Season 2013 2013

Turns out humans aren't the only animals that can medicate themselves - many other animals have found ways to deal with illness by using natural remedies. Hank will tell you about some of the most interesting methods animals have found to heal themselves, and maybe get a little crazy in the process.

In this week's news, Hank explains how earthworms are doing nanotechnology for us, Americans will soon be eating genetically modified salmon, the Russians are going back to space, and another reason to drink less soda.

Hank describes three of the whackest weather phenomena on Earth: atmospheric rivers, fire tornadoes, and ball lightning. Super interesting and super weird.

Hank answers a SciShow viewer's most pressing question about what happens if the human body gets exposed to space. Would your head really explode?

Today Hank uses his patented prognosticating abilities to tell you about some space news events to watch out for in 2013.
What one thing is the Curiosity rover going to spend most of the year doing? Why are we going back to the moon? And what two awesome things are projected to occur around Thanksgiving Day? Find out in this edition of SciShow News!

Hank talks about why it is so difficult for scientists to predict earthquakes in the short term.

Hank talks about how warp drives could potentially work.

In today's news, Michael Aranda stands in for Hank to talk about this year's flu season.
And no, Hank isn't out sick with the flu - he's on the road and out of the studio for a few weeks!

ERROR IN VIDEO - There are up to 200 BILLION stars in our galaxy...not 200 million.

How many stars are there in the universe? This question leads Hank to a couple other questions - How many stars can we see from Earth? How many stars are there in our galaxy? - but the answer to the original question proves elusive.

Hank gives us a summary of the important facts about fracking: what it is, why we do it, and how it actually isn't all butterflies and cupcakes.

Chinese alchemists searching for an elixir of eternal life discovered the world's first chemical explosive. Hank has the full story on gunpowder in this SciShow about a big idea of science.

Emily Graslie of The Brain Scoop (http://www.youtube.com/thebrainscoop) stands in for Hank in this week's news to tell us about an effort to classify every organism on Earth, a fight amongst scientists about what happened in the 8th century, and a whole new look for your DNA. Oh, and some new information about dung beetles! Strap in for a ride through science!

Featuring Emily of The Brain Scoop (http://www.youtube.com/thebrainscoop) and Cas the Arctic Fox!
We decided it would be cool to have guests come into the studio and talk about science with Hank.

In our first episode, Emily Graslie chats about rhinoceros conservation and stumps Hank with a very peculiar bone from the Philip L. Wright Zoological Museum.
Then Jessi from Animal Wonders introduces Cas the Arctic Fox...and he's the coolest thing that's ever peed on Hank's desk!

Hank builds a simple electric motor just powerful enough to make a small screw spin, but also strong enough to blow your mind.

Humans have been processing plants for their narcotic effects for at least 5000 years, historically for ceremonial purposes, to deal with harsh environmental conditions or difficult situations, and sometimes even to supplement nutrient-poor diets. Michael tells you about some of the strange "natural" things our ancestors used to alter their minds, but he can't promise they're not going to be gross.

Michael Aranda substitutes for Hank again in this week's News to tell you about the winners of the 2012 Visualization Challenge, an annual competition run by the journal Science that selects the most elegant and educational graphics, videos and games which show science in action. Science, meet art!

Featuring Peter Winkler, our SciShow graphics guru, and Professor Claw, the emperor scorpion.
We decided it would be cool to have guests come into the studio and talk about science with Hank.

In this episode, Peter and Hank discuss the science of prosthetic skin and Saturn's rings.
Then Jessi from Animal Wonders introduces Professor Claw, the emperor scorpion and Hank debates how cool it is to get stung by a scorpion.

At SciShow, we ask the tough questions. Today we explore the answer to the question "if identical twin brothers married identical twin sisters, would their offspring be identical?"

Today Emily Graslie of The Brain Scoop gives us the news about a couple of near- misses for our planet and an update on where astronomers think habitable life might be found in other star systems.

Hank uses a favorite subject of the YouTube community - the potato gun - to teach us about the principles of pneumatics, which use the potential energy of compressed gas to do work in lots of useful machines every day.

