Peter J. Haproff explains how it took millions of years and some incredible plate tectonics to forge the continent we know today. [4:57]
Madhumita Murgia shows how chronic stress can affect brain size, its structure, and how it functions, right down to the level of your genes. [4:16]
There are three types of color receptors in your eye: red, green and blue. But how do we see the amazing kaleidoscope of other colors that make up our world? The following learning module explains how humans can see everything from auburn to aquamarine. [3:44]
Adam Jacobson explains endosymbiosis, a type of symbiosis in which one symbiotic organism lives inside another. [5:42]
Anusuya Willis explains how cyanobacteria, simple organisms that don't even have nuclei or any other organelles, wrote a pivotal chapter in the story of life on Earth. [4:14]
The modern hard drive is an object that can likely hold more information than your local library. But how does it store so much information in such a small space? Kanawat Senanan details the generations of engineers, material scientists, and quantum physicists who influenced the creation of this incredibly powerful and precise tool. [5:12]
A brief video that describes the unintended consequence of Eli Whitney's cotton gin. [5:14] Followed by a quiz and a list of additional resources to explore.
Video accompanied by questions for students that looks at how the concept of separation of powers embedded in the Constitution is applied in the United States government. [3:50]
M Jackson explores the ancient methods of growing glaciers and how they can be used to combat climate change.
Victoria Smith gives some tips for adding suspense to your writing.
When you're working on a problem with lots of numbers, as in economics, cryptography or 3D graphics, it helps to organize those numbers into a grid, or matrix. Bill Shillito shows us how to work with matrices, with tips for adding, subtracting, and multiplying (but not dividing!). [4:41]
Alex Gendler explains how dystopias act as cautionary tales- not about some particular government or technology, but the very idea that humanity can be molded into an ideal shape. [5:56]
Your genome, every human's genome, consists of a unique DNA sequence of A's, T's, C's and G's that tell your cells how to operate. Thanks to technological advances, scientists are now able to know the sequence of letters that makes up an individual genome relatively quickly and inexpensively. This learning module takes an in-depth look at the science behind the sequence. [5:05]
Video describes what gravity is and how it operates between two masses. Followed by a short quiz and a list of additional resources to explore. [4:44]
How do you get what you want, using just your words? Aristotle set out to answer exactly that question over two thousand years ago with a treatise on rhetoric. Camille A. Langston describes the fundamentals of deliberative rhetoric and shares some tips for appealing to an audience's ethos, logos, and pathos in your next speech. [4:30]
It may seem like the semicolon is struggling with an identity crisis. It looks like a comma crossed with a period. Maybe that's why we toss these punctuation marks around like grammatical confetti; we're confused about how to use them properly. Emma Bryce clarifies best practices for the semi-confusing semicolon. [3:36]
The point of fiction is to cast a spell, a momentary illusion that you are living in the world of the story. But how do writers suck readers into stories in this way? Nalo Hopkinson shares some tips for how to use language to make your fiction really come alive. [4:42]
In this video, Noreena Hertz argues that people rely too much on experts and advocates for the democratization of expertise. [18:19] Includes a short quiz and a list of additional resources to explore.
Are we living in a world forever transformed by our use of smartphones? Before you make a decision, take a look at this documentary by Charlene deGuzman and see if this is similar to your daily experiences. [2:11]
When molecules collide, chemical reactions can occur -- causing major structural changes akin to getting a new arm on your face! George Zaidan and Charles Morton playfully imagine chemical systems as busy city streets, and the colliding molecules within them as your average, limb-swapping joes. [3:25]