Be Smart

Science and Nature Series / 13 Seasons

Join Joe Hanson as he explores curiosity and illuminates the science behind… well, everything.

4m 26s

How to Figure Out the Day of the Week For Any Date Ever

S6 E1 / 5m 32s

You might think that computers are the only things that run algorithms, but you're wrong. Here's a neat mental trick for calculating the day of the week for any day ever, developed by famous mathematician John H. Conway

Extreme Microbes Are Eating The Titanic

S6 E2 / 5m 24s

What have we learned from exploring Earth’s harshest locations? That pretty everywhere we look for life, we find it. From smoking hot hydrothermal vents to icy deserts, up in clouds and inside rocks, extremophiles have found a way to survive. These survivors and adapters are not only teaching us about life on Earth, but expanding the possibilities of where life can exist elsewhere.

Tuatara Time! – Face To Face With A Living Fossil!

S6 E3 / 8m 15s

During the 2017 Project For Awesome livestream, I promised I’d make a tuatara video if we hit our fundraising goal, and I’m a man of my word! Little did I know I’d get to meet a tuatara and learn things about a 200 million year old branch of life that would blow my mind. Get ready to meet the chillest reptile, weird living fossil, and star of Turtles All The Way Down… the tuatara.

How to Defuse the Overpopulation Bomb

S6 E4 / 7m 49s

Is overpopulation real? Is Earth filling up with too many humans? How many people can Earth hold, anyway? As our species approaches 8 billion, human overpopulation is a major concern for many people. How can we reduce poverty and our impact on the environment? Do we need a forced one-child policy or something? Maybe not and here's why.

Why Are There As Many Males As Females?

S6 E5 / 5m 19s

In almost every animal species on Earth, equal numbers of males and females are conceived. Why is that? Especially in populations like lions or elephant seals, where most males don’t get to mate? That’s survival of the laziest, not survival of the fittest. It turns out that in most cases, an equal balance of the sexes is the evolutionary stable strategy.

Could You Ever Be Immune To EVERY Disease?

S6 E6 / 6m 13s

Our bodies hold many levels of immune defense.Physical barriers like skin, the innate immune system, and our body’s most powerful defender, the adaptive immune system. Millions of B cells and T cells and antibodies are constantly on patrol for germs and antigen invaders. As scientists learn more about how this system works and how to engineer it, could we ever actually be immune to everything?

How To Bend Light Using Just Your Finger

S6 E8 / 8m 10s

The other day I got bored and noticed this weird thing happened when I held my finger up to my eye, so I had to science it and figure it out! Let me know if you try these light-bending experiments too, especially that last one that I can’t quite explain yet…

Where Did Life Come From?

S6 E9 / 12m 46s

The origin of life is one of the most important mysteries in all of science. When did life begin? How did life first evolve from chemistry? Where did life get started? In some primordial soup or somewhere else? Let’s journey back to the origin of life, as best as we know it, from the RNA world do the last universal common ancestor of everything alive today.

How Your Memory Works

S6 E11 / 8m 19s

How does memory work? And how does… un-memory work? Our brain does a lot of remembering and forgetting every day, so you should probably make room for som info on how it works. You’ll also get to meet some people who can’t make memories, and also never forget anything.

Why Do We Itch?

S6 E12 / 4m 59s

It’s one of the most annoying sensations our bodies can feel, but does anything feel better than when you scratch an itch? Ok, maybe *some* things. But itching and scratching are up there. How does this weird sensation work? And what is itching for?

This Salamander Can Regrow Limbs Like Deadpool

S6 E13 / 7m 16s

Axolotls are special salamanders. Not only to they stay in their juvenile form their whole lives, they can regenerate entire limbs! Studying how they do it could change the way we treat human limb injuries.

Where Did Earth's Water Come From?

S6 E14 / 4m 13s

Why is Earth is a blue planet? Because it’s covered in water! Where did Earth’s water come from? Of course, water isn’t unique to our planet. The origin of water traces beyond the solar system to the earliest days of the universe. Here’s the story of the galaxy’s H2O.

The Strange Evolutionary Story of the Thylacine

S6 E15 / 7m 48s

Until the early 20th century, Tasmania was home to a very weird wolf-like creature. Except that it wasn’t a wolf. Even though it looked like a wolf. How did that happen? Here’s the science of convergent evolution!

What’s The Hottest Hot and Coldest Cold?

S6 E16 / 5m 11s

The hottest and coldest temperatures in our universe are rarely witnessed, but in these rare spots, our understanding of physics is challenged. Weird things happen at extreme hot and absolute cold.

Biomass - How Much Does Life on Earth Weigh?

S6 E17 / 6m 24s

Are humans really Earth’s most dominant species? Let’s put all of the planet’s living things on a scale and see what has amassed the most mass. This week we break down the concept of “biomass” to judge Earth’s living things from top to bottom, and see how humans have changed the world.

The Science of Farts

S6 E18 / 5m 7s

Farting is hilarious and gross and everyone is doing it so why can’t we talk about the science of it?! Flatulence, passing gas, cutting the cheese, toots… whatever you call it, it's natural and here's how it works.

The Surprising Reason We Eat Spicy Food

S6 E19 / 5m 37s

People who live near the equator use more spices per recipe than people who live far from the equator. But that isn't for the reason you think. Spices and other plant ingredients have special powers that make them a truly magical superfood!

Proof of Evolution Is Hiding in Your DNA

S6 E21 / 8m 3s

Humans are special, and we got that way thanks to evolution and natural selection. The proof is right there in our bodies! From anatomy to genes, here are some stories of how you got to be the way you are.

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