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Be Smart.

Joe Hanson

We give you deep answers to simple questions about science and the rest of the universe. And also dad jokes. Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, PhD. He's a molecular biologist and an award-winning science communicator and journalist

367 episodes
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English

Episodes 367

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Thursday · 6 min
Clarifying Lunar Eclipses and the SUPER BLOOD MOON!
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate This episode is brought to you by Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/ Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ We’ve got t-shirts! Get yours here: http://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Special thanks to: Rob Pettengill, Ph.D. http://www.robpettengill.org and the Austin Astronomical Society http://www.austinastro.org/ for helping me photograph the lunar eclipse timelapse 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! Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Follow on Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Follow on Snapchat: YoDrJoe ----------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Follow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc. Kate 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 (unless otherwise noted) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thursday · 9 min
Your Microbiome: The Microscopic Creatures That Keep You Alive!
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Try Audible today: http://www.audible.com/ok “I Contain Multitudes” by Ed Yong http://amzn.to/2aE5rlf ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Get yourself an awesome IOTBS shirt! http://dftba.com/besmart Learn more/references: Fujimura, Kei E., et al. "House dust exposure mediates gut microbiome Lactobacillus enrichment and airway immune defense against allergens and virus infection." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111.2 (2014): 805-810. Strachan, David P. "Family size, infection and atopy: the first decade of the 'hygiene hypothesis'." Thorax 55.Suppl 1 (2000): S2. Gerrard, J. W., et al. "Serum IgE levels in white and metis communities in Saskatchewan." Annals of allergy 37.2 (1976): 91-100. Kuleshov, Volodymyr, et al. "Synthetic long-read sequencing reveals intraspecies diversity in the human microbiome." Nature biotechnology 34.1 (2016): 64-69. Li, Junhua, et al. "An integrated catalog of reference genes in the human gut microbiome." Nature biotechnology 32.8 (2014): 834-841. Elahi, Shokrollah, et al. "Immunosuppressive CD71+ erythroid cells compromise neonatal host defence against infection." Nature 504.7478 (2013): 158-162. Gibbons, Deena, et al. "Interleukin-8 (CXCL8) production is a signatory T cell effector function of human newborn infants." Nature medicine 20.10 (2014): 1206-1210. German, J., et al. "Human milk oligosaccharides: evolution, structures and bioselectivity as substrates for intestinal bacteria." Personalized Nutrition for the Diverse Needs of Infants and Children. Vol. 62. Karger Publishers, 2008. 205-222. Sela, D. A., et al. "The genome sequence of Bifidobacterium longum subsp. infantis reveals adaptations for milk utilization within the infant microbiome."Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 105.48 (2008): 18964-18969. C-section statitics: http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/social-issues-migration-health/health-at-a-glance-2015_health_glance-2015-en Kroiss, Johannes, et al. "Symbiotic streptomycetes provide antibiotic combination prophylaxis for wasp offspring." Nature Chemical Biology 6.4 (2010): 261-263. Zaneveld, Jesse, et al. "Host-bacterial coevolution and the search for new drug targets." Current opinion in chemical biology 12.1 (2008): 109-114. ---------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. 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! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from SciencePhoto http://www.sciencephoto.com/ and Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted) http://www.videoblocks.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Thursday · 9 min
Asteroid Mining Will Change Everything About Our Future In Space
