Beavers: The Smartest Thing in Fur Pants
Beavers have done more to shape North American landscapes than any animal beside humans. We don’t notice them much today because there aren’t many left, but before colonization, North America was home to hundreds of millions of these furry engineers. This week, we show you why Earth’s second largest rodent is more amazing than you […]
Decomposition time of garbage is longer than you think
It’s easy to ignore your trash. You put it in the can and it magically disappears, right? Nah, it’s actually going to hang around for a long, long while. Depending on what you’re trashing, it might be here long after you’ve decomposed.
Stanford researchers develop vine-like, growing robot
Mechanical engineers at Stanford have developed a robot that grows like a vine. It’s ability to grow across distances without moving its whole body could be useful in search and rescue and medical applications.
Why is being scared so fun? – Margee Kerr
At this very moment, people are lining up somewhere to scare themselves, be it with a thrill-ride or a horror movie. In fact, in October of 2015 alone, about 28 million people visited a haunted house in the US. But you might wonder: What could possibly be fun about being scared? Margee Kerr examines the […]
The surprising reason you feel awful when you’re sick – Marco A. Sotomayor
It starts with a tickle in your throat that becomes a cough. Your muscles begin to ache, you grow irritable, and you lose your appetite. It’s official: you’ve got the flu. It’s logical to assume that this miserable medley of symptoms is the result of the infection coursing through your body — but is that […]
How to Teleport Schrödinger’s Cat
How to teleport Schrödinger’s cat: this video presents the full quantum teleportation procedure, in which an arbitrary qubit (spin, etc) is teleported from Alice to Bob by way of a pair of particles entangled in a bell (EPR) state and the transmission of information via a classical channel. Thanks to everyone who supports MinutePhysics on […]
How does caffeine keep us awake? – Hanan Qasim
Over 100,000 metric tons of caffeine are consumed around the world every year. That’s equivalent to the weight of 14 Eiffel Towers! Caffeine helps us feel alert, focused, and energetic, even if we haven’t had enough sleep — but it can also raise our blood pressure and make us feel anxious. So how does it […]
The Truth About Coconut Oil – Sharp Science
Coconut oil is an all-natural wonder: It’s skin moisturizer, hair conditioner, coffee creamer, butter substitute, and delicious on toast. But it’s not a magical health food, a group of doctors said. The oil is 82 percent saturated fat, and studies show it raises «bad» cholesterol levels just as much as butter, beef fat, or palm […]
How the Band-Aid was invented | Moments of Vision 3 – Jessica Oreck
It is estimated that Johnson & Johnson have made an astounding 100 billion Band-Aids since they were invented in 1920. But where did the idea come from? In the third installment of our ‘Moments of Vision’ series, Jessica Oreck shares the series of moments that inspired Earle Dickson to invent these popular household bandages. Lesson […]
Cicadas: Making Sense of the 17-Year Emergence – by Scientific American
In this video, we break down the complex science of periodical cicadas, one of nature’s most intriguing creatures. More information on the cicada’s unique life cycle: http://goo.gl/wEJ8M
Movie Replayed From Living Cells’ DNA Debuts «Molecular Recorder»
For the first time, a primitive movie has been encoded in – and then played back from – DNA in living cells. Scientists funded by the National Institutes of Health say it is a major step toward a “molecular recorder” that may someday make it possible to get read-outs, for example, of the changing internal […]
How does fracking work? – Mia Nacamulli
Deep underground lie stores of once-inaccessible natural gas. There’s a technology, called hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” that can extract this natural gas, potentially powering us for decades to come. So how does fracking work and why is it a source of such heated controversy? Mia Nacamulli explains the ins and outs of fracking. Lesson by […]
Do You Have What It Takes To Live On Mars?
Could you handle life on mars? Watch «What Life Would Be Like On Mars» https://youtu.be/MKaItBv4pP8
What can Schrödinger’s cat teach us about quantum mechanics? – Josh Samani
The classical physics that we encounter in our everyday, macroscopic world is very different from the quantum physics that governs systems on a much smaller scale (like atoms). One great example of quantum physics’ weirdness can be shown in the Schrödinger’s cat thought experiment. Josh Samani walks us through this experiment in quantum entanglement. Lesson […]