Your Atoms Came from a Machine
An incredible fifty percent of the nitrogen atoms in the tissue of any person alive today have originated inside of an industrial machine.
You are the Big Bang
All of the energy around you, from the light bouncing into your eyes to the heat coming out of your toaster, comes from an unbroken chain of events going back to the Big Bang.
Why Scientists Think the Multiverse Exists
The double slit experiment is the most famous experiment in quantum mechanics.
Where Our Atoms Came From (Part II)
Once they found their way to the Earth, your atoms began to cycle through the states of matter.
Where Our Atoms Came From (Part I)
Most of the atoms in your body are 13.7 billion years old, and being you is just the latest page in the story of their life.
We Don’t Know What Gravity Actually Is
When you take a step, you’re anchored to the Earth by a force. You can jump to overcome it for a moment, but you are always pulled back down.
Water is a Ladle that Stirs the Planet
No known form of life can exist without water.
Time and Space are the Same Thing
One of the fastest man-made objects was a space probe called Juno sent to survey the planet Jupiter.
The Rise of AI is a Pattern we’ve seen Before
Our Atmosphere is Flammable
Twenty-one percent of the air that you’re breathing right now is oxygen. Like most elements it’s the remnant of a supernova explosion, one of the most incredible phenomena in the universe.
Nuclear Waste will be Humanity’s Final Legacy
Hundreds of thousands of years in the future, when even the pyramids have been ground to dust by wind, one human structure on Earth will remain.
Light is Magic
There is an invisible field that underlies the entire universe like a net stretching in every direction.
Iron is a Star-Killer
This is a vein of iron ore.
How the Elements Work
Throughout history, people have believed some crazy things.
Heat is Motion
The room that you’re in right now is swirling with invisible air currents caused by heat.
Executive Toupees and Other Galactic Threats
When the Zyrathians touched down outside a small desert town in Nevada, they expected the usual...
DNA is the Greatest Invention of All Time
If given a time machine, every biologist on Earth would race to be sent back to an inconspicuous shallow rock pool, 4.28 billion years ago.
CO² is a Lovecraftian God
Carbon dioxide has a pretty rough reputation. You probably know that it’s a gas, and that it’s causing climate change.