The First CRISPR Gene Therapy Is Here

From SciShow. CRISPR is a powerful gene editing tool, but its uses have been purely scientific until now. In 2023, US and UK drug regulators including the FDA approved Casgevy, a CRISPR/Cas9-based therapy for sickle cell disease and beta-thalassemia. The FDA also approved a similar treatment, Lyfgenia. Here’s how they work. Hosted by: Reid Reimers…

How Ancient Babylonians Predicted Eclipses

From SciShow. There’s an eclipse coming up in April of 2024! You’d think it takes a lot of modern technology for us to know about it, but it turns out that humans have been able to predict eclipses for nearly three thousand years. And we’ve been using the same method that the ancient Babylonians figured…

Everything We’ve Learned About Cancer | Compilation

From SciShow. SciShow has done a lot of videos about cancer lately, which is not entirely a coincidence. When Hank Green was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma last year, we all wanted to learn more about the disease. This compilation explores cancer from every angle—testing, treatment, causes, and prevention. Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him) ———- Support…

Why Do Our Noses Stick Out?

From SciShow. Have you ever thought about why we humans have noses that stick out? Turns out, there’s been a big story about human evolution right… under your nose. Hosted by: Hank Green (he/him) ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping…

We Don’t Know What the Sun Is Made Of

From SciShow. Unlike Earth, our Sun is a giant ball of mostly hydrogen and helium. Astronomers managed to figure that one out roughly 100 years ago. But after all this time, they still can’t come to an agreement on what "mostly" means, precisely. Hosted by: Savannah Geary ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on…

Why Does Everything Decay Into Lead

From SciShow. If you look at a copy of the periodic table, you might notice that basically every element after lead is labelled as radioactive. And the vast majority of those elements wind up decaying into some version of lead eventually. But why is lead so special? Hosted by: Reid Reimers ———- Support SciShow by…

Can Rock and Roll Replace Your Insulin?

From SciShow. Could rock music one day replace your insulin injections? Scientists are pioneering music-controlled cells that could provide the perfect dose of insulin for type 1 or type 2 diabetes with just a bit of music. Specifically, Queen’s "We Will Rock You." Yes, really. Hosted by: Reid Reimers ———- Support SciShow by becoming a…

The Best Fonts, According to Science

From SciShow. We all know our favorite fonts, but did you ever think about why some fonts are just clearer than others? Well there’s a surprising amount of research into just what makes certain fonts better, and there’s a case to be made for that loveably goofy Comic Sans. Hosted by: Stefan Chin ———- Support…

Animals Have Nepo Babies Too

From SciShow. Visit https://brilliant.org/scishow/ to get started learning STEM for free. The first 200 people will get 20% off their annual premium subscription and a 30-day free trial. Trust funds aren’t just for humans. Animals pass on generational wealth too, meaning even the animal kingdom isn’t free of nepo babies. Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)…

How We Make Glass Nearly Unbreakable … With Science

From SciShow. We know that glass is fragile – that’s like, it’s main thing. But research is working on improving how we make glass to make it unbreakable, or at least as close as we can get. Here’s the latest on how to make truly shatterproof glass! Hosted by: Reid Reimers (he/him) ———- Support SciShow…

The Universe Runs on Vibes

From SciShow. As much as we like to talk about vibes, actual vibrations underlie pretty much everything about the universe. From the patterns of galaxies created by the Big Bang to the existence of subatomic particles, here’s how the universe runs on vibes. Hosted by: Stefan Chin ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on…

Did Dinosaurs Have Belly Buttons?

From SciShow. Belly buttons are, typically, a human’s first scar. A sign that you used to feed through an umbilical cord that connected your tummy to a placenta. But it turns out you don’t have to feed from a placenta to get a similar scar. It might just be a little hard to find. Hosted…

Why Can’t We Have Unicorns?

From SciShow. Unicorns may be mythical creatures, but they’re very plausible-seeming ones. So why hasn’t evolution gifted us with magical horses with horns? Let’s take a look at the genetics and developmental biology of headgear in ruminants and other mammals. Hosted by: Reid Reimers ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———-…

Why Do We Rhyme?

From SciShow. Rhymes might seem frivolous, but there’s scientific evidence for why we like them so much. Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them) ———- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ———- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Adam Brainard, Alex Hackman, Ash,…

We Finally Made Synthetic Spider Silk

From SciShow. The ability to produce synthetic spider silk would give us bulletproof vests better than Kevlar, biocompatible sutures and wound dressings, and even space elevators. The problem is being able to make it in large amounts. One group may have solved that problem, and changed the definition of "toughness" in the process. Hosted by:…

This Crystal Is ELECTRIC

From SciShow. There’s a few minerals that exhibit something called piezoelectricity and pyroelectricity, which mean that either heat or pressure can turn them electric. Here’s a demo from the SciShow Rocks Box where you can see this for yourself – all you need is some tourmaline! Get a monthly hand-picked rock, mineral, gem, or fossil…

What’s Really Behind The Adderall Shortage?

From SciShow. You may have heard that there’s an ongoing shortage of the medication Adderall. But there’s a lot more going on here than you may expect, and the real culprit behind the shortage isn’t what you might think. Thanks to Jessica McCabe from How To ADHD for partnering with us on this video. See…

Psychiatrists Can’t Agree About This New Disorder

From SciShow. Prolonged grief disorder recently debuted in both of the two manuals that clinicians use to diagnose psychological conditions. But the DSM and the ICD don’t completely agree on what it is. Hosted by: Stefan Chin (he/him) Correction: 2:26 The DSM-5-TR is produced by the American Psychiatric Association, not the American Psychological Association. ———-…

Evolution Can’t Explain Your Grandma

From SciShow. There’s a really interesting idea in anthropology called the grandmother hypothesis, that basically says the reason we have grandmas has to do with what makes us unique as a species. But there’s a huge problem with the idea that it’s taken decades of research for us to unveil. Hosted by: Savannah Geary (they/them)…