Why Are There So Many Different Languages?

Some questions are so big they’re existential, meaning that they get right to the heart of human existence. These are also sometimes called philosophical questions, so for this episode we called up a professor of philosophy, Scott Hershovitz, who teaches at the University of Mich ...  Show more

Why did the dinosaurs go extinct? Many of you have learned about the meteorite that scientists say hit the earth 66 million years ago and killed off many dinosaur species. But some dinosaurs survived, and the birds you see flying around today are their direct descendants! In this ...  Show more

Why do colors exist in the world? That’s what Phoebe wants to know. The answer might change how you think about the colors that you see! Neuroscientist and artist Bevil Conway bends our minds and our eyes, to show us how colors are the ultimate optical illusion. We’ll discover wh ...  Show more

The world is full of color, but how do our eyes see it? In this episode we’ll explain how color vision works, complete with a journey to a jazz club in the back of your eye. We’ll also look at the cultural meanings of the color red, we’ll find out about a new type of blue, and ...

You may have learned that the colors red, yellow, and blue are called primary colors. It’s sometimes said you can use those three to make all the other colors. But can red, yellow, and blue really mix to make any color, or is there more to the story? We asked color scientist Step ...  Show more

What does painting the most splendid sunset and the most radiant rainbow have in common? They both require lots of beautiful paint colors! We can blend colors to make orange, green, and purple, but how do we make primary colors like red, yellow, and blue? We asked color science p ...  Show more