Up Next
Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
How the Meter Became The Meter
Season 5
Episode 6
The meter is the world’s ultimate measure, but how did it become “the” meter? What is this measurement based on? The story of this revolution in measurement traces its roots to the French Revolution. Scientists decided that an equal and united people should have equal and united measures. So they sent a pair of young astronomers out to measure the world, and invent the meter.
Support Provided By
13:11
Meet your cousin: Homo naledi.
8:51
Why are trees and other plants green? The answer is full of surprises.
8:46
How do we see color in the first place?
11:20
Earth’s climate is changing in a big way.
9:36
Money. We all use it. But is it real?
11:24
I look at a few of the most famous incorrect factoids in science.
7:21
What is ”egg-shaped” even?
16:07
Blind YouTuber Molly Burke shows Joe Hanson a new way to see.
5:27
Walk into any forest, and beneath your feet is what helps make life on Earth possible.
10:26
It never gets dark anymore. Not REALLY dark, anyway.
10:25
Fifty years ago, we sent the first astronauts to walk on the moon’s face.
9:43
Could You Be a Chimera?