliens Exist?
In 1961, the astronomer Frank Drake wrote down what is now known as the Drake Equation. It's so important to the culture surrounding the search for extraterrestrial life that scientists have carved it into the upcoming Europa Clipper...
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Why City Birds Love Cigarettes
Urban birds like house finches and house sparrows are great at finding materials to repel pests and parasites from their nests. Unfortunately, one of those materials is used cigarette butts.
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When Did We Start Getting Cavities?
You would think that without dentists and fluoride mouthwash, early humans would have terrible teeth. But tooth decay depends on access to sugars and starches -- meaning most early humans had decent teeth up until the Agricultural...
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The World's Oldest Recipes
If you could throw a potluck with all the oldest foods in the world, what would you bring? We asked ourselves that question and prepared a menu of tasty snacks for you to consider, from tamales and noodles to our favorite ancient boozes....
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This Blood Test Predicts Your Future
There's a lot of interest in knowing your future when you're a kid. But one thing you can know with basically 100% certainty isn't one you'd expect - your risk of developing type one diabetes. So if one simple blood test can tell you if...