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Uploaded 07-11-17 Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Read “Soonish” by Kelly and Zach Weinersmith! https://smbc-comics.com/soonish/ ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Try 23andMe at: http://www.23andme.com/okay Asteroid mining sounds like something out of a bad space movie, but harvesting materials from space rocks might be our ticket to building space colonies or living on Mars. Most of Earth’s precious and rare metals are locked too far in the crust for us to get at them, and launching them to space is too expensive for us to supply large colonies off Earth or explore far off worlds. How do we get our hands on the planetary resources inside asteroids? Let’s find out! Special thanks to Kelly and Zach Weinersmith for working with us on this video. Check out their new book “Soonish” for a hilarious and science-filled look at future technologies: https://smbc-comics.com/soonish/ SOURCES/EXTRAS: Badescu, Viorel, ed. Asteroids: Prospective energy and material resources. Springer Science and Business Media, 2013. Crawford, Ian A. "Asteroids in the service of humanity." arXiv preprint arXiv:1306.2678 (2013). Kleine, Thorsten. "Geoscience: Earth's patchy late veneer." Nature 477.7363 (2011): 168-169. ----------- FOLLOW US: Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Dr. Shaena Montanari Editor/animator: Andrew Orsak Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com ----------- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 12 min
How Your Memory Works
To learn more about Brilliant, go to https://brilliant.org/BeSmart/ and sign up for free. First 200 people will get 20% off the annual Premium subscription. ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Uploaded 01-05-18 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. References: http://bit.ly/2rdFW0O ----------- FOLLOW US: Twitter:@DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart SEND US STUFF: It’s Okay To Be Smart PO Box 303356 Austin, TX 78703 USA BOOKS WE’VE FEATURED: http://smart-books.tumblr.com/ ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Maria Ter-Mikaelian Creative Director: David Schulte Editor/animator: Karl Boettcher and Derek Borsheim Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 11 min
How Well Do Masks Work? (Schlieren Imaging In Slow Motion!)
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Uploaded 04-07-20 We're on PATREON! Join the community ►► https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart SUBSCRIBE so you don't miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Wearing a mask is a cheap and easy way to help stop the spread of airborne infections like COVID-19. It's also a sign that you want to help protect other people and have them protect you… that we're all in this together. Here are some awesome slow-motion schlieren imaging experiments to demonstrate why masks work! Share with someone who needs to see this. References: https://sites.google.com/view/why-masks-work-references/home Special thanks: Matthew Staymates - National Institute of Standards and Technology Dr. Richard Davis - Providence Sacred Heart Medical Center (https://twitter.com/richdavisphd/status/1276629360212979712) Derek Muller - @Veritasium (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4tgOyU34D44) David McRaney - You Are Not So Smart https://youarenotsosmart.com/ Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons: AlecZero Diego Lombeida Dustin Ernesto Silva George Gladding Jay Stephens Marcus Tuepker Megan K Bradshaw Peter Ehrnstrom Ron Kakar vincbis Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 5 min
Why Do These Deadly Insects Look Like Flowers?
This video is perfect for adults orchids. Join the community ►► https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Uploaded 11-07-17 PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Many creatures wear disguises in order to keep safe from predators, but there are some that dress to kill. Orchid mantises are one of nature’s most awesome examples of aggressive mimicry. These killer insects are almost indistinguishable from orchids! Scientists recently learned that their disguise doesn’t work quite how we thought it did. Special thanks to YouTuber Fruchtpudding for letting us use their awesome orchid mantis hunting footage! https://www.youtube.com/user/Fruchtpudding ----------- READ MORE: O’Hanlon, J. C. (2016). Orchid mantis. Current Biology, 26(4), R145-R146. O’Hanlon, J. C., Holwell, G. I., and Herberstein, M. E. (2013). Pollinator deception in the orchid mantis. The American Naturalist, 183(1), 126-132. O’Hanlon, J. C., Herberstein, M. E., and Holwell, G. I. (2014). Habitat selection in a deceptive predator: maximizing resource availability and signal efficacy. Behavioral Ecology, 26(1), 194-199. ----------- FOLLOW US: Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Snapchat: YoDrJoe ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Sarah Keartes Producer/editor/animator: Andrew Matthews Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 6 min
The Remarkable Owl!
