Up Next
Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
Why Y Is a Vowel According to Physics (and so is W)
Season 11
Episode 8
Human language is an incredible thing: a combination of mouth sounds that we combine into words, sentences, poems, and constitutions. They carry meaning, emotion, and power. But underneath it all, language is really just physics. In this episode, we explore how physics is at the core of every syllable, starting with the first word most of us ever speak.
Sign up now for inspiring and thought-provoking media delivered straight to your inbox.
13:38
A cosmic soup hadn’t existed in 13.8 billion years. Now, scientists cook it up in a lab.
12:56
After a century of industrial pollution and superstorms, New York's waterways needs help!
37:33
Crashing a car is usually a terrible accident. But sometimes, it’s a way to save lives.
18:10
A huge part of our identities, emotions, and our lives get tied up...Why is that?
10:57
X is everywhere and it’s probably thanks to math. But why is x the symbol for the unknown?
17:34
What’s the most average thing in the universe? We’re on a mission to find it.
17:48
New ideas come from chance events and unexpected connections involved in working together.
11:18
Our universe locked incredible secrets in a code written in rainbows.
13:54
Butterfly metamorphosis is one of nature’s most magical transformations.
14:03
Scorpions are an evolutionary marvel with venom that could save lives.
14:29
Join me on my visit to the most advanced cultivated meat production facility in the world.
14:03
Life on Earth may have stayed boring and small if it weren’t thanks to one deadly element.