Featuring Katherine Green, Content and Social Media Manager for SciShow and also Hank's wife, and Quigley, the brush-tailed bettong or woylie.

In this episode, Katherine shows Hank some cute wild cats, and then they meet Quigley and Jessi from Animal Wonders and talk about woylie conservation in Australia.

The idea of putting blood into a person was a radical one when it was first attempted 350 years ago, but today, more than 15 million pints of blood are donated each year in the U.S. to be used in transfusions to over 5 million patients. Hank tells you the strange story of how blood transfusions got their start in medicine.

Earlier today, a 15 meter wide meteor exploded over siberia with the force of several Hiroshima bombs. Over 1200 people were injured, mostly by flying glass. Here, Hank discusses what happened, what it means, and comparable events in history.

Hank is back in the studio and is very excited to be able again to share news of the universe with you, including his encounter with a giant squid, an English king discovered under a parking lot, new pyramids discovered in Africa, and how the compound that makes Viagra work might also help you live longer. It's good to be back!

Featuring Michael Aranda and Kemosabe the prehensile-tailed porcupine.

In this episode, Michael attempts to stump Hank and then they meet Kemo and Jessi from Animal Wonders.

There are a lot of weird places on Earth and our new series will explore some of the weirdest. Today Hank takes us to Göreme National Park in Turkey so we can learn about this region's fascinating geological history and about the people who have been living there since the 4th century.

As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, we anticipate the fluttering butterflies and the capering baby lambs, and we can also expect to see some birds hammered out of their minds in the trees, and perhaps on the ground. In most cases, these birds have overindulged in the fermented berries and other fruits that froze during the winter and are now thawing - proving an irresistible treat for many kinds of birds.

In the U.S., genetically modified organisms are everywhere, despite the fact that creating GMOs for food is incredibly expensive and time-consuming and their impacts on the environment and on human health are largely unknown. But even though a lot remains unexplained, there's still plenty you need to understand: what GMOs really are, how they're made, and what we do and don't know about them so far. Hank helps you get the facts straight.

Hank sets the record straight for us, discussing a rain of spiders in Brazil (!?), a new virus that has the internet all a-twitter, and another asteroid recently found to have hit the Earth (not the one in Siberia!) - are you ready for some DATA?

Emily Graslie of the Brain Scoop is back again with some more skulls to stump Hank, and Jessi from Animal Wonders brings in Blueberry the blue-tongued skink.

Evolution doesn't care about ethics - it cares about surviving and getting your alleles out there as much as possible. From that perspective, cannibalism can seem like a pretty good idea to some creatures. Hank introduces us to three different types of animal cannibalism, and tells us about some of the species that practice them.

Last week, NASA published a jaw-droppingly beautiful and kinda terrifying video called "Fiery Looping Rain on the Sun" - Hank takes some time to explain why the video is awesome in today's SciShow News.

Aside from being a great scientist and teacher, Richard Feynman was a kooky and curious guy who played the bongos, painted, and did math in strip clubs. Hank shares his Feynman love fest with us in this episode of SciShow: Great Minds.

In a word, "yes" - space is packed with gravity. Hank explains how Isaac Newton described how gravity works, and why even though it seems that things are floating in space, they're still effected by gravity. Every object in the universe is constantly attracting every other object in the universe.

If you don't have any idea what antimatter is, you don't have to feel bad - the brightest minds in the world have only recently begun to understand what it is and how it works. Hank gives us the run down on what we know about antimatter, and what we're still trying to figure out.

Some of the greatest advances in science have come from humanity's more destructive impulses. This is not the fault of science - when we discover powerful truths about the universe it's up to us to decide how to use them because they can either be boons or banes to the world. There may be no better example of this than the work done by the Manhattan Project - the years long, multinational effort to develop an atomic bomb during World War II. The project created unfathomably destructive weapons and led to a 50 year Cold War with the USSR, but is also the source of a lot of information about the atom we didn't have before, which has led to advances in many beneficial fields, like energy production and medicine. Science, like history, is always complicated.

