Be Smart.

Joe Hanson

We give you deep answers to simple questions about science and the rest of the universe. And also dad jokes. Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, PhD. He's a molecular biologist and an award-winning science communicator and journalist

  1. 43m ago

    Tuatara Time! – Face To Face With A Living Fossil! (ft. John Green)

    Your now is not your forever (unless you’re a tuatara)Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓Uploaded 07-02-18Special thanks to John Green! And to Amber Faasen and the Dallas Zoo herpetarium team!During the 2017 Project For Awesome livestream, I promised I’d make a tuatara video if we hit our fundraising goal, and I’m a man of my word! Little did I know I’d get to meet a tuatara and learn things about a 200 million year old branch of life that would blow my mind. Get ready to meet the chillest reptile, weird living fossil, and star of Turtles All The Way Down… the tuatara.3D tuatara skull animation courtesy of Digimorph: http://www.digimorph.org/ READ MORE: “Turtles All The Way Down” by John Green: http://amzn.to/2GU2c6J “Horseshoe Crabs and Velvet Worms: The Story of the Animals and Plants That Time Has Left Behind” by Richard Fortey http://amzn.to/2EpcfT2 Hay, J. M., Subramanian, S., Millar, C. D., Mohandesan, E., and Lambert, D. M. (2008). Rapid molecular evolution in a living fossil. Trends in Genetics, 24(3), 106-109.-----------FOLLOW US:Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartTwitter:@DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson-----------It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.Director: Joe NicolosiWriter: Joe Hanson, Ph.D.Creative Director: David SchulteEditor/animator: Derek Borsheim Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda FoxProduced by PBS Digital StudiosMusic via APMStock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  2. 1h ago

    Why Don't Other Animals Use Glasses?

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Check out The Great Courses Plus: http://ow.ly/OE9y301cRfI Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Get yourself an awesome IOTBS shirt! http://dftba.com/besmart This is a cool old movie from 1941 about how the eye works: https://archive.org/details/0586_How_the_Eye_Functions_E00456_04_22_16_00 Dive deeper into the physics of vision correction with Michel van Biezen: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLX2gX-ftPVXXf2ZaG_1SXAYbVcifI6gvr Myopia boom in modern times: http://www.nature.com/news/the-myopia-boom-1.17120 Limits to human vision: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11019869 ---- Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment or check us out at the links below! Like us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Follow on Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Follow on Snapchat: YoDrJoe ----------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Follow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios Music via APM Stock images from SciencePhoto http://www.sciencephoto.com/ and Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted) http://www.videoblocks.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Why Don't Other Animals Use Glasses?

  3. 2h ago

    How to Defuse the Overpopulation Bomb

    Thank you to Bill and Melinda Gates for supporting PBS Digital Studios. If you’d like to take a look at the 2018 Annual Letter, you can check it out here http://b-gat.es/2Cfph0j ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓Uploaded 13-02-18Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Is overpopulation real? Is Earth filling up with too many humans? How many people can Earth hold, anyway? As our species approaches 8 billion, human overpopulation is a major concern for many people. How can we reduce poverty and our impact on the environment? Do we need a forced one-child policy or something? Maybe not, because when we look at the science and history, populations seem to control themselves. This week we look at all these questions and more.READ MORE: https://ourworldindata.org https://www.sciencemag.org/site/special/population/ http://science.sciencemag.org/content/346/6206/234 https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/are-malthus-predicted-1798-food-shortages/ -----------FOLLOW US:Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartTwitter:@DrJoeHanson @okaytobesmart Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson-----------It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D.Director: Joe NicolosiWriter: Joe Hanson, Ph.D.Creative Director: David SchulteEditor/animator: Karl Boettcher Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda FoxProduced by PBS Digital StudiosMusic via APMStock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  4. 3h ago

    The Remarkable Owl!

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Enjoy these amazing facts about owls! Don’t miss the next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ As we get ready to watch that big football game that my lawyers tell me I’m not allowed to say the name of, let’s celebrate a champion of the bird world: Stealthy and silent owls! Learn how owls fly so silently, how they see in the dark, and how owls’ incredible hearing makes them such superb aerial hunters. Want more awesome owl science? Check out “What Makes Owls So Quiet and Deadly?” from KQED’s Deep Look: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a68fIQzaDBY Special thanks to: The Witmer Lab at Ohio University Learn more: Wagner, Hermann, et al. "Features of owl wings that promote silent flight." Interface Focus 7.1 (2017): 20160078. Wagner, Hermann, et al. "Neuroethology of prey capture in the barn owl (Tyto alba L.)." Journal of Physiology-Paris 107.1 (2013): 51-61. FOLLOW US: It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Joe Nicolosi Writer: Shaena Montanari Editor/animator/producer: Andrew Orsak Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock http://www.shutterstock.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    The Remarkable Owl!

