Back to Show
It's Okay to Be Smart
Will Earth Run Out of Oxygen
Season 13
Episode 4
Plants eat sunlight and air to make life. But the key enzyme behind it all, called RuBisCO, isn’t actually all that great at its job. Let’s talk about how photosynthesis really works, why oxygen isn’t coming from where you think, and whether we can fix the biggest flaw in one of Earth’s most essential processes.
Support Provided By

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?

11:12
The Art of Gene-Editing Butterflies (Painting with CRISPR!)