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Enjoy these amazing facts about owls! Don’t miss the next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ As we get ready to watch that big football game that my lawyers tell me I’m not allowed to say the name of, let’s celebrate a champion of the bird world: Stealthy and silent owls! Learn how owls fly so silently, how they see in the dark, and how owls’ incredible hearing makes them such superb aerial hunters. Want more awesome owl science? Check out “What Makes Owls So Quiet and Deadly?” from KQED’s Deep Look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a68fIQzaDBY Special thanks to: The Witmer Lab at Ohio University Learn more: Wagner, Hermann, et al. "Features of owl wings that promote silent flight." Interface Focus 7.1 (2017): 20160078. Wagner, Hermann, et al. "Neuroethology of prey capture in the barn owl (Tyto alba L.)." Journal of Physiology-Paris 107.1 (2013): 51-61. FOLLOW US: It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Shaena Montanari Editor/animator/producer: Andrew Orsak Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 16 min
Why Is Sex Such a Thing?
We’re on PATREON! Join the community ►► https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Why does sex exist? You might think the obvious answer is “reproduction” but there are plenty of organisms on Earth that don’t require sex to reproduce. And the more that scientists examined sex, they more they realized that it’s an expensive and inefficient way to get your genes to the next generation. The true purpose of sex is actually one of the longest-standing mysteries in evolutionary biology. But scientists are closer than ever to finding the answer. Here’s what we know about the evolutionary enigma of sex. References: https://sites.google.com/view/evolutionofsex-references/home ----------- Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons: Burt Humburg DeliciousKashmiri Mario Orso Brian Chang Roy Lasris Javier Soto dani bowman David Johnston Salih Arslan Baerbel Winkler Robert Young Amy Sowada Eric Meer Peter Ehrnstrom Dustin Marcus Tuepker Karen Haskell AlecZero Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 8 min
,000,000 Years Forward
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Try Squarespace: http://squarespace.com/itsokaytobesmart Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ For more science and stories of the Anthropocene, subscribe to the Generation Anthropocene podcast: http://anthropocene.stanford.edu/ A great book on this subject: The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? by Jan Zalasiewicz http://amzn.to/20RbrZo Sources: Waters, Colin N., et al. "The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene." Science 351.6269 (2016): aad2622. Steffen, Will, et al. "The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 369.1938 (2011): 842-867. Zalasiewicz, Jan, et al. "The technofossil record of humans." The Anthropocene Review (2014): 2053019613514953. 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! Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/DrJoeHanson Follow on Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe ----------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Follow me on Twitter: @DrJoeHanson Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigita... Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 6 min
Why BEAVERS Are The Smartest Thing In Fur Pants
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Uploaded 19-07-17 Leave it to beavers! Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Beavers have done more to shape North American landscapes than any animal beside humans. We don’t notice them much today because there aren’t many left, but before colonization, North America was home to hundreds of millions of these furry engineers. This week, we show you why Earth’s second largest rodent is more amazing than you ever knew, and why they’re the smartest thing in fur pants. Special thanks to Josh Cassidy from KQED’s Deep Look for joining me in Alaska and shooting this episode! ► https://www.youtube.com/user/KQEDDeepLook Filmed under a Special Use Permit on the Juneau Ranger District, Tongass National Forest Special thanks to Chuck Caldwell and Juneau Beaver Patrol ----------- READ MORE: “Once They Were Hats: In Search of the Mighty Beaver” - Francis Backhouse http://amzn.to/2tfmLTZ “The Beaver: Natural History of a Wetlands Engineer” - Dietland Müller-Schwarze and Lixing Sun http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/977989893 ----------- FOLLOW US: Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Snapchat: YoDrJoe ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Shaena Montanari Camera: Josh Cassidy Producer/editor/animator: Andrew Matthews Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 9 min
The Surprising Reason We Eat Spicy Food
Check out Nourish from PBS! https://www.youtube.com/PBSNourish SUBSCRIBE to It's Okay To Be Smart! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Uploaded 10-07-18 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! REFERENCES: Billing, J., and Sherman, P. W. (1998). Antimicrobial functions of spices: why some like it hot. The Quarterly review of biology, 73(1), 3-49. Juneja, V. K., Dwivedi, H. P., and Yan, X. (2012). Novel natural food antimicrobials. Annual review of food science and technology, 3, 381-403. Sherman, P. W., and Billing, J. (1999). Darwinian gastronomy: why we use spices: spices taste good because they are good for us. BioScience, 49(6), 453-463. Li, Z., Henning, S. M., Zhang, Y., Zerlin, A., Li, L., Gao, K., ... and Heber, D. (2010). Antioxidant-rich spice added to hamburger meat during cooking results in reduced meat, plasma, and urine malondialdehyde concentrations–. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 91(5), 1180-1184. ----------- FOLLOW US: Twitter: @DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart BOOKS WE’VE FEATURED: http://smart-books.tumblr.com/ ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Sarah Keartes Creative Director: David Schulte Editor/animator: Derek Borsheim Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 7 min
Why Do We Cry?
