Awesome Science

Science says that all living things are the result of evolution. But do species stop evolving at some point or do they keep changing? Joe from Be Smart explains what things influence these changes and the question of whether science, medicine, and technology have allowed humans to bend the laws of natural selection.

You might feel like you’re standing still right now, but we are always moving. But our place in the universe isn’t absolute. Instead, our location is entirely relative to other objects. Kurzgesagt explores this concept, and how each person, place, and thing has its own point of view for its position and movements.

After building a mirrored room that lights up the entire space no matter where a light source is placed, James from The Action Lab wanted to see if he could build a mirrored room that won’t reflect light onto all of its walls. The trick is a space that uses curved mirrors with wraparound corners in specific locations.

Every now and then, you might see a story in the news about a “brain-eating amoeba” that turned up somewhere. But is this microscopic organism as terrifying as it sounds, or is it all just hyperbole? Kurzgesagt digs into the true story of the naegleria fowleri, and what it’s likely to do should it enter your body.

A hero’s engine is a spherical device that spins using steam pushed through a pair of opposing jets. Jimmy Kimmel Live regular “Science Bob”​ Pflugfelder created this unique version of the hero’s engine that spins up rapidly as liquid nitrogen vapors create the necessary pressure to get it spinning fast.

In this compilation video from Journey to the Microcosmos, they point their microscope’s powerful lens at tiny organisms to see what happens to them as they reach the end of the line. It’s a fascinating and sobering look at this universal truth for all living organisms. (Thanks, Rob!)

Whether on a sammie with bacon, chicken and cheese, or in a spicy guac, we delight in our delicious avocados. But this tasty and nutritious natural treat might not even exist today if it weren’t for some prehistoric farmers who saved them from extinction. SciShow explains.

This yucky blob looks like something your dog might leave on the grass, but it’s actually a liquid robot that can be controlled by a human. AsapSCIENCE speaks with Professor Li Zhang to learn about his team’s so-called slime robot, how it works, and its potentially life-saving applications.

Carbon fiber is an amazing material, combining strength and weight efficiency. When set into resin and woven properly, it can be used to build airplanes and cars. But this clip from JPRC shows the dramatic difference in strength that carbon fiber exhibits when its fibers are pulled in a straight line versus tied into a knot.

If you’ve ever visited one of Disney’s theme parks, you have been tricked. The parks frequently employ an optical illusion known as forced perspective to make structures look bigger or smaller than they actually are. Art of Engineering explains the trickery and why our brains get so easily fooled by it.

This set of 20 colorful wooden blocks helps kids and adults learn about science and chemistry. 118 of the block faces are printed with the name, symbol, and atomic number of the elements of the periodic table. For fun, see what words you can make by combining elements like “CoBRa” and “BeCoOl.”

Because of their positions at the top and bottom of the Earth, the North Pole and South Pole experience both the longest and shortest days of the year. This fascinating time-lapse animation shows how the top of our planet goes from 24 hours of sunlight a day in the summertime to complete darkness in the winter.

Chemistry can be pretty awesome (and dangerous at times). MEL Science show off an energetic reaction that happens when you soak aluminum foil balls in sodium hydroxide, then expose them to oxygen and a flame. By placing the balls inside of a tube, the combustion causes them to race around like tiny cars on fire.

We still don’t know if there are other species out there in space, but it certainly seems possible that we’re not the only life forms in the universe. Kurzgesagt goes one step further to explore the possibility that aliens life once roamed the Earth long before the dinosaurs.

Howdy, folks! It’s science time! Veritasium explains how gravity isn’t a force according to the General Theory of Relativity. He then demonstrates how the way we are moving through space-time while standing on Earth isn’t really any different from what an astronaut experiences as their rocket accelerates through space.

Until now, most of the images we’ve seen of Venus have been shrouded in a thick blanket of clouds. Recently, the Wide-Field Imager (WISPR) on NASA’s Parker Solar Probe was able to capture the first-ever visible-light images of the surface of Venus. By comparing these with radar-based images, we get the best understanding so far of the planet’s features.

Roland Emmerich’s Moonfall envisions what might happen if the Moon came out of its orbit and crashed into the Earth. Kurzegesagt takes a more scientific approach, and explains what might happen if the moon gradually got closer to the Earth, and the big problems we’d experience long before the Moon ever got here.

Live Science and physicist Anton Peshkov take us inside the microscopic world of the turbatrix aceti, otherwise known as the vinegar eel. These tiny nematodes thrive on the kind of microbes that transform juice into vinegar and wriggle around like tiny bolts of lightning as they cluster in a single droplet of water.

Cognitive Surplus offers all kinds of great gifts for lovers of science, engineering, nature, and the world around us. We love their festive flasks which feature detailed illustrations with a tactile feel. They’re made from stainless steel with a wide mouth opening, and hold up to 18oz of hot or cold beverages.

After watching one of Smarter Every Days‘ videos about the unique beauty of laminar flow, Derek Muller of Veritasium wanted to explore a much trickier kind of physics. When air, fluids, and gases experience turbulence, their chaos may be hard to explain and model, but it’s pretty amazing stuff when you dive in deep.

If you believe in Santa Claus, you also must accept the notion that he somehow manages to deliver all of his presents around the globe in one night. Science Insider looks at the physical toll such a chore would take on Santa and his eight tiny reindeer each year.

After receiving an e-mail purporting to show off the fireworks intended for the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games, minutephysics thought something seemed off. This video is less about the fireworks and more about doing what all good scientists and skeptics do by pausing to think about things before accepting them as the truth.

While we’ve never found evidence of intelligent life outside of our planet, scientists hold out hope that someday we might. Kurzgesagt looks at one particularly dark theory that says other civilizations could be out there and intentionally hiding, ready to eradicate us at the first sign of contact.