Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
The Dark Origins of the Scientific Method
Season 11
Episode 2
500 years before the Scientific Revolution, the mathematician Al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham spent hours in a dark room studying the light that filtered in. Not only did he revolutionize how we literally see the world, he pioneered the scientific method that is now the backbone of modern science.
Support Provided By
16:47
If everything around us is made of atoms, why can’t we actually see them?
10:51
This video explores the bizarre mathematics that show how infinity is far stranger than a number.
24:25
How Gerardus Mercator later created a map that transformed navigation forever.
22:37
DNA solves crimes, but what happens when it sends innocent people to prison?
14:52
How thousands of tiny brains, obeying simple rules, solve problems no individual can understand.
19:50
Joe visits a flavor lab to uncover how our senses shape our taste.
22:36
How did the mass extinction of the dinosaurs play out, moment by moment?
12:37
Think traits like eye color or tongue-rolling are simple genetics? Think again.
11:08
Why is the Martian sky red by day… but blue at sunset?