What’s the problem with gluten? Gluten is a sticky protein composite found in cereal grains. Hank gives us some insight into the importance of gluten in history, as well as its impact on health in our own time.
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References for this episode can be found in the Google document here: http://dft.ba/-5E72
Weird Places: Waitomo Caves
Hank brings you the tale of another weird place on earth - the Waitomo Caves of New Zealand, where glowworms emit bluish-green light in a beautiful display.
The Manhattan Project
Some of the greatest advances in science have come from humanity’s more destructive impulses. This is not the fault of science - when we discover powerful truths about the universe it’s up to us to decide how to use them because they can either be boons or banes to the world. There may be no better example of this than the work done by the Manhattan Project - the years long, multinational effort to develop an atomic bomb during World War II. The project created unfathomably destructive weapons and led to a 50 year Cold War with the USSR, but is also the source of a lot of information about the atom we didn’t have before, which has led to advances in many beneficial fields, like energy production and medicine. Science, like history, is always complicated.
Earlier today, mission specialists with NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory announced that they have found, for the first time, evidence of an ancient environment on Mars that could have sustained life. Hank tells us the specifics in this very special, super-exciting episode of SciShow News.
The Search for Antimatter
If you don’t have any idea what antimatter is, you don’t have to feel bad - the brightest minds in the world have only recently begun to understand what it is and how it works. Hank gives us the run down on what we know about antimatter, and what we’re still trying to figure out.
Is There Gravity in Space?
In a word, “yes” - space is packed with gravity. Hank explains how Isaac Newton described how gravity works, and why even though it seems that things are floating in space, they’re still effected by gravity. Every object in the universe is constantly attracting every other object in the universe.
Extreme Animal Cannibalism
Evolution doesn’t care about ethics - it cares about surviving and getting your alleles out there as much as possible. From that perspective, cannibalism can seem like a pretty good idea to some creatures. Hank introduces us to three different types of animal cannibalism, and tells us about some of the species that practice them.
SPIDER RAIN?!!
Hank sets the record straight for us, discussing a rain of spiders in Brazil (!?), a new virus that has the internet all a-twitter, and another asteroid recently found to have hit the Earth (not the one in Siberia!) - are you ready for some DATA?
Spring, Time for Drunk Birds!
As spring approaches in the Northern Hemisphere, we anticipate the fluttering butterflies and the capering baby lambs, and we can also expect to see some birds hammered out of their minds in the trees, and perhaps on the ground. In most cases, these birds have overindulged in the fermented berries and other fruits that froze during the winter and are now thawing - proving an irresistible treat for many kinds of birds.
Weird Places: Göreme National Park
There are a lot of weird places on Earth and our new series will explore some of the weirdest. Today Hank takes us to Göreme National Park in Turkey so we can learn about this region’s fascinating geological history and about the people who have been living there since the 4th century.
