Be Smart.

Life, uh… finds a way
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Uploaded 30-01-18

What have we learned from exploring Earth’s harshest locations? That pretty everywhere we look for life, we find it. From smoking hot hydrothermal vents to icy deserts, up in clouds and inside rocks, extremophiles have found a way to survive. These survivors and adapters are not only teaching us about life on Earth, but expanding the possibilities of where life can exist elsewhere.

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Horikoshi, K...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate It's definitely higher than "11" Subscribe: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Twitter: @okaytobesmart ↓ More info and sources below ↓ What is the loudest possible sound? What about the quietest thing we can hear? And what do decibels measure, anyway? In this video you'll learn what makes sound The loudest sound on Earth (the we know of anyway), great story by Aatish Bhatia: http://nautil.us/blog/the-sound-so-loud-that-it-circled-the-earth-four-times Video of the Papua New Guinea volcano eruption from YouTuber bacobjee: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v...

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Uploaded 04-02-21

More vaccine info here: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/default.htm
Special thanks to @theslowmoguys ! https://www.youtube.com/user/theslowmoguys

Thanks to Gates Notes for Supporting PBS.

Since the start of the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic, the term “herd immunity” has been all over the news. But what does it really mean? One thing most people don’t realize about vaccines i...

Evolution doesn’t pick a side!
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Uploaded 22-02-18

In almost every animal species on Earth, equal numbers of males and females are conceived. Why is that? Especially in populations like lions or elephant seals, where most males don’t get to mate? That’s survival of the laziest, not survival of the fittest. It turns out that in most cases, an equal balance of the sexes is the evolutionary stable strategy. From Charles Darwin to Ronald Fisher to W.D. Ha...

This episode is brought to you by Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/ ↓ More info and sources below ↓ We can’t afford to wait any longer to act on climate change. Check out #OursToLose: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgOV1dYdYVk References/Links: Coral/Zooxanthellae symbiosis: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zooxanthellae Global coral bleaching event is underway in 2015: http://www.noaanews.noaa.gov/stories2015/100815-noaa-declares-third-ever-global-coral-bleaching-event.html Learn more about the effects and extent of coral bleaching: http://www.globalcoralbleaching.org/ Could we ever lose all our corals? http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/01/21/will-we-ever-lose-all-our-corals/ Coral reef ecosystem species density: http://www.unesco...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Try 23andMe at: http://www.23andme.com/okay Part 2 of our special series on Human Ancestry. Watch it all: http://bit.ly/OKTBSHuman ↓↓↓More info and sources below ↓↓↓ In part 2 of our special series on human ancestry, we ask why we are the only surviving branch on the human evolutionary tree. Just 50,000-100,000 years ago, Earth was home to three or four separate human species, including our most famous cousins: the Neanderthals. New research has shown that Neanderthals were not the brutish, un...

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Uploaded 30-06-17

You asked for it, so here’s the follow-up!
Just because something is difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Over the past centuries, archaeologists, historians, and engineers have reconstructed a great deal of the technology and science used to build the Egyptian pyramids. This week we look at ancient Egyptian mathematics, building techniques, tools, and culture to reconstruct the Great Pyramid’s construction.

REFERENCES:

F...

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Uploaded 08-10-21

I guess we’re still doing this.

References: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-xoLMZfumSmb1v7B3QmFD5pTC87GYeGEnlSXKg0bCk0/edit

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Slime molds are intelligent, but they are single-celled creatures with no brains. How is that possible? ↓ More info and sources below ↓ I really hope you guys check out Deep Look, it’s one of my favorite channels, full of great 4K, micro-world goodness! http://goo.gl/8NwXqt Many thanks to Prof. Andy Adamatzky (UWE Bristol) for slime mold culturing advice. Special thanks to the following for providing Dictyostelium microscope footage: Prof. John Bonner (Princeton) Prof. David Knecht (Univ. of Connecticut) Prof. Richard Firtel (UCSD) Prof. Jeremy Pickett-Heaps (Univ. of Melbourne) References/further reading: “Intelligence in Nature” by Jeremy Narby http://amzn.to/23...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Ready to untangle the branches of the human family tree? Part 1 of our special series on Human Ancestry. Watch it all: http://bit.ly/OKTBSHuman ↓↓↓More info and sources below ↓↓↓ In part 1 of our special series on human ancestry, we tour through our family tree to meet our ancestors and distant cousins, and to find out what made us human along the way. The story of human ancestry is not a simple progression from primitive apes to us, with all the ape/human i...