This week on SciShow news, strap in for a trip through the frontier of the human brain. The human connectome is a years long venture to explore and map the pathways of the human brain, and this past week scientists released two terabytes of awesome quality pictures in an enormous data dump which is now freely available to be used in all manner of neurology research.

Earlier today, mission specialists with NASA's Mars Science Laboratory announced that they have found, for the first time, evidence of an ancient environment on Mars that could have sustained life. Hank tells us the specifics in this very special, super-exciting episode of SciShow News.

It's pi day! Hank explains why this irrational number is important to scientists, and discusses a bit of a controversy that surrounds it.

Today on SciShow news, dead person wisdom is helping enrich our understanding of the natural world - how did Vikings manage to be such awesome navigators? And is heart disease inherent in human beings? Scientists think mummies may have the answer.

Katherine is back with more information about cats and Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Gonzo the crimson-rumped toucanet.

In the world of chemistry, an "organic" compound is often described as anything with carbon in it, and "organic chemistry" is the study of carbon compounds, but there is actually no single definition of what "organic" means in chemistry, and scientists have been arguing about it for a long time. In this edition of "I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means," Hank does his best to illuminate the confusion so we can better understand what "organic" means to chemists.

In our continuing series on Earth's weirdest places, Hank describes the crazy place in Antarctica known as Blood Falls in all its scientifically strange majesty.

Viruses are among humanity's greatest threats and it seems like they're always one step ahead of us. But this week, biologists say that they've discovered a new weapon we can use against some of our most nefarious virus enemies - and it comes from our friends the plants. Get the full story from Hank in today's SciShow news.

There are natural poisons that lurk in bacteria, plants, and fungi pretty much everywhere, and they're there for good reasons (according to the organisms that produce them) - but what is it about their chemical make up that makes them so poisonous? How do their toxins attack the human body with such deadly efficiency? Discover the answers to these and other questions as Hank talks about some of the most deadly natural substances in the world.

Everybody knows what anxiety feels like - it's annoying and counterproductive and apparently useless, so why does it exist? It turns out your anxiety isn't useless at all - it's a result of the sympathetic nervous system (in charge of the fight or flight response), which lets you respond immediately to threats and can also help you meet that looming deadline. But you don't want your SNS running the whole show - chronic anxiety not only feels crappy, it damages your cells, alters your brain chemistry, and can exacerbate a wide range of health problems. Hank has the whole story in this episode of SciShow.

Hank tells the story of the mysterious star known as "Methuseleh," and why scientists think that it is the oldest known star in the universe

Hank usually likes to keep science and politics separated, but the reality is that a lot of scientific research in the United States is funded by the government. This is a problem right now because the disfunction in the world of politics has begun to seriously affect the realm of science. Because of sequestration, NASA needs our help!

Hank brings us a special report on the retro-proto-turbo-encabulator, which could very well revolutionize...uh...something.

Earth's orbit has a bit of a litter problem. Hank outlines a few ways scientists have thought of to help clean things up.

The smaller members of the felid family can purr, but why? Hank takes on this most adorable of life's mysteries in todays episode of SciShow.

Ada Lovelace, Daughter of Lord Byron, was somehow the first author of a computer program...even though she lived more than a century before the first modern computer.

Hank is joined by Peter Winkler with some news about sinkholes and DARPA's new robotic mule, and then the boys are joined by Jessi from Animal Wonders and her special friend "Fluffy" the Chilean rose hair tarantula.

Chromosomes are fascinating little things, and today, Hank explains why more of them doesn't mean more complex, and why different organisms have different numbers of chromosomes. The short answer: mistakes happen.

Hank has good news about NASA.

What if instead of going to the store to buy a new toilet brush, all you had to do was walk into your office and print one out? With recent advances in 3D printing, such a scenario might not be as far away as you think.

Hank brings you the tale of another weird place on earth - the Waitomo Caves of New Zealand, where glowworms emit bluish-green light in a beautiful display.

Hank noticed something mysterious in the park one day. Fairy rings: are they mystical portals to another realm? Or could there be another, more scientific, explanation?

