Science
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Special thanks to Vanessa from BrainCraft for help with this video!
Check out her channel: https://www.youtube.com/braincraft
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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!
Want to see more of my interview with Rob? Click here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsek8JxUS7M
Special thanks to:
Rob Voss - American Museum of Natural History, New York City
Vanessa Hill from BrainCraft!
References:
Quammen, D. (2012). The song of the dodo: island biogeography in an age of extinctions. Random House.
Feigin, C. Y., Newton, A. H., Doronina, L., Schmitz, J., Hipsley, C. A., Mitchell, K. J., ... & Menzies, B. R. (2018). Genome of the Tasmanian tiger provides insights into the evolution and demography of an extinct marsupial carnivore. Nature ecology & evolution, 2(1), 182.
Newton, A. H., Spoutil, F., Prochazka, J., Black, J. R., Medlock, K., Paddle, R. N., ... & Pask, A. J. (2018). Letting the ‘cat’out of the bag: pouch young development of the extinct Tasmanian tiger revealed by X-ray computed tomography. Royal Society open science, 5(2), 171914.
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It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.
Director: Joe Nicolosi
Writer: Stephanie Keep
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Is Earth the only living needle in this haystack of planets?
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Are there exoplanets like Earth? We live in one of a hundred billion of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. And now, thanks to modern astronomy, we know that the Milky Way is home to perhaps a hundred billion planets! In the past two decades, these exoplanet discoveries have spawned new questions about our universe, and if there might be another Earth, or other life, somewhere out there.
In part 1 of our two-part series on exoplanets, we'll look at how astronomers find exoplanets, and what it means to call them Earth-like. We'll trace the history of planetary science back three thousand years and examine Earth's changing status in the cosmos. We were once the center of the universe, and now Earth is just another rock in the sky. What does that mean for us?
Check out "Five Billion Years of Solitude" by Lee Billings: http://amzn.to/18Tzv59
This week's t-shirt comes from Wowch: http://www.wowch.com/puppyplanet
More reading:
There are five billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11..../05/science/cosmic-c
The exoplanet catalog: http://phl.upr.edu/projects/ha....bitable-exoplanets-c
Methods of detecting exoplanets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M....ethods_of_detecting_
Interactive catalog of Kepler's exoplanet discoveries: http://www.nytimes.com/interac....tive/science/space/k
A philosophical and historical look at the exoplanet revolution: http://www.aeonmagazine.com/na....ture-and-cosmos/the-
The Kepler telescope and the "adjacent possible": http://nautil.us/blog/clever-a....pes-a-busted-telesco
How the Kepler telescope scanned the sky: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.co....m/post/62343351213/k
An ode to the late Kepler telescope: http://www.theatlantic.com/tec....hnology/archive/2013
Joe Hanson - Host and writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
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Filmed at Onion Creek Productions in Austin, TX
Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios
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Why does fire burn? What's the chemistry and physics of a flame? This week, learn about the beautiful science happening inside a flame!
Michael Faraday's Christmas lectures on candle chemistry:
http://blogs.scientificamerica....n.com/cocktail-party
http://www.bartleby.com/30/7.html
Flames in space:
http://science.nasa.gov/scienc....e-news/science-at-na
Richard Feynman talking about fire:
http://www.itsokaytobesmart.co....m/post/27299255757/f
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!
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It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.DFollow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe
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Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios
Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer
Joe Nicolosi - Director
Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Producer
Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation
Katie Graham - Camera
John Knudsen - Gaffer
Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod
Other music via APM
Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks
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Why Does February Have 28 Days? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgKaHTh-_Gs
Why Vaccines Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aNhzLUL2ys
Why Are Some People Left-Handed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPvMUpcxPSA
Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcE5x8s0B8
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Think traits like eye color or tongue-rolling are simple genetics? Think again. From Mendel’s peas to modern DNA science, let’s talk about why most human traits aren’t just “dominant” or “recessive.” Eye color, red hair, earlobes, even cilantro—genetics is way messier (and cooler) than you learned in school.
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Why is the Martian sky red by day… but blue at sunset? And how did it used to look more like Earth? The strange story of Mars’ skies can reveal a lot about the Red Planet's past, and the surprising ways it is more like Earth than you may know.
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Why do spiders have 8 eyes? It’s a seemingly simple question with a surprisingly complex answer. We’ll be hanging out with some jumping spiders (the cutest of all spiders) and some jumping spider researchers to investigate how a thumbnail-sized creature with a poppy seed-sized brain ended up evolving some of the most advanced eyes in the animal kingdom, overcoming a few limitations of physics in the process. We’ll watch as scientists study these spiders in a special eye tracking machine and learn how having 8 eyes instead of two gives these elite predators almost 360˚ vision and almost hawk-level depth perception and resolution.
