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. 1h ago

    Is Ultron Unstoppable? Featuring Vsauce3!

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Follow me to Vsauce3!! http://bit.ly/1zUxn7a Twitter: @okaytobesmart @jtotheizzoe Instagram: @jtotheizzoe ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Will artificial intelligence ever surpass human intelligence? And if that happens, will AI be good or bad? Is evil AI like we see in Avengers: Age of Ultron… inevitable? READ THIS FOR MORE: Wait But Why: The Road To Superintelligence Part 1: http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-1.html Part 2: http://waitbutwhy.com/2015/01/artificial-intelligence-revolution-2.html The smiley face thought experiment is my take on the famous "paperclip maximizer", read more about it here: http://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Paperclip_maximizer Special thanks to Jake from Vsauce3! Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below! 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 ----------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.DFollow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Google+ https://plus.google.com/+itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Associate Producer Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation Dan Silver - Production Assistant Dalton Allen - Post-Production Intern Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod Other music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks ----------------- Last week's video: Superbugs: The Empire Strikes Bacteria https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fyRyZ1zKtyA More videos: Why Does February Have 28 Days? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgKaHTh-_Gs Why Vaccines Work https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aNhzLUL2ys Why Are Some People Left-Handed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPvMUpcxPSA Where Does the Smell of Rain Come From? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGcE5x8s0B8​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Is Ultron Unstoppable? Featuring Vsauce3!

  2. 2h ago

    Could Planet Minecraft Possibly Exist?

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate This episode is brought to you by Dropbox https://www.dropbox.com/ Tweet ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSmcraft Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSmcraftFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Gravitational field of a cubic planet: Chappell, James Michael, et al. "The gravity field of a cube." Physics International 3.2 (2012): 50. http://search.proquest.com/openview/6c982d4a364d8b7d7829ec389e2a907e/1?pq-origsite=gscholar More: http://www.askamathematician.com/2011/05/q-what-would-earth-be-like-to-us-if-it-were-a-cube-instead-of-spherical-is-this-even-possible/ https://possiblywrong.wordpress.com/2011/09/09/if-the-earth-were-a-cube/ 1884 claim of cubic planet discovery: http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=940DE5D91038E033A25755C1A9679D94659FD7CF Hats off to the Minecraft wiki community at Gamepedia for collecting stats about the Minecraft world! http://minecraft.gamepedia.com/Minecraft_Wiki 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/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 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/pbsdigitalstudios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc. Kate Eads - Producer Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics/Animation Katie Graham - Camera John Knudsen - Gaffer Theme music: “Ouroboros” by Kevin MacLeod Other music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock, stock footage from Videoblocks (unless otherwise noted)​ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Could Planet Minecraft Possibly Exist?

  3. 3h ago

    How Many Heartbeats Are We Given?

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Science really gets my heart going… Subscribe: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Twitter: @okaytobesmart ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Ever wonder how the heart symbol came to stand for the actual heart? And why do we speak of the heart as the seat of love, when love really happens in our brains? Is it true that animals only get a billion heartbeats? This week, we give you enough cool cardiac science to make your heart skip a beat Origin of the heart symbol: http://www.slate.com/articles/news_and_politics/explainer/2006/02/the_shape_of_my_heart.html History of silphium trade: http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/4256173?sid=21105598276993&uid=3739256&uid=3739920&uid=4&uid=2 What causes the pain of heartbreak? http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-causes-chest-pains/ The heartbeat hypothesis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heartbeat_hypothesis The quarter power scaling principle: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12877984 http://hep.ucsb.edu/courses/ph6b_99/0111299sci-scaling.html http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/longevity.htm Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below! ----------------- It's Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.DFollow me on Twitter: @jtotheizzoe Email me: itsokaytobesmart AT gmail DOT com Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart For more awesome science, check out: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Produced for PBS Digital Studios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen IncKate Eads - Associate Producer Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics Katie Graham - Director of Photography John Knudsen - Gaffer Dalton Allen - Post-Production Intern Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod Other music via APM Stock images from Shutterstock ----------------- Last week's video: What is Déjà Vu? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ut8mYGi0YRs More videos: Why Are Some People Left-Handed? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NPvMUpcxPSA Why Did We Blow on NES Games? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Gf9mtXnJfM The