Since the advent of genetic engineering, a lot of weird questions have cropped up, particularly with regard to what information a company can patent. Individual genes, as they are discovered, are now immediately patented and can be controlled by the company that owns the patent.

Do those gene patents encourage science by providing a monetary incentive for researchers? Or do they discourage science by creating artificial barriers to the use and study of genes by the companies that don't hold the patents.

Guest host Michael Aranda discusses.

Da Vinci imagined a helicopter powered solely by human muscles. Now more than 500 years later, two teams are using advanced materials to try and make that dream come true. Hank and Catilin discuss these two teams and the Sikorsky Prize that they are battling for.

Then Jessi from animal wonders shows of Seraphina the red fox!

Gluten is a sticky protein composite found in cereal grains. Hank gives us some insight into the importance of gluten in history, as well as its impact on health in our own time.

Hank gives a quick run-down of the reasons scientists think the land mammals of today are nowhere near the size of the largest sauropods. Some of them might surprise you!

Science can help create understanding where there is none, but is it possible to study and understand terrorists if we're too busy doing everything we can to stop it? Terrorism is notoriously difficult to study because governments constantly subpoena scientists lists of contacts, making source anonymity impossible.

And an outbreak of TB in North Korea is terrible and unnecessary, but it is providing an opportunity for North Korea to, potentially, join the global scientific community.

Science is working tirelessly night and day to disprove its own theories about how the universe works (or at least, that's what science thinks it's doing). Hank tells us a quick history of how we came to create and adopt the scientific method and then gives us a vision of the future of science (hint: it involves a lot more computers and a lot less pipetting).

Hank give you the facts on stem cells - what they are, what they're good for, where they come from, and how they're used in medicine.

Although polar bears and grizzly bears aren't all that similar and are definitely separate species, they can interbreed and create fertile offspring in the wild. Hank brings us the story of these misfit bears, which he likes to call grolar bears.

Imitating nature to build a better (or possibly more terrifying) future. We've been trying to build flapping-wing robots for hundreds of years. And now, ornithopters are finally being developed, and may be used mostly for military purposes.

Piezoelectrics make those little bugs possible, and also enhances the ability of robot arms to feel, in other news from The International Journal of Robotics.

Today on the SciShow Talk Show, our Technical Director Nick Jenkins stumps Hank about how many frames per second the human eye can see, and Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Hara the Harris's hawk.

Hank introduces us to 6 blood-drinking (or otherwise consuming) animals that you may not be aware of. Don't freak out...

Although it may sound crazy, many doctors use maggots today to clean wounds of dead and infected tissue. This process, called debridement, is important for preventing the spread of infection in a world of increasing antibiotic resistance. Hank has more details on the marvelous maggot in today's episode of SciShow.

Cicadas have developed an amazing strategy for growth, survival, reproduction, and overcoming predation by...doing nothing. They do nothing for years (except sip at the juice excreted from root structures) before emerging in huge, simultaneous swarms.

The swarm is so huge that predators can't consume even a fraction of it, but so rare that predator populations can't sustain themselves between emergence events. Clever little things!

There are a lot of ways to kill and be killed in the animal kingdom, but only a lucky few use the powers of venom. Not all are closely related, so how did they acquire the same defenses, where did venom come from, and how does it work? And what animals can kill you the most quickly? Find the answers to these questions, and more, in today's episode of SciShow.

Does your toilet water drain differently than in the other hemisphere? Is it because of the Coriolis effect? Hank has some things to clarify about these questions, and more in this edition of I Don't Think It Means What You Think It Means.

Bitten by a venomous snake? There's hope! French scientist Albert Calmette developed the first snake antivenom in the late 1890s, and did such a good job that we use his technique to this day. Antivenom works by stimulating the production of antibodies which can smother venom's toxic effects, preventing spread and rendering them harmless. But how do you make it? Well, stay tuned to this episode of SciShow to find out.

This week's SciShow news brings you discoveries involving two of the most exotic substances on Earth - the world's rarest element and the world's oldest water. Two great tastes that taste great together? Stay tuned to find out.

