Be Smart

The Deadly Chemistry That Made Life Interesting

Life’s been around on Earth for at least 3.7 billion years. But for most of that time, it was incredibly boring — just simple little cells squirming around in water. It only got interesting in the last few hundred million years. And that might never have happened without the help of a deadly, but also life-giving, element.

The Deadly Chemistry That Made Life Interesting

14m 3s

  • Computers Can Predict When You're Going to Die… Here's How: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Computers Can Predict When You're Going to Die… Here's How

    S12 E6 - 12m 54s

    Predictive analytics uses math and historical data to make predictions about the future. It’s used in commerce, sports, politics, social media and tons of other places. And as it turns out, people have been using math to predict people’s death for centuries. Can it predict mine?

  • Can AI Help Us Talk to Whales?: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Can AI Help Us Talk to Whales?

    S12 E5 - 21m 33s

    New technology is revolutionizing how we study and protect nature. In this video, we’ll learn how artificial intelligence is being used to decode the sonic landscapes of the ocean - specifically, whale song. That’s right, there may come a day soon where AI allows us to understand and talk to whales. But some scientists are saying: the question may actually be, SHOULD we talk to whales?

  • Measuring the Universe With a 14-Billion Light-Year Ruler: asset-mezzanine-16x9

    Measuring the Universe With a 14-Billion Light-Year Ruler

    S12 E4 - 10m 40s

    Since the time of the ancient Greeks, scientists have been constructing a cosmic measuring tape to measure the universe from our own backyard all the way to its ever-expanding edge: the cosmic distance ladder. In this video, we climb that ladder and explore how each rung has revealed something new and previously unthinkable about the universe we live in.

WETA Passport

Stream tens of thousands of hours of your PBS and local favorites with WETA Passport whenever and wherever you want. Catch up on a single episode or binge-watch full seasons before they air on TV.