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
11:20
Learn nature’s ultimate game of hide-and-seek, and the way to win this game is all in the brain.
11:17
Nature has had to come up with some crazy ways to survive winter. None are weirder than hibernation.
12:40
Political scientist Don Green joins Joe to figure out the complex psychological and social factors t
16:27
Why do certain sounds make some of us so upset?!
11:43
Despite what you may have heard or learned in school, the sun is NOT the center of the solar system.
10:23
People see faces everywhere thanks to a quirk of the brain called visual pareidolia.
10:00
Why do the same, self-repeating patterns appear in trees, rivers, lightning, and even our bodies?
15:25
Our animal brains deal with quantities in very specific, and fascinating, ways.
12:54
Can new technologies make death prediction even more accurate?
21:33
AI may help us talk to whales soon. But should we?!
10:40
The cosmic distance ladder is the world’s longest ruler, built to measure the universe.
15:17
On April 8, North America is getting a total solar eclipse. Here’s what you need to know.