Are Life-Saving Medicines Hiding in the World’s Coldest Places?
Adults Biology
Could the next wonder drug be somewhere in Canada's snowy north? Take a trip to this beautiful, frigid landscape as chemist Normand Voyer explores the mysterious molecular treasures found in plants thriving in the cold.
What Are Plants Made Of? Crash Course Botany
Adults Biology
When you eat a salad for lunch, you’re digging into a giant pile of plant organs. That’s right—plants are made up of organs, only theirs follow a totally different set of rules from our own.
Your Body Killed Cancer 5 Minutes Ago
Adults Biology
Somewhere in your body, your immune system just quietly killed one of your own cells, stopping it from becoming cancer, and saving your life. It does that all the time.
You’re Not a Lab Mouse, but You Might Be a Wild Mouse
Adults Biology
The lab mice we use for genetic studies are not only closely related, but live out their whole lives in a sterile environment, so they don’t tell us everything we need to know about actual humans.
Why do we have crooked teeth when our ancestors didn’t?
Adults Biology
Explore the prevailing scientific theory of why crooked teeth and impacted wisdom teeth are recent developments in human evolution.
How to master your sense of smell
Adults Biology
Some perfumers can distinguish individual odors in a fragrance made of hundreds of scents; tea-experts have been known to sniff out the exact location of a particular tea; and the NYC Transit Authority once had a employee responsible only for sniffing out gas leaks.
The man who lost his sense of touch
Adults Biology
Explore the science behind how your body and brain process different sensations like touch, pain, temperature, and spatial awareness.
Just How Good is Eagle Vision?
Adults Biology
In a remote part of Scotland, expert bird handler Lloyd Buck sets up a game of hide and seek for his golden eagle Tilly to test just how good her eyesight is.
The Best Way to Boost Your Immune System
Adults Biology
There is this idea floating around that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
You Can’t Actually Die Of Old Age
Adults Biology
Despite centuries of death records to the contrary, “dying of old age” is not medically possible; instead, it’s just a convenient catch-all.
The Biology Behind The Last of Us | WIRED
Adults Biology
The infection from HBO's The Last of Us is actually based on a real parasitic fungus. This fungus turns insects into zombies. The creators of the game and the show were inspired by zombie carpenter ants.
Your Immune System is More Dangerous than You Think
Adults Biology
There is this idea floating around that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. That surviving a disease leaves you better off. And it seems to make sense because we have all experienced this.
The Disease You Will Never Survive
Adults Biology
A simple mis-folding in a certain brain protein causes a disease for which we have no cure.
The Most Complex Language in the World
Adults Biology
You are cells. Your muscles, organs, skin and hair. They are in your blood and in your bones.
The Weird Sex Lives of Bluegills
Adults Biology
When it comes to the mating game, fish have some of the strangest ways of thwarting the competition.
The Stickiest Non-Sticky Material
Adults Biology
Adhesives based on gecko skin can hold huge weights – without sticking to anything.
4 Plants that Hunt Underground
Adults Biology
Carnivorous plants tend to live in environments where the soil can’t provide enough of the nutrients they need to survive, so they have developed all sorts of methods to trap and consume the critters of the area, including hunting underground!
There’s No Such Thing As “Warm-” Or “Cold-” Blooded
Adults Biology
The concept of warm-blooded and cold-blooded animals is outdated because there are actually tons of different animal thermoregulation strategies.
The Real Reason Leaves Change Color In the Fall
Adults Biology
Want to learn more about the topic in this week’s video? Here are some keywords to get your googling started:
Leaf senescence, chlorophyll, carotenoid, anthocyanin
Photosynthesis
Adults Biology
Hank explains the extremely complex series of reactions whereby plants feed themselves on sunlight, carbon dioxide and water, and also create some by products we're pretty fond of as well.
Lungs Are Great, But They Have One Weakness...
Adults Biology
Our respiratory systems do a great job of protecting us, but they are no match for the smallest pollution particles created by the modern world.