References: https://sites.google.com/view/....how-jumping-spiders-
Big thanks to:
Dr. Beth Jakob and Alex Winsor - UMass Amherst http://ejakob.popslice.com/
Dr. Nathan Morehouse and lab - University of Cincinnati https://homepages.uc.edu/~morehonn/
Additional footage credits:
Spider retinal movements - Daniel Zurek
Spider courtship videos - Daniel Zurek, Sebastian Echeverri, and Nathan Morehouse (Morehouse Lab, University of Cincinnati)
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Another YouTube #shorts from Dr. Joe! Subscribe for more fun science stories.
Some animals' entire life spans flash by in a matter of hours or days. These guys live short but remarkable lives.
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Why does toast always land butter side down? Let's overthink the physics!
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Another YouTube #shorts from Dr. Joe! Subscribe for more fun science stories.
Learn about the cool microscopic nano-structures and melanin pigment granules that make the darkest animals in the world, so dark.
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Students design and build devices to protect and accurately deliver dropped eggs. The devices and their contents represent care packages that must be safely delivered to people in a disaster area with no road access. Similar to engineering design teams, students design their devices using a number of requirements and constraints such as limited supplies and time. The activity emphasizes the change from potential energy to kinetic energy of the devices and their contents and the energy transfer that occurs on impact. Students enjoy this competitive challenge as they attain a deeper understanding of mechanical energy concepts.
View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/d
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit http://www.TeachEngineering.org for more!
Music: Little Idea - Bensound.com
This activity is a teacher-led demonstration of continental drift and includes a math worksheet for students involving the calculation of continental drift over time. Students will understand what continental drift is, why it occurs, and how earthquakes occur because of it.
View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more
Music - At The Fair
Students learn about the difference between temperature and thermal energy. They create thermometers using simple materials and develop their own scales for measuring temperature. They compare their thermometers to a commercial thermometer, and get a sense for why engineers need to understand the properties of thermal energy.
View the full activity at TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!
Music: Ukulele - Bensound.com
Students learn about the variety of materials used by engineers in the design and construction of modern bridges. They also find out about the material properties important to bridge construction and consider the advantages and disadvantages of steel and concrete as common bridge-building materials to handle compressive and tensile forces.
View the full lesson on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/lessons/view/cub_
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more
Students first explore different materials to see what types reduce the most amount of sound when placed in a box. Each group is assigned a different material and they fill their box with that specific material. Students measure the sound level of a tone playing from inside the box using a decibel reader from outside the box. Students share this data with the class and analyze which types of materials absorb the most sound and which reflect the most sound.
View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/u
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!
Music: Night at the Dance Hall- Twin Musicom
In this activity, students are challenged to design a contraption using simple machines to move a circus elephant into a rail car. After students consider their audience and constraints, they work in groups to brainstorm ideas and select one concept to communicate to the class.
View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more
Music: Safety Net
Students are challenged to design their own small-sized prototype light sculptures to light up a hypothetical courtyard. To accomplish this, they use Arduino microcontrollers as the “brains” of the projects and control light displays composed of numerous (3+) light-emitting diodes (LEDs). With this challenge, students further their learning of Arduino fundamentals by exploring one important microcontroller capability—the control of external circuits. The Arduino microcontroller is a powerful yet easy-to-learn platform for learning computer programing and electronics. LEDs provide immediate visual success/failure feedback, and the unlimited variety of possible results are dazzling!
View the full activity on TeachEngineering: https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/makerchallenges/v
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!
Music: New Tires - Silent Partner
In this lesson, students are introduced to both potential energy and kinetic energy as forms of mechanical energy. A hands-on activity demonstrates how potential energy can change into kinetic energy by swinging a pendulum, illustrating the concept of conservation of energy. Students calculate the potential energy of the pendulum and predict how fast it will travel knowing that the potential energy will convert into kinetic energy. They verify their predictions by measuring the speed of the pendulum.
View the full lesson on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/lessons/view/cub_
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more
Music - Tyler Kimbell
Students explore how pendulums work and why they are useful in everyday applications. In a hands-on activity, they experiment with string length, pendulum weight and angle of release. In an associated literacy activity, students explore the mechanical concept of rhythm, based on the principle of oscillation, in a broader biological and cultural context — in dance and sports, poetry and other literary forms, and communication in general.
View the full lesson on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/lessons/view/cub_
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more
Music -Tyler Kimbell
Students examine how different balls react when colliding with different surfaces, giving plenty of opportunity for them to see the difference between elastic and inelastic collisions, learn how to calculate momentum, and understand the principle of conservation of momentum.
View the full lesson on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/c
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more
Music - Water Please - GrandBankss
Students learn about gear ratios and power by operating toy mechanical cranes of differing gear ratios. They attempt to pick up objects with various masses to witness how much power must be applied to the system to oppose the force of gravity. They learn about the concept of gear ratio and practice calculating gear ratios on worksheets, discovering that smaller gear ratios are best for picking objects up quickly, and larger gear ratios make it easier to lift heavy objects.
View the full activity on TeachEngineering:
https://www.teachengineering.o....rg/activities/view/n
TeachEngineering has over 1,500 FREE lessons and activities. Visit https://www.teachengineering.org/ for more!
Music: Inevitable - Diamond Ortiz