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Uploaded 17-10-17

A brief history of time…
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How did we come up with our system of telling time? Why do we divide the day into 24 hours of 60 minutes each, and put 60 seconds in each minute? Where does the definition of a second come from? And who decides what clock shows the correct time? There’s clearly a lot o...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out BrainCraft: http://youtu.be/aucscX191vQ Subscribe to It's Okay To Be Smart: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Part 1 of 3 in my series about why our bodies are shaped the way they are. Stay tuned for part 2 and 3 later this week! Make sure you head over BrainCraft and check out the rest of our collaboration! More info: Still of that crazy face comes from FKA twigs' "Water Me": http://youtu.be/kFtMl-uipA8 Evolution of the...

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Uploaded 18-05-15

What holds the moon up? Moonbeams!
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According to Newton's law of gravitation, the sun should "pull" way harder on the moon than the Earth does. So does the moon actually orbit the Earth? Why?

Special thanks to Ariel for submitting this awesome question to our Facebook page!

Hill Spheres...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out #BigBlueLive! http://pbs.org/bigbluelive Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSriseFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Before people came to Monterey Bay to watch fish, they came here to catch them. And they caught a LOT of one fish: the sardine. But when you empty one species out of the ocean, bad things can happen. Learn how one Monterey Bay scientist, with the help of his friend John Steinbeck, changed how we view our relationship with nature and helpe...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Tweet this ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBStree Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBStreeFB Try Squarespace: http://squarespace.com/itsokaytobesmart ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Crowther, T. W., et al. "Mapping tree density at a global scale." Nature 525.7568 (2015): 201-205. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/... Learn more about forest habitats: http://www.worldwildlife.org/habitats... And let’s hear it for John Denver… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YBEkj... Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answer...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Are you more of a cat person? Follow me to MinuteEarth to discover the origin of our feline friends! https://youtu.be/LWB0-tGwb_E ↓↓↓More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Of all the species that humans have domesticated, dogs are our oldest animal friends. But how did a group of wolves become the furry pup at the end of the bed? New research is finally unlocking the paw-in-hand evolution of dogs and humans. In this episode we’re answering one big question: Did...

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Uploaded 17-03-20

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Stay informed. Stay cautious, but not scared. Listen to scientists and public health officials and follow their guidance. By protecting yourself, you're protecting the most vulnerable among us. Together we can flatten the curve on COVID-19 and SARS-CoV-2. More resources be...

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Uploaded 11-09-18

Have you ever noticed that warning about raw or undercooked seafood at the bottom of restaurant menus? Ever wondered why it’s there? Because fish carry a ton of parasites, and if they aren’t prepared correctly then those parasites can make it into your body. But it turns out, this fishy intersection with the wild world of parasites can teach us a lot about how these moochers help keep e...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out “Venomous” by Christie Wilcox: http://bit.ly/VenomousBook Help us translate this video! http://www.youtube.com/timedtext_video?ref=share&v=Qd92MuVZXik ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Get yourself an awesome IOTBS shirt! http://dftba.com/besmart Learn more: LD50’s of various venomous snakes: http://snakedatabase.org/pages/LD50.php Lynne Isbell’s “The Fruit, the Tree, and the Serpent” http://amzn.to/2afXQ91 Fry, Bryan G., et al. "Early evolution of the venom system in lizards and snak...