To learn more about Brilliant, check out https://brilliant.org/BeSmart/ You might cry if you don’t SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Uploaded 17-07-18 Why do we cry? It’s weird. Humans leak water out of their faces when they get sad. Are we the only animals that do this? What does it mean? What is it for? Here’s the science of human tears! Give us a hand and SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub References: http://bit.ly/2NMz5Wo ----------- FOLLOW US: Twitter: @DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart BOOKS WE’VE FEATURED: http://smart-books.tumblr.com/ ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Kimberly McCoy, Ph.D. Creative Director: David Schulte Editor/animator: Derek Borsheim Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 5 min
This Is Not the Rainbow
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out Squarespace: http://squarespace.com/itsokaytobesmart Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ The ABSOLUTE best place to learn more about atmospheric optics: http://www.atoptics.co.uk/ Excellent resource on ice crystal physics: http://www.snowcrystals.com/ Video showing “5 suns” over Cambodia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ejM6MJVVSFI (actually two sun dogs, a parhelic circle, and two 120˚ parhelions!) The coolest sky picture I’ve ever seen: https://www.facebook.com/NWSAmarillo/photos/a.376992752312629.94660.208741279137778/940978792580686/?type=3&theater 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! ----------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Follow me on Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc. Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation Katie Graham - Camera John Knudsen - Gaffer Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted) Thumbnail image by Фтещт Нфтлщмнш CC BY-SA 4.0 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 10 min
How to Figure Out the Day of the Week For Any Date Ever
To learn more about Brilliant, go to https://brilliant.org/BeSmart/ and sign up for free. First 200 people will get 20% off the annual Premium subscription. ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Uploaded 16-01-18 You can be a human computer too. Our cheat sheet: http://bit.ly/2rftqkv Want to go NEXT LEVEL? Learn how to adjust for Julian calendar and BC dates 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 Don't miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub READ MORE: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doomsday_rule Martin Gardner, "The Universe in a Handkerchief: Lewis Carroll's Mathematical Recreations, Games, Puzzles, and Word Plays" ----------- FOLLOW US: Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter:@DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson ----------- It's Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Producer/editor/animator: Jordan Husmann Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com ------ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 23 min
How Every Movie & Video Game Tricks Your Brain
Thank you to Wren for supporting PBS. To learn more, go to https://wren.co/start/besmart We’re on PATREON! Join the community https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Uploaded 01-02-22 Movies. Video games. YouTube videos. All of them work because we accidentally figured out a way to fool your brain’s visual processing system, and you don’t even know it’s happening. In this video, I talk to neuroscientist David Eagleman about the secret illusions that make the moving picture possible. Thank you to The Slow-Mo Guys for sharing some incredible footage with us. Here are the full videos: https://youtu.be/3BJU2drrtCM https://youtu.be/omuRkUFnnv4 https://youtu.be/eJVpYL44jUQ References and sources: https://sites.google.com/view/be-smart-illusion-of-video/home ----------- Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons: Mehdi Damou Barbora Bei Ken Board The Clinger-Hamilton Family Attila Pix Burt Humburg DeliciousKashmiri Brian Chang Roy Lasris dani bowman David Johnston Salih Arslan Baerbel Winkler Robert Young Amy Sowada Eric Meer Dustin Karen Haskell AlecZero Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 8 min
