The universe is vast and teeming with stars – but if intelligent life exists, it may not be able to visit Earth. NASA, ESA, CSA, STScI, Rohan Naidu (MIT); Image Processing: Joseph DePasquale (STScI), CC BY Kai James, Georgia Institute of Technology On May 22, 2026, the Pentagon released a second batch of previously classified […]
In the latest episode of True Facts, Ze Frank dives into the bizarre brilliance of how bees build honeycombs, why hexagons are nature’s favorite efficiency hack, and how insects basically invented tiny organic apartment complexes long before humans figured out condos. The best part? The deeper the video goes into insect engineering, the more it […]
Why are human babies so useless compared to literally every other baby animal on Earth? This video from The Thought Vortex dives into the science behind humanity’s ridiculously long “loading screen” phase, explaining how our giant brains, evolution, and biology turned us into the most helpless babies in the animal kingdom. Meanwhile, baby deer are […]
Illustration of a Mars mission that utilises nuclear propulsion. Nasa Domenico Vicinanza, Anglia Ruskin University Nasa is developing ways to use nuclear power to send spacecraft to their destinations. Nuclear propulsion could greatly reduce the journey time to Mars, perhaps cutting a voyage of more than six months to three or four months. The idea […]
What makes rabies so terrifying isn’t just that it’s almost always fatal once symptoms appear, it’s how the virus works. This video from MinuteEarth explains how rabies quietly travels through the nervous system, hijacks the brain, and manipulates animal behavior to spread itself through bites. Oddly enough, humans don’t usually get the same “rage zombie” […]
serpeblu/Shutterstock Michael J. Benton, University of Bristol and Monica Grady, The Open University A great Tyrannosaurus rex strides through the conifer trees of her territory, sniffing the air. She picks up the scent from the carcass of a dead horned dinosaur, Triceratops, that she was feeding on yesterday. She walks over and strips off some […]
Depression is the leading cause of disability in the world; in the United States, close to ten percent of adults struggle with the disease. But because it’s a mental illness, it can be a lot harder to understand than, say, high cholesterol. Helen M. Farrell examines the symptoms and treatments of depression, and gives some […]
Your memory is not a camera. F.J. Jimenez/Moment via Getty Images Gabrielle Principe, College of Charleston Hollywood loves a superpower. Not all involve capes or cosmic rays. Some are cognitive: characters who can remember everything. In movies and on TV, viewers repeatedly encounter those with extraordinary minds who glance once at a page, a room […]