Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
Illuminating the Universe: The History of Light
Season 5
Episode 9
Beyond what we can touch, taste, smell, and hear, we experience the universe through light. But how did we come to discover light, and how did we learn light’s true nature, as the fastest thing in the universe, an electromagnetic spectrum, a wave and particle capable of the most amazing things? Here is the history of light, according to physics.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
Support Provided By

10:44
Can trees really save us from climate change?

9:43
Could You Be a Chimera?

11:30
I went to NASA in Houston to talk to astronaut Don Pettit.

7:20
Why is ice slippery? It's a more complicated answer than it seems!

11:11
Recycling is broken. Here's how we can fix it.

14:55
People say insects are the food of the future.

11:53
Here’s a rundown of a few of the human body’s biggest evolutionary fails!

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?