How Habits Can Change Your Life (and Your Brain)
You have the power to change your brain! Make watching our videos a habit and SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Uploaded 28-08-18 Got a bad habit you just can’t seem to break? That’s because it’s literally wired into your brain. Every single thought, action, and feeling changes your brain. When repeated enough times, a habit is formed. This week we’ll talk about how an advertiser in the early 1900s got half of Americans to pick up a new behavior - and make it a habit we all know today. #habits #brain #neuroscience REFERENCES: The power of habit: Why we do what we do in life and in business, Charles Duhill, 2012. Smith, K. (2016). Habit formation. Dialogues Clin Neurosci, 18(1), 33–43. Schultz, W., Apicella, P., and Ljungbergb , T. (1993). Responses of Monkey Dopamine Neurons to Reward and Conditioned Stimuli during Successive Steps of Learning a Delayed Response Task. The Journal of Neuroscience, 13(3), 900-913 Christina M.Gremel, C. M., Chancey, J.H., Atwood, B.K., Luo, G., Neve, R., Ramakrishnan, C., Deisseroth, K., Lovinger, D.M., and Costa, R.M. (2016). Endocannabinoid Modulation of Orbitostriatal Circuits Gates Habit Formation. Neuron, 93(6), 1312-1324. ----------- FOLLOW US: Twitter: @DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Kimberly McCoy, Ph.D. Creative Director: David Schulte Editor/animator: Karl Boettcher Producers: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 9 min
Why Don't Ants Get Jammed In Traffic?
Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Go to http://Raceforretirement.com and see how the action gap affects you. Tweet this video ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBStraf Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBStrafFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ CGP Grey "The Simple Solution to Traffic" https://youtu.be/iHzzSao6ypE ASAPscience "How Not To Get Stuck In Traffic" https://youtu.be/APkpiO0QQ_k Book recommendation! "Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do" by Tom Vanderbilt http://amzn.to/2durlGP References: INRIX 2015 traffic stats: http://inrix.com/scorecard/key-findings-us/ Couzin, Iain D., and Nigel R. Franks. "Self-organized lane formation and optimized traffic flow in army ants." Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 270.1511 (2003): 139-146. Fourcassié, Vincent, Audrey Dussutour, and Jean-Louis Deneubourg. "Ant traffic rules." Journal of Experimental Biology 213.14 (2010): 2357-2363. Hönicke, C., P. Bliss, and R. F. A. Moritz. "Effect of density on traffic and velocity on trunk trails of Formica pratensis." The Science of Nature 102.3-4 (2015): 1-9. Larson, Richard C. "There's More to a Line than its Wait." Technology Review 91.5 (1988): 60-67. Maister, David H. The psychology of waiting lines. Harvard Business School, 1984. Perna, Andrea, et al. "Individual rules for trail pattern formation in Argentine ants (Linepithema humile)." PLoS Comput Biol 8.7 (2012): e1002592. ---------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. 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! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from SciencePhoto http://www.sciencephoto.com/ and Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 15 min
4 Ways the Universe Might End (All of Them Are Bad)
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Uploaded 13-10-20 Subscribe to my new show Overview!! ►► https://youtu.be/Lt9qYvKFumM And remember: The universe will end, but not for a while… probably I don’t want to alarm you, but the world is going to end. All of this. Gone. And scientists are certain all of this will happen. On the bright side this isn’t going to happen for 4-5 billion years. It makes me wonder: In a universe bigger than we can fathom, across eons of time, could… all of it end? Everything? The whole universe? Yes. And it probably will. Here’s how. Note: The copy of "The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)" discussed in this episode was provided free of charge by the publisher. As in "the physical copy you see on screen." I also bought the book myself because I love astrophysics! But that version is on my Kindle :) Special thanks to Dr. Katie Mack ►► https://twitter.com/AstroKatie Check out Dr. Mack’s new book “The End of Everything (Astrophysically Speaking)”: https://amzn.to/3nFydVz (Public library: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1124333594 ) Finally, we’re on PATREON! Join the community ►► https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons: AlecZero Amy Sowada Baerbel Winkler Benjamin Teinby Denzel Holmes Diego Lombeida Dustin Eric Meer George Gladding Jay Stephens Karen Haskell Marcus Tuepker Oliver and Arden Bradshaw Peter Ehrnstrom Robert Young Salih Arslan Vincbis Zenimal Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 13 min
