Seasons & Episodes
What self-driving cars can learn from brainless slime mold
Slime mold is a single-celled bit of goo that you’d find under a log in the woods. It’s also a master decision-maker
NASA's InSight spacecraft just launched to Mars
NASA’s InSight spacecraft just launched to Mars. Equipped with cutting-edge instruments to study Mars’ crust, mantle
Testing the limits of human vision
That big “E” at the top of your doctor’s eye chart tells you whether you need glasses - but it also tells you a lo
Blood types are a 20-million-year mystery
Do you know what your blood type is? It’s a pretty basic health question with a pretty bizarre history. We take a look
Bees are going extinct...but not the ones you think
How to memorize 70,000 digits of Pi
The “memory palace” is a famous technique that makes incredible feats of memory possible (the world record for “nu
The microbial truth of how your cheese gets made
Cheese is delicious, beloved by many, and a teeming mess of microbes. Which microbes, exactly, has long been a mystery,
How this 50-year-old NASA material could kill cancer
Ferrofluid is a bizarre, NASA-engineered material that was created for spaceships but never used. In this “lab practic
Inside a volcano scientist’s campaign for Congress
The election of Donald Trump has spurred an unprecedented number of scientists to enter politics for the first time. Mor
Test firing a new rocket engine (and watching it explode)
With the rise of tiny satellites, or cubesats, there’s a growing need for smaller rockets that can take miniature sate
Your old phone is a veritable gold mine
E-waste is more than phones and laptops. There’s gold, silver, copper, and lots of other precious metals powering your
Why graphene hasn’t taken over the world...yet
Graphene is a form of carbon that could bring us bulletproof armor and space elevators, improve medicine, and make the i
Why wildfire season never stops
In the Western United States, “fire season” isn’t seasonal anymore — it’s year-round. Because more and more, w
How NYC plans to survive the next superstorm
Sandy hit New York City almost six years ago and the city is still recovering. As storms grow even more frequent and sev
This monster plant is trying to take over. What if we let it?
Silicon Valley is home to tech giants, venture capital…and a years-long battle between an invasive species, a tiny bir
Why Tesla is building city-sized batteries
We talked to the co-founder of Tesla, JB Straubel, about why giant batteries are crucial to the future of power grids ev
88,000 tons of radioactive waste – and nowhere to put it
The United States produces 2,200 tons of nuclear waste each year…and no one knows what to do with it. The federal gove
