MILLION Year-Old Spider and the Science of Silk Webs

There's No Such Thing As Ice

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate If cold isn't real, then how can I feel it? Subscribe to It's Okay To Be Smart: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Follow on Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe You've felt cold before. Sometimes it's cold outside. But what if I told you that "cold" isn't real? There's no substance or quantity called "cold" in science. We can't measure the amount of "cold" in something. Instead it's about what's NOT there. In this week's video, learn the difference between heat and temperature, why a wind makes us feel colder, and what it's like to live as a mass of jiggling atoms. This is the physics of cold Cool PBS NOVA episode on the search for absolute zero: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y2jSv8PDDwA Richard Feynman on jiggling atoms: http://youtu.be/v3pYRn5j7oI The movement of atoms in a wind: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/askasci/chem03/chem03448.htm Why a breeze feels cool: http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/72163/why-does-a-breeze-of-wind-make-us-feel-cooler Density of the interstellar medium: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_medium Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below! ----------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.DFollow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Google+ https://plus.google.com/+itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced for PBS Digital Studios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Associate Producer Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics Katie Graham - Director of Photography John Knudsen - Gaffer Dalton Allen - Post-Production Intern Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod Other music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock ----------------- Last week's video: How many smells can you smell? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-yEtBps-BnI More videos: Why Are Some People Left-Handed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPvMUpcxPSA Why Did We Blow on NES Games? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gf9mtXnJfM The Science of Game of Thrones - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utu-LpJn3Is There Was No First Human - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdWLhXi24Mo How The Elements Got Their Names - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtg9p6A6xnY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

The Science of Rainbows

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 ↓ Dorothy went over one. LeVar Burton read to us under one. In a song, Kermit the Frog connected us to one. Even Mork's suspenders were made of them. Our culture, and our skies, are full of rainbows, but do you know how they form? Do we all see the same rainbow? Could cyborg-enhanced mantis shrimp eyes someday see a bigger rainbow? The answer to all these questions involves a little physics, and the number 42. Written and hosted by Joe Hanson Produced by Painted On Productions (http://www.paintedon.com/) ----------- Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

How Many Odors Can You Smell?

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate How do we smell? Great! Thanks for asking! Subscribe to It's Okay To Be Smart: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/DrJoeHanson Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/DrJoeHanson We walk through life led by our noses. Literally. Because they're on the front of our faces. The sense of smell might be one of the oldest, but how does the science of smell work? How sensitive are our noses? Why are smell-related memories so vivid? How many different smells could we possibly smell? Find out in this week's It's Okay To Be Smart! Check out this amazing essay on smell from Lewis Thomas (1980), it's a beautiful piece of science writing: http://cplab.net/heap/on-smell/ Evolution of human olfactory receptor genes: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC218742/ Pseudogenes in olfactory system: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12644552 The nose as an emotional time machine: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/05/science/05angier.html?_r=2& Smell memories are often the most vivid: http://aeon.co/magazine/psychology/why-is-food-so-potent-in-evoking-the-memories-of-childhood/ Sperm olfactory receptors: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16413109 How many smells can we smell? https://neuroecology.wordpress.com/2014/11/04/how-many-smells-can-a-smelly-person-smell-1-trillion-or-10/ http://www.sciencemag.org/content/343/6177/1370 You and Your Senses, starring Jiminy Cricket: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kxcy6uMVH74 Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below! ----------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced for PBS Digital Studios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc Kate Eads - Associate Producer Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics Katie Graham - Director of Photography John Knudsen - Gaffer Dalton Allen - Post-Production Intern Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod Other music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

How Enormous is the Solar System?

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 ↓ I took a trip to one of Austin's famous moontowers so I could put the enormity of our solar system into perspective. With the help of a grapefruit, and a lot of walking, you'll get an idea of just how tiny everything is out there!! Do it yourself! Calculate sizes and distances, and then make your own solar system model using this calculator: http://dft.ba/-solarsystem Veritasium "How Far Away Is The Moon?" http://youtu.be/Bz9D6xba9Og Solar system as a football field: http://dft.ba/-6qnn How far away is Voyager right now? http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/ Written and hosted by Joe Hanson Produced by Painted On Productions (http://www.paintedon.com/) ----------- Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]

Why Do We All Hate Pigeons?

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out Planet Earth II! https://youtu.be/c8aFcHFu8QM On BBC One in the UK this Sunday and coming to BBC America on 28th January 2017 Don’t be bird-brained. You should SUBSCRIBE! http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Want to wear your love for science? We’ve got merch: http://dftba.com/besmart Find out when you can watch Planet Earth II: http://www.bbcamerica.com/shows/planet-earth http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02544td Special thanks to BBC Earth: https://www.youtube.com/user/BBCEarth Planet Earth II is a BBC Studios Natural History Unit Production, co-produced with BBC America, ZDF, Tencent and France Télévision Books from this episode: “Superdove” by Courtney Humphries: http://amzn.to/2h0sZly “Unseen City” by Nathanael Johnson http://amzn.to/2g3v1nM -References/Learn More- Robert Fulton’s illustrated “Book of Pigeons” - 1876 https://archive.org/details/illustratedbooko00robe Scarf, Damian, Harlene Hayne, and Michael Colombo. "Pigeons on par with primates in numerical competence." Science 334.6063 (2011): 1664-1664. Scarf, Damian, et al. "Orthographic processing in pigeons (Columba livia)." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 113.40 (2016): 11272-11276. Skinner, Burrhus F. "Pigeons in a pelican." American Psychologist 15.1 (1960): 28. Watanabe, Shigeru, Junko Sakamoto, and Masumi Wakita. "PIGEONS'DISCRIMINATION OF PAINTINGS BY MONET AND PICASSO." Journal of the experimental analysis of behavior 63.2 (1995): 165-174. ---------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment or check us out at the links below! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from SciencePhoto http://www.sciencephoto.com/ and Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices [https://megaphone.fm/adchoices]