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Uploaded 06-07-22

You may not be an expert, but perhaps you feel pretty confident that you could ride a motorcycle, or give someone a decent haircut - if you absolutely had to - right? Not so much, according to the psychological phenomenon known as the Dunning-Kruger Effect. Turns out we’re all at risk of being overconfident about something. Watch Joe put this theory to the tes...

↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Where did life come from? It’s one of the biggest questions humans have ever asked — and the answer might be locked in ancient space rocks that were around before life began. To find out, NASA pulled off one of its most ambitious missions ever, landing on an asteroid and sending a rock sample back to Earth. Today, we’re going to take a look at what it brought back. Join our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart References: https://www.asminternational.org/early-analysis-of-nasas-first-asteroid-return-sample/ https://arxiv.org/abs/2308.11794 https://www.lpl.arizona.edu/news/spotlight/first-lo...

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Uploaded 28-11-17

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Step beneath this glacier in 360˚ virtual reality! https://youtu.be/xWL-zXFWClE

Where do glaciers and icebergs get their beautiful blue color? This unique blue might be nature’s most brilliant, and the color arises in a very special way thanks to some surprising interactions...

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Uploaded 21-10-19

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Greetings, fellow Homo sapiens. Our species is the only remaining member of the genus of upright, walking apes known as Homo. Where did we come from? Our history just got a whole lot more complicated (in a good way) thanks...

PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY ↓ More info and sources below ↓ No use cleaning... the universe is full of dust. And some of its biggest action is a result of its smallest stuff. SUBSCRIBE, it's FREE! http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub The Secret Life of Dust by Hannah Holmes: http://amzn.to/1hCuwtT More dusty science: Space dust and dirty cars: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/65443038570/space-dust-dirty-car The Science of Snow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fUot7XSX8uA The Bodele Depression fertilizes half the Amaz...

Follow me to Science Magic Show Hooray! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d-idW62ibWQ
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Uploaded 15-11-18

Eating turkey this holiday season? Chowing down on a roast chicken? You’re eating a dinosaur! Entertain your family and friends with a little science lesson this year, and show them why bird bones tell us that birds are actually living dinosaurs.

Comparative anatomy of dinosaurs and chicken - HHMI https://www.hhmi.org/biointeractive/comparative-anatomy...

We’re on PATREON! Join the community: https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Scorpions have been terrorizing other creatures on Earth for hundreds of millions of years. They’ve evolved a perfect cocktail of venom that can mess up both predators and prey. But they are also an evolutionary marvel that could show us the way to some powerful new life-saving medicines. Filmed at the California Academy of Sciences @calacademy https://www.calacademy.org/ SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ----------- Be Smart is made possible by these Brain Trust Patrons and othe...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate How do we protect what we don’t know exists? Don’t miss the next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ How many species are there on Earth? In biology, this is one of a fundamental question that we still don’t have a very good answer for. Imagine if chemists didn’t know all the elements of the periodic table, or if physicists didn’t know all of the particles of the standard model. Knowing how ma...

Check out @crashcourse Botany! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2th5lAd-77A ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Does any other creature on Earth undergo a life transformation as dramatic as the butterfly? I think not. Unfortunately, children's books about very hungry caterpillars skip all the COOL and WEIRD and GROSS stuff that happens along the way. It's time to dig into all the mind-blowing biology behind metamorphosis! Filmed on location at the California Academy of Sciences 0:00 We were lied to as kids 1:48 Metamorphosis is more common than you think 3:36 It starts with an egg 4:46 Eat/Poop/Grow 6:05 Busting the biggest butt...

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Uploaded 30-06-21

Hold on to your butts. This episode is about… butts. The science and evolutionary history of your rear end, the down-low on your derriere, shining a little light where the sun don't shine… you get the picture. But(t) seriously, we don't talk about this all-important hole enough, and how, from an evolutionary perspective, it might be the most importan...