Emily Graslie of The Brain Scoop is back again to stump Hank and to tell us about some fascinating new research in the field of rat telepathy (NO JOKE). Then Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Zoe the Red-lored Amazon parrot.

What would you do if you found out that cancer could be lurking in your genes? More people are getting news like that these days as more kinds of cancer are being linked to specific genes and genetic tests let doctors screen your individual genome for signs of susceptibility to the disease. Is the only choice in these cases to remove the part of you that might develop cancer? Hank has some thoughts on this question and more in today's SciShow.

The Socotra archipelago in the Arabian Sea supports so many diverse and unique species that it has been described as the most alien place on Earth. Hank takes you on a tour of this weird place in this episode of SciShow.

Two developments in quantum computing in the past couple of weeks are the harbingers of a whole new era of smart technology. Google announced that it's building a quantum computer designed by a company called D-Wave in partnership with NASA, and government scientists at Los Alamos National Laboratory revealed that they developed a secure quantum computing network two years ago! Get the details about these developments in this episode of SciShow News.

Earth had a climate long before we showed up and started noticing it and it's influenced by a whole series of cycles that have been churning along for hundreds of millions of years. In most cases those cycles will continue long after we're gone. A look at the history of climate change on Earth can give us some much needed perspective on our current climate dilemma because the surprising truth is, what we're experiencing now is different than anything this planet has encountered before. So, let's take a stroll down Climate History Lane and see if we can find some answers to a question that's been bugging Hank a lot lately - just how much hot water are we in?

Is it possible that, because of the war on drugs, we have demonized a treatment for otherwise untreatable diseases? A way to increase personal well-being, permanently treat depression, break the cycle of addiction, and ease the transition from life into death? The solution to all of these problems (for many people) might be a nice, hallucinogenic trip, but taking that trip can be harder than you might think.

For a long time, rogue waves (defined as waves that are greater than twice the height of surrounding waves) were thought to be a myth, like mermaids or the kraken, but recent developments in satellite imagery and oceanic instruments now show that they occur on a semi-regular basis. But we're still not sure why...

In the past few years the rise of crowdfunding has allowed for some pretty cool stuff to start existing, and today Hank is excited to announce another awesome Kickstarter - Planetary Resources (of asteroid mining fame) in partnership with the Museum of Flight and The Planetary Society in Kickstarting a space telescope. F'real.

SciShow graphics guy Louey Winkler discusses LED contact lenses and the implications of enhancing and assisting human beings with technology, and then attempts to stump Hank with a physics riddle. Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Stumpy the Whites tree frog.

So what exactly is it that makes a hangover suck so hard? Turns out there are three things interacting to make you feel miserable. Hank's got the details in this episode of SciShow.

Ancient trees are fascinating, but the answer to the question in the title isn't as cut and dried as it might first seem. There are two major contenders for the superlative, and Hank has all the important information on both of them in this episode of SciShow. Which one would you give the title to?

Scientists around the world discover about 18,000 new species every year. Each new organism has not only to be found, but also studied, compared, identified and organized -- that's taxonomy, the science of classifying living things and exploring the evolutionary relationships between them. Every May, to celebrate the latest achievements in the field, as well as the birthday of the man who invented it (Swedish scientist Carl Linnaeus), the International Institute for Species Exploration weighs in on the most impressive discoveries of the previous year - the top ten new species of 2013. Who made the list this year? Hank has all the fascinating details in this episode of SciShow.

About 10% of the world population is left-handed. But why does handedness exist and what determines which hand is dominant? Scientists have suggested several theories, but the answer may well lie with evolution.

Today we know that humans and chimpanzees share 99% of their DNA and that we have a lot in common. Not just how we look, but how we behave, form groups, defend our turf, and love each other. People didn't always see other primates this way, but in the 1960s and '70s, some amazing intrepid women came along to turn primatology on its hairy head. Jane Goodall, Dian Fossey and Birute Galdikas studied chimpanzees, gorillas and orangutans, respectively, and are the very definition of great minds of science. Their contributions to humanity's knowledge about its closest living relatives is the subject of today's SciShow: Great Minds.

It's a moldy world out there, especially in the kitchen. You have questions about food mold, right? Well Hank has your answers.

