Video Description
For most of history, humans had no idea what purpose the heart served. In fact, the organ so confused Leonardo da Vinci, that he gave up studying it. Although everyone could feel their own heart beating, it wasn’t always clear what each thump was achieving. Now we know that the heart pumps blood. But that …
In the biblical story of the Tower of Babel, all of humanity once spoke a single language until they suddenly split into many groups unable to understand each other. We don’t really know if such an original language ever existed, but we do know that the thousands of languages existing today can be traced back …
Translator: Jessica Ruby Reviewer: Caroline Cristal Let’s say that it would take you ten minutes to solve this puzzle. How long would it take if you received constant electric shocks to your hands? Longer, right? Because the pain would distract you from the task. Well, maybe not; it depends on how you handle pain. Some …
How does your brain respond to pain? – Karen D. Davis 더 보기 »
A banker in London sends the latest stock info to his colleagues in Hong Kong in less than a second. With a single click, a customer in New York orders electronics made in Beijing, transported across the ocean within days by cargo plane or container ship. The speed and volume at which goods and information …
The Silk Road: Connecting the ancient world through trade – Shannon Harris Castelo 더 보기 »
How do you know what’s happening in your world? The amount of information just a click away may be limitless, but the time and energy we have to absorb and evaluate it is not. All the information in the world won’t be very useful unless you know how to read the news. To your grandparents, …
The year was 1816. Europe and North America had just been through a devastating series of wars, and a slow recovery seemed to be underway, but nature had other plans. After two years of poor harvests, the spring brought heavy rains and cold, flooding the rivers and causing crop failures from the British Isles to …
The colossal consequences of supervolcanoes – Alex Gendler 더 보기 »
We have some good reasons to completely switch over to solar power. It’s cheaper in many cases, and definitely more sustainable than our dependance on traditional power plants that use resources like coal, which will eventually run out. So why don’t we replace these traditional plants with solar energy? Because there’s one factor that makes …
Why aren’t we only using solar power? – Alexandros George Charalambides 더 보기 »
Living with her family high above the ground in the northern tropical forests of Colombia, you will find Shakira, a cotton-top tamarin with a penchant for conversation. Say, “Hola!” Though you may not realize it, this one pound monkey communicates in a highly sophisticated language of 38 distinct calls based on variations of chirps and …
How to speak monkey: The language of cotton-top tamarins – Anne Savage 더 보기 »
Energy is all around us, a physical quantity that follows precise natural laws. Our universe has a finite amount of it; it’s neither created nor destroyed but can take different forms, such as kinetic or potential energy, with different properties and formulas to remember. For instance, an LED desk lamp’s 6 Watt bulb transfers 6 …
A guide to the energy of the Earth – Joshua M. Sneideman 더 보기 »
Think about all the things that need to happen for a human settlement to thrive: obtaining food, building shelter, raising children and more. There needs to be a way to divide resources, organize major efforts and distribute labor efficiently. Now imagine having to do this without any sort of planning or higher level communication. Welcome …
