Awesome Science

Mold takes many forms, from harmful to helpful, from toxic to delicious. But one thing we never thought mold could be is beautiful. Through the macro lens of Beauty of Science, enjoy this incredible close-up look at four kinds of molds used in food fermentation. As they grow, they look like plants on an alien landscape.

If you know anything about electronics, you know there are tons of different types of switches. Engineer and inventor Tim Hunkin delves into some of the many kinds of switches, how they work to complete circuits, and how to choose the right type for your projects.

Magnet Tricks stepped out into the frigid cold of Finland to capture a series of compelling and unusual images created by freezing soap bubbles atop a magnetic levitation platform. Inspired by the idea, the guys at Magnetic Games then created their own version with a floating bubble inside another bubble.

Did you know that the same person gave us Cool Whip, Pop Rocks, Tang, and Jell-O? Food scientist William A. Mitchell worked at General Foods for more than 30 years, leaving a legacy of iconic manufactured food products that are still enjoyed by junk food connoisseurs today. Great Big Story tells his tale.

Artificial intelligence tech is everywhere these days, informing everything from credit decisions to diagnosing diseases and keeping cars from crashing. TED-Ed’s Briana Brownell explains the three main kinds of machine learning technology, how they differ, and how little we really know about how AI works.

Inspired by the myth of King Midas, Kurzgesagt takes on a hypothetical situation that none of us were worried about: what might happen to the planet and its occupants if all of a sudden everything turned into gold. Physics aside, it’s an entertaining thought experiment with all kinds of ridiculous consequences.

Everything you’re watching and reading has already happened – even if it was just a few seconds ago. It’s Okay To Be Smart gets really deep with an exploration of how time is relative, and therefore experienced differently for each person depending on their place in the universe.

The average person blinks roughly 28,800 times per day. You might not think a lot could happen during just a single blink, but that’s not the case. Melodysheep’s short film explains some of the millions and millions of events that happen in the universe in the time it takes to blink. They also made us feel really, really small.

Tardigrades may only measure about 0.5mm long, but these teensy water-dwelling critters are some of the toughest organisms known to humankind, having survived exposure to nuclear radiation and the vacuum of space. Zefrank provides an in-depth look at these strange, see-through dudes and what makes them tick.

If you’ve been to the beach, you know the ocean has a distinctive smell. While salt and dead fish are certainly part of the aroma, host Rose Bear Don’t Walk of SciShow explains what’s responsible for the water’s primary aromas, and how those organisms meaningfully impact the Earth’s ecosystem and climate.

In this episode of the List Show from Mental Floss, editor Erin McCarthy talks about seven strange and unusual happenings. From people waking up from comas speaking a foreign language to a massive explosion in the skies over Siberia, not everything that happens is easy to explain by science.

Solo Slow-Mo Guy Gavin Free turned his macro lens towards a piece of lab equipment called an ultrasonic homogenizer, a device that rapidly vibrates to combine liquids. To capture it moving up to 30,000 times per second, he had to get out the big guns, a Phantom V2511 camera to record movements at 170,000 fps.

Filmmaker Seán Doran processed about a week’s worth of data captured by NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to create this awe-inspiring UHD video of the Sun’s activity. Max out the resolution, go full screen, dim the lights, and crank up the audio for a truly hypnotic journey to our Solar System’s number one life-giver.

This series of three jigsaw puzzles come together to form the major anatomical structures of a 5-foot-tall human being. Choose from head, thorax, or abdominal sections, each certified for accuracy by medical illustrator Mesa Schumacher. They make a great gift for biology students, or just anyone interested in science.

Launching a rocket to the Moon isn’t quite as simple as just going straight up and into the sky. Exploring Space provides a great layperson’s explanation of the mechanics at play, starting with an orbit around Earth, a gradual transition to the Moon’s orbit, and descent to the lunar surface. Lear more about orbital mechanics here.

Most airplanes run on some kind of fossil fuel. But physics expert Tom Stanton recently built an airplane that runs entirely on compressed air. The model plane is based on the diaphragm air-powered engine that Tom previously built, and its fuel tank is an ordinary plastic soda bottle.

Volvox (aka “globe algae”) are a genus of bright green algae that like to hang out in freshwater. Now spend a minute living in their world, courtesy of Shigeru Gougi, who shared this amazing footage of the spherical green lifeforms dancing about under the lens of a microscope.

Auroras create some of the most awe-inspiring visuals you can see on our planet. SciFri introduces us to Don Fairbanks, a scientist who has dedicated the last two decades to studying these polar lights. His recent research is focused on how they can impact communications satellites and the Earth’s power grid.

The ability to upload one’s knowledge, experiences and even consciousness into a computer is a frequent concept in science fiction. In this Cyberpunk 2077 inspired episode, Kurzgesagt explores what would be necessary to store and simulate our minds, along with some of the ethical concerns about digitizing humanity.

Conventional wisdom might lead you to believe that the largest living thing on Earth was some kind of whale. But scientists say there’s something much larger, and it’s land-locked in the middle of Utah. Alex Rosenthal of TED-Ed digs into the story of Pando, what caused it to become so enormous, and the risks it now faces.

(Loud) Making a metal sphere usually involves stamping or spinning sheet metal. But this video shows a process where they start out with a shape made out of polygons, then turn it into a sphere by bending the metal with an explosion at its center. We’re not sure of all of the science, but we found a paper on the subject.

Did you know that the chemical energy released by burning a marshmallow can be three times more than an equivalent mass of TNT? MinuteEarth dives into these two very different chemical reactions and explains why marshmallows don’t blow up when ignited.

After watching a video from Plasma Channel which explored the possibilities of levitating objects with electrostatic energy, Mehdi from ElectroBOOM decided to see if he could replicate the experiment. Naturally, it’s not an ElectroBOOM video without delivering a jolt or ten to its host.