Sometimes science news is less about stuff that actually happened, as much as it is about people going "PAY ATTENTION TO ME" and space news is no exception. In fact this week there was probably as much hype as real news, all in the name of bringing people's attention to the importance of space exploration, but Hank is sharing it all with you in this episode of SciShow.

Hank and Katherine talk about the wild cat known variously as a puma, mountain lion, cougar, panther and catamount and then Jessi from Animal Wonders brings a special animal guest to visit.

Salvia divinorum, despite sounding like a spell from the world of Harry Potter, can't turn you into an inanimate object, make you leave your body, or set your feet on fire. However, it can make you FEEL like all of those things are happening. This little plant is a hallucinogen - one so powerful and unique that the DEA isn't quite sure how to regulate it. Hank's got the details on this psychotropic member of the sage genus in this episode of SciShow.

Hank takes us on a trip through the history of pregnancy tests through the ages, from ancient Egypt to the first home pregnancy tests of the 1970s. It's generally not a very pretty story, but it should help make us very grateful for the modern conveniences we have today.

From brains to heavenly bodies, this week brings us some super-sized science... BigBrain is the highest resolution map of the human brain that's ever existed; a super high resolution interactive model of King Tut's tomb for anyone to explore from the comfort of home; and tonight, the moon itself will be super-sized - go have a look!

You're probably aware of lots of the things we take from animals, but for centuries, humans have been sneaking animal secretions into a bunch of things you probably didn't know about, like your Easter candy, your Mom's perfume, and even that cigarette you probably shouldn't be smoking. We also continue to enjoy delicacies that are only made possible because they come out of some animals' mouths, glands, and butts...
So, how many secretions have you slathered on or ingested lately? First you'll have to find out what they are and how they get into your body, which is what Hank will be telling you about in this episode of SciShow. Hooray!

There are a number of bird species that construct pretty cool things - today on SciShow, we'll visit with three of them...

Long before there were strip malls, skyscrapers, and combination Pizza Hut/Taco Bells, nature had its own architects: all kinds of creatures create all kinds of structures for living, raising offspring, or maybe just the occasional hook-up. Some of the mightiest and most delightfully complex structures ever built have been erected by bugs, and Hank will show you three of the coolest ones in today's episode of SciShow.

So you think eye licking (also known as worming) is just a harmless bit of foreplay? Think again.

In this episode of the SciShow talk show, Michael and Hank discuss human posture and evolution and Hank shares some personal information, and then Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Leonard, the legless lizard.

In this edition of Weird Places, we visit Australia's Lake Hillier, which is a shockingly flamboyant shade of pink. Hank's here to tell you science's best guess as to why.

On the 4th of July, Americans like to celebrate the things that make the United States unique, and a lot of those things have to do with our geography. That remarkable geography is also responsible for some pretty unique weather, and unfortunately for the millions of people living in the Midwest, that weather includes tornadoes. In this episode of SciShow, Hank explains why scientists think the U.S. is prone to so many tornadoes.

You're probably aware that nature has come up with some pretty fascinating animal adaptations over the millennia, and in general, the stranger the adaptation, the more important it is to that organism. Today on SciShow News, Hank has some new discoveries about weird adaptations to report on (including one in humans!), along with the reasons they evolved the ways they did.

We have the technology! We can rebuild...ourselves!

Human interface technologies like Google Glass, robotic prosthetics, and bionic eyes have the potential to help people recover lost abilities, but also to grant us new abilities. Will you someday be able to turn on your super-human hearing just by thinking about it? Maybe...if you live long enough. The question of whether we /should/ well, we'll leave that to the philosophers. This is SciShow!

Rosalind Franklin was a British scientist who helped discover the structure of DNA, but you most likely haven't heard of her. Hank will attempt to fix this gap in your knowledge on today's SciShow: Great Minds.

We all know about inter species animal hybrids - Napoleon Dynamite's favorite animal, the liger, is a typical example. But could a human and our closest primate relative the chimpanzee also breed a living hybrid? Hank explores this ... delicate question in this episode of SciShow.