  5. 3h ago

    Why Y Is a Vowel Through Physics (and so is W)

    We’re on PATREON! ►► Join the community https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ 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. Try the Pink Trombone vocal simulator! - https://experiments.withgoogle.com/pink-trombone References: https://sites.google.com/view/vowel-sounds-physics/home SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub 0:00 Your voice is just physics 1:16 Some basics of linguistics 2:27 There are more than 5 vowels? 4:49 The physics of the vocal tract 7:04 Resonance and sound filters 8:47 How vowels are an acoustic illusion 11:25 Finding vowels in surprising places 13:09 A touching moment 13:45 The extra bits ----------- High fives to all our Brain Trust Patrons: Jaap Westera Millennial Glacier Mark Littlehale Mehdi Damou Barbora Bei Burt Humburg dani bowman David Johnston Salih Arslan Baerbel Winkler Robert Young Eric Meer Dustin Karen Haskell Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Why Y Is a Vowel Through Physics (and so is W)

  6. 4h ago

    Why Getting Dizzy is Kinda Like Temporary Brain Damage

    PBS Member Stations rely on viewers like you. To support your local station, go to: http://to.pbs.org/DonateOKAY↓ More info and sources below ↓Uploaded 26-04-19You can check out Google's Science Journal app at http://g.co/ScienceJournal We’ve all gotten dizzy before… but have you ever gotten WEIRD DIZZY? I teamed up with Vanessa Hill from BrainCrat to answer the question “why do we get dizzy?” and in the process we learned about some very strange and hilarious ways to get extra-special dizzy! Get ready to learn about your vestibular system, the system that lets you know where your body is in space. You don’t even notice your vestibular system is there… until it stops working right! #dizzy #neuroscience #vestibularSUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub -----------REFERENCES:Blakley, B. W., and Siegel, M. (1995). Feeling dizzy: Understanding and treating dizziness, vertigo, and other balance disorders. New York: Macmillan. Brandt, T. (2003). Vertigo: Its multisensory syndromes (2nd ed.). London: Springer.Ekdale, E. G. (2016). Form and function of the mammalian inner ear. Journal of Anatomy, 228(2), 324-337.Hayes, S. H., Dinga, D. Slavia, R. J., and Allman, B. (2013). Chapter 1 - Anatomy and physiology of the external, middle and inner ear. In Handbook of Clinical Neurophysiology (pp. 3-23). Plishka, C. M. (2015). A clinician’s guide to balance and dizziness: Evaluation and treatment. Thorofare, New Jersey: SLACK Incorporated. Steward O. (2000) The Vestibular System. In Functional Neuroscience. Springer, New York, NY.Welgampola, M. S., Bradshaw, A., and Halmagyi, G. M. (2011). Practical neurology part 4: Dizziness on head movement. Medical Journal of Australia, 195 (9): 518-522. doi: 10.5694/mja11.11001 -----------FOLLOW US for more curiosity:Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHansonhttp://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merchhttps://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smartFacebook http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Books from our episodes:http://smart-books.tumblr.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

  7. 4h ago

    Why Is Sex Such a Thing?

    We’re on PATREON! Join the community ►► https://www.patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart SUBSCRIBE so you don’t miss a video! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Why does sex exist? You might think the obvious answer is “reproduction” but there are plenty of organisms on Earth that don’t require sex to reproduce. And the more that scientists examined sex, they more they realized that it’s an expensive and inefficient way to get your genes to the next generation. The true purpose of sex is actually one of the longest-standing mysteries in evolutionary biology. But scientists are closer than ever to finding the answer. Here’s what we know about the evolutionary enigma of sex. References: https://sites.google.com/view/evolutionofsex-references/home ----------- Special thanks to our Brain Trust Patrons: Burt Humburg DeliciousKashmiri Mario Orso Brian Chang Roy Lasris Javier Soto dani bowman David Johnston Salih Arslan Baerbel Winkler Robert Young Amy Sowada Eric Meer Peter Ehrnstrom Dustin Marcus Tuepker Karen Haskell AlecZero Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Why Is Sex Such a Thing?

  8. 5h ago

    ,000,000 Years Forward

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Try Squarespace: http://squarespace.com/itsokaytobesmart Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓ More info and sources below ↓ For more science and stories of the Anthropocene, subscribe to the Generation Anthropocene podcast: http://anthropocene.stanford.edu/ A great book on this subject: The Earth After Us: What Legacy Will Humans Leave in the Rocks? by Jan Zalasiewicz http://amzn.to/20RbrZo Sources: Waters, Colin N., et al. "The Anthropocene is functionally and stratigraphically distinct from the Holocene." Science 351.6269 (2016): aad2622. Steffen, Will, et al. "The Anthropocene: conceptual and historical perspectives." Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society of London A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 369.1938 (2011): 842-867. Zalasiewicz, Jan, et al. "The technofossil record of humans." The Anthropocene Review (2014): 2053019613514953. Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment or check us out at the links below! Follow on Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/DrJoeHanson Follow on Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Follow on Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe ----------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Follow me on Twitter: @DrJoeHanson Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigita... Music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    ,000,000 Years Forward
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
2 Ratings

About

We give you deep answers to simple questions about science and the rest of the universe. And also dad jokes. Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, PhD. He's a molecular biologist and an award-winning science communicator and journalist

Information

  • Creator
    Joe Hanson
  • Years Active
    2026
  • Episodes
    353

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