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Uploaded 07-10-19

Earth’s climate is changing in a big way, and it’s because there's more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere than at any point in our species’ history. But Earth’s climate has changed before. How do we know that this time we’re the cause? We know thanks to tiny bubbles of ancient atmosphere trapped in ice. #climatechange #globalwarming

Thanks to Dr. Jeff Severinghaus a...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate This episode is brought to you by Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/ Tweet ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSplacebos Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSplaceboFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ How does the placebo effect work? Here's how your brain tricks itself when it comes to medicine Follow me to Reactions to learn what is (and isn’t) in those vitamin supplements: https://youtu.be/9gQoG0AT3kY We’ve got t-shirts! Get yours here: http://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart References: Nie...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Try Squarespace: http://squarespace.com/itsokaytobesmart Tweet this ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSgr Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSgrFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Check out this PBS Space Time playlist all about general and special relativity: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsPUh22kYmNAmjsHke4pd8S9z6m_hVRur Physics Girl explains gravitational waves: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HrduBZ319XI LIGO’s gravitational waves converted into sound (from the end of video): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TWqhUANNFXw...

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Uploaded 23-06-20

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There’s a lot of confusion out there about what is and isn’t a dinosaur. And you’d be forgiven for being kinda confused. Maybe paleontologists are just messing with us. Or… maybe the question of what is and isn’t a dinosaur...

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Uploaded 27-07-19

Why the forest is more than the trees
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Walk into any forest, and beneath your feet is an elaborate social network that helps make life on Earth possible. It’s called the “Wood Wide Web”, a massive and intricate network of fungi that exchange water, nutrients, and chemical signals with the plants they’...

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Uploaded 26-09-17

A collaboration with Jorge Cham and Daniel Whiteson. Their book: http://www.WeHaveNoIdea.com
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Why is the universe organized the way it is? And why is it so empty? From planets and stars to superclusters and galactic filaments, the universe’s largest structures formed because of its smallest. In this special collaboration with PHD...

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Uploaded 17-12-19

Thank you to Nord VPN for supporting PBS. For more information go to: https://nordvpn.com/iotbs and use code: iotbs

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I’m guessing you’re pretty familiar with ice. We use it in our drinks, slip on...

How scientifically accurate is your favorite sci-fi space battle? Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Subscribe to It's Okay To Be Smart: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Joseph Shoer has several extensive, in-depth articles on the physics of space warfare: http://josephshoer.com/blog/2009/12/thoughts-on-space-battles/ http://josephshoer.com/blog/2010/07/projecting-space-battle-physics/ Space warfare: Almost everything you know is probably wrong http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.100198-Space-Warfare-Almost-Everything-You-Know-Is-Probably-Wrong Is space warfare really practical? http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/18.846407-Is-space-warfare-really-practical-except-lasers Zero-g dogfighting for dummies: http://www.citizenstarnews.com/new...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate We've got T-SHIRTS! http://dftba.com/besmart Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Why does fire burn? What's the chemistry and physics of a flame? This week, learn about the beautiful science happening inside a flame! Michael Faraday's Christmas lectures on candle chemistry: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cocktail-party-physics/christmas-with-faraday-the-chemical-history-of-a-candle/ http://www.bartleby.com/30/7.html Flames in space: http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2013/18jun_strangeflames/ Richard Feynman talking about fire: http...

We’re on PATREON! Join the community: https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Life’s been around on Earth for at least 3.7 billion years. But for most of that time, it was incredibly boring — just simple little cells squirming around in water. It only got interesting in the last few hundred million years. And that might never have happened without the help of a deadly, but also life-giving, element. References: https://sites.google.com/view/great-oxygenation-references/home SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ----------- High fives to all our Brain Trust Patrons: Hol...

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate This episode is brought to you by Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/ Tweet ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBShotair Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBShotairFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ We uploaded another version of this video on 11/9 but it had a big mistake in it. So we fixed it. This version is full of 100% real science! Sorry for the error. In the interest of transparency, if you want to watch that wrong version and see what I was wrong about, here's the...