With news of radio signals from distant galaxies, a government agency that wants to investigate extra-terrestrial life, and the 66th anniversary of the Roswell Incident, this week has felt like a '90s science fiction melodrama. Hank's got all the pertinent details in this episode of SciShow News.

Today on the SciShow talk show, Emily fails to stump Hank with a new animal skull, and then Jessi from Animal Wonders shares Lokita the Chinese water dragon.

You've probably heard about the sudden and mysterious drop in honey bee populations throughout the U.S.A. and Europe. Beekeepers used to report average losses in their worker bees of about 5-10% a year, but starting around 2006, that rate jumped to about 30%. Today, many large beekeeping operations are reporting that up to 40 or 50 percent of their swarms have mysteriously disappeared. This massive die-off of honey bee populations has been dubbed colony collapse disorder, and it is a big, big deal. Find out more in today's episode of SciShow.

Hank loves bananas and is worried about their future, so he did some investigating and wrote this episode of SciShow to share some kinda scary banana truths with us.

There are a lot of things that are still not fully understood about the species Homo sapiens - what makes us US? What makes us move the way we do, think the way we do, and kill the way we do? Today on SciShow News, Hank gives us a little bit of insight into human nature.

Where science fiction becomes science fact - that is the place Hank is exploring in today's episode of SciShow. Many inventions we use today were first imagined in stories that described fantastical futures. Hank talks about the origins of four of these: the cell phone, the submarine, the telemanipulator (or robot arm), and the taser. Blast off for knowledge!

When Hank watches nature documentaries he always comes away with one big question: how is that not killing you? In today's episode of SciShow he looks at three unusual ways that animals manage not to get killed by nature

Today on SciShow, Hank brings us a little science history, telling us the tale of the world's first human-made nuclear reactor, which was built by a team of scientists and students led by Enrico Fermi in a converted squash court under a football field in Chicago. Yes, that Chicago.

This edition of SciShow News really is full of "news." Scientists have discovered a new moon orbiting Neptune, a new tick-borne virus threatening the United States, and a new species of shrew who is a real hero. Let's get to it!

The SciShow Talk Show has a new look! And a new guest who isn't new at all - Jessi Knudsen Castañeda from Animal Wonders joins Hank to talk about one of her favorite subjects: poop! They are joined by Augusto Castañeda and Yucca the red-footed tortoise for a visit.

Well? Is it?
No.
But that doesn't mean that this ... bizarre ... attempt at cinema doesn't raise some interesting questions. Questions that we will explore in this episode of SciShow. Hold on to your buckets!

Before there was Google, there were encyclopedias. The very idea of these vast collections of knowledge can be credited to Pliny The Elder. So who was he, and why does he seem to pop up everywhere from Alchemy to Zoology? Hank has the story in this edition of SciShow: Great Minds.

Ever wonder what happens after you flush? You should, because your pee is causing problems! Hank talks about how, and why, human waste is having weird effects on the natural world. We're talking homicidal fish and hermaphroditic frogs...

Sugar, honey, listen up. Humans love the sweet taste of sweetness, but have you ever wondered why? What's the evolutionary purpose behind our love for sweets? Why can we taste sweet anyway? What are those sugar substitutes really made of? And will this diet cola give me cancer?
Hank and SciShow have the answers!

In North America, bats are in mortal danger, and the poor little guys can't even activate their own Bat-Signal to call for help. A terrible infection is ravaging their populations, and it's as serious as a heart attack. Hank has the details about what's killing our favorite flying mammals, and what you can do to help.

Happy birthday, Curiosity! Michael Aranda and SciShow News celebrate the first anniversary of the Mars Science Laboratory landing on Mars with 3 awesome discoveries that the universe's coolest rover has made so far. Hints: they involve air, radiation and, yes, water!

Welcome back to SciShow Talk Show! This week we introduce our guest, Heidi Sedivy who will be talking about invasive mussels as well as Montana native mussles.

Of the more than 7,000 known species of amphibians in the world, an estimated one third are now threatened with extinction. Hank breaks down the science behind the decline of amphibians around the world, and what you can do to help.