Forget tanks. Forget fighter jets. If you were attacking a castle 800 years ago, what you really wanted was a ridiculously oversized wooden contraption that could yeet a 500-pound boulder through someone’s living room from hundreds of feet away. Medieval warfare was wild. In this video, The History Guy explores the fascinating history and physics […]
For thousands of years, we’ve been happily planting garlic cloves, stuffing them into recipes, warding off imaginary vampires, and generally treating the poor plant like an endless flavor factory. Turns out, we’ve been accidentally breeding it into a genetic corner. A new video from Minute Food begins with an oddball garlic bulb that has no […]
Quantum physics is one of those subjects where you nod along, pretend you understand, and secretly hope nobody asks a follow-up question. Thankfully, theoretical physicist Brian Greene is here to tackle the internet’s biggest brain-melters, including whether string theory is dead, if we’re living in a multiverse, why you (probably) can’t quantum tunnel through your […]
Marcel Clemens’ Mercury Wave Machine uses 20 spring-mounted vials filled with precisely measured amounts of mercury. As they bounce at slightly different frequencies, they form a hypnotic vertical wave that continuously morphs into mesmerizing new patterns. It’s essentially a pendulum wave turned upright and a beautiful reminder that physics can be pure eye candy. [Via […]
We’ve all heard the claim that spider silk is stronger than steel, but could it actually support a human swinging through the air like your friendly neighborhood web-slinger? The folks at Veritasium decided there was only one reasonable way to find out: gather the largest bundle of spider silk ever assembled for this kind of […]
Forget doomscrolling for a few nights: August’s sky has plenty of reasons to look up instead. NASA says this month is loaded with cosmic eye candy, including a solar eclipse, one of the year’s best meteor showers, Venus showing off, and a lunar eclipse to close things out. Mother Nature clearly spent all her budget […]
For years, scientists have known there was a strange connection between shingles and dementia, but no one could say for sure whether one actually influenced the other. Now, several major studies are providing the strongest evidence yet that the shingles vaccine may do more than prevent a painful rash, it could also help protect your […]
Cyclosporiasis can cause severe gastrointestinal distress, including explosive diarrhea. wildpixel/iStock via Getty Images Plus Azadeh Nasuhidehnavi, Binghamton University, State University of New York and Wesley Kufel, Binghamton University, State University of New York As you may have seen in news headlines or social media memes, there’s explosive diarrhea going around. Understanding how the immune system […]