How Does Escargot Work?
Escargot is just one of many ways that humans enjoy eating land snails -- and we've been eating them for 30,000 years. Learn about the snail...
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Science & Medicine
BrainStuff
Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.
Episodes
20 of 2,709 episodesHow Does a Geiger Counter Work?
The Geiger counters we use to detect harmful radiation today are 100-year-old technology that works based on simple behaviors of electrons a...
BrainStuff Classics: How Do Starling Murmurations Work?
Starlings flock in swooping, harmonious groups of thousands of birds called murmurations. Learn how these birds pull off such an amazing fea...
Was Commodus One of Rome's Worst Emperors?
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 megalom...
What If Earth Had Rings?
Planetary rings are gorgeous, temporary structures created when a planet's gravity captures and tears apart smaller objects. Learn why Earth...
Why Do We Blush When We're Embarrassed?
Blushing is an involuntary reaction that can seem to draw more attention to yourself at exactly the worst moment. Learn why this embarrassin...
BrainStuff Classics: How Are Ethnicity and Race Different?
The concepts of ethnicity and race are both human inventions with no basis in science, but these concepts have huge impacts on us and our wo...
How Does Butter Get Its Texture, Flavor, and Color?
Turning cream into a stick of butter involves some complex chemistry, crystallization, and (traditionally) fermentation. Learn more -- plus...
Why Do We Call Dibs and Shotgun, and Who Was the Real McCoy?
Some idioms have a fairly clear origin, but others have been lost to time and legend. Learn about the game that inspired calling dibs, the m...
Why Is Siberia's Batagaika Crater Known as the Doorway to Hell?
The Batagaika crater (or, technically, megaslump) is a massive pit caused by thawing permafrost -- and it's only getting bigger. Learn what...
BrainStuff Classics: How Would Authorities Handle a Murder in Space?
Investigating murders right here on planet Earth can be tricky -- how would it be handled in space? Who would even be in charge? Learn what...
How Does Taste Work?
Your sense of taste isn't just a chemical catalog of what's in a food or drink -- it's a complex physiological and psychological process. Le...
How Did Weasels Get a Bad Rap?
Weasels have a bad reputation among bird farmers and have been cast as literal villains in books and cartoons, but they can actually help co...
How Did Napoleon I, the Emperor of the French, Rise and Fall?
In the midst of the French Revolution, Napoleon Bonaparte rode his hubris straight into an emperorship, but he was fated to fail. Learn how...
BrainStuff Classics: How Did Alchemy Create Chemistry?
Alchemists may have never turned lead into gold, but they did create the field of chemistry. Learn how the study of alchemy worked in today'...
How Did Sundown Towns Say the Quiet Part Out Loud?
Sundown towns are places in the United States where, after the Civil War and Reconstruction, white communities kept Black Americans and othe...
Why Do We Yawn, and Why Is It Catching?
Science isn't entirely sure why humans and other animals yawn, let alone why yawning can be contagious -- but we've got some good hypotheses...
How Do Rip Currents Work?
Rip currents are dangerous flows of water that can drag you away from the shore and out into the deep. Learn how they form, what to watch fo...
BrainStuff Classics: Can the Same Animal Evolve Twice?
Remote islands are excellent laboratories for observing evolution at work -- and in the case of a flightless bird called the Aldabra rail, w...
Where Did Tomatoes Come From?
The tomato originated in the Americas and spread during European colonization. But was it really thought to be poisonous (or cause lycanthro...