Boughs Of Folly: Science Blunders In National Lampoon’s ‘Christmas Vacation’
What can we learn from the Griswolds’ many mishaps?
The ‘Rebellious Scientist’ Who Inspired Kurt Vonnegut
The story behind the Kurt Vonnegut story about an antiwar scientist named Professor Barnhouse.
7:25
Errant Satellites Provide Test Case for General Relativity
A team of physicists have repurposed two satellites launched into the wrong orbit as an experiment to test one aspect of Einstein’s theory of general relativity.
47:47
Somewhat Silly Science Earns Ig Nobel Prizes
The Ig Nobel Prizes honor scientific research that first makes you laugh, then makes you think.
Cider Science
Making a hard cider is about 50 percent chemistry, and 50 percent is art.
Smelly Bats
A fun game for Halloween that demonstrates diffusion and the properties of stretchy polymers using rubber gloves and flavor extracts.
17:24
Did Dark Matter Doom the Dinosaurs?
Physicist Lisa Randall explores the theory that a disc of dark matter could have been responsible for the catastrophic collision that extinguished the dinosaurs.
Cosmic Connections: Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs
An excerpt from “Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs.”
The Hunt for Dark Matter
Deep in an abandoned gold mine in rural South Dakota, a team of physicists are hunting for astrophysical treasure.