BrainStuff Classics: What Is Russia's 'Dead H...

You may know him as the villain in the film 'Gladiator', but the real-life Emperor Commodus is said to have been even more cruel and megalomaniacal. Learn about his unusual upbringing, how he made himself into a gladiator and an image of Hercules, and his eventual assassination i ...  Show more

Planetary rings are gorgeous, temporary structures created when a planet's gravity captures and tears apart smaller objects. Learn why Earth doesn't have rings (right now!) and what other planets' rings are like in today's episode of BrainStuff, based on these articles: https://s ...  Show more

The creation of atomic weaponry changed human civilization forever, but it also left its mark on the Earth itself -- in both obvious and subtle ways. In this classic episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss some of the ways in which the world would not be the sa ...  Show more

The creation of atomic weaponry changed human civilization forever, but it also left its mark on the Earth itself -- in both obvious and subtle ways. In this episode of Stuff to Blow Your Mind, Robert and Joe discuss some of the ways in which the world would not be the same. Lear ...  Show more

How would you disguise a cyanide pill for a CIA spy in Moscow during the Cold War? What risks could Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, and The Beatles pose to Adolf Tolkachev’s mission against the Soviet state? And will the CIA’s mole in Moscow be discovered by the KGB? It’s 1985, and fo ...  Show more

During the Cold War, both the U.S. and the U.S.S.R. stockpiled weapons, eventually holding enough power to destroy the world several times over. Yet neither side actually used these weapons. Learn more about M.A.D. in our article on HowStuffWorks.