How We Finally Solved the Monarch Butterfly Migration Mystery
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Uploaded 09-04-19 Follow me to Atlas Obscura to learn about the discovery of this place: https://youtu.be/mXc1ZeRlOe0 Grab a headset and experience the monarch forest in VR180: https://youtu.be/fSa605IfTiE The monarch butterfly migration is one of nature’s greatest events. This orange-winged wonder travels up to 4,500 km from all over North America to spend the winter hanging from oyamel fir trees in central Mexico’s mountain forests. I got to go there. Seeing tens of millions of butterflies dangling from the treetops is a truly breathtaking sight. But how does an animal with a brain the size of a poppy seed navigate to this one special place, especially since the last monarchs to make the trip lived 4 or 5 generations earlier? Get ready for an amazing story of science, instinct, and navigation. #nature #monarchbutterfly #migration Special thanks to: Dr. Steven Reppert - UMass Medical School Atlas Obscura: @atlasobscura Jason Goldman: @jgold85 Phil Torres: @phil_torres Filmed on location at: La Reserva de Biosfera de la Mariposa Monarca - Michoacán, Mexico Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center - Austin, Texas SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ----------- REFERENCES: Guerra, P. A., and Reppert, S. M. (2013). Coldness triggers northward flight in remigrant monarch butterflies. Current Biology, 23(5), 419-423. Reppert, S. M., Zhu, H., and White, R. H. (2004). Polarized light helps monarch butterflies navigate. Current Biology, 14(2), 155-158. Reppert, S. M., Guerra, P. A., and Merlin, C. (2016). Neurobiology of monarch butterfly migration. Annual review of entomology, 61, 25-42. Reppert, S. M., and de Roode, J. C. (2018). Demystifying monarch butterfly migration. Current Biology, 28(17), R1009-R1022. ----------- FOLLOW US for more curiosity: Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Books from our episodes: http://smart-books.tumblr.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Wednesday · 18 min
How Blind People See With Sound… with @MollyBurkeOfficial!
PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Uploaded 10-08-19 Come see me on Molly’s channel! https://youtu.be/MOmRQb7h5lw SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub I met Molly Burke a few months ago. She’s awesome. I absolutely love what she’s done on YouTube to bring awareness to living with disability, and turning it into ability. And her guide dog Gallop is awesome too! When Molly and I first met, we started talking about how she navigates the world, because I’m a nerd and I always steer the conversation toward science. I was not prepared for what she told me. She said she uses echolocation! Molly’s brain has adapted to listen to sounds in her environment in ways that most of us sighted people can’t even imagine. I went to meet her in LA and brought a special surprise, to see if my brain could learn what hers has. #echolocation #blind For audio descriptions, go to Settings - Audio Track - English Descriptive. Special thanks to Brian Bushway, Daniel Kish, Molly Burke and Gallop! Learn more about Brian Bushway and echolocation at https://visioneers.org Descriptive Audio and Captions provided by The Described and Captioned Media Program References: https://sites.google.com/view/echolcation-molly-burke/home ----------- FOLLOW US for more curiosity: Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Books from our episodes: http://smart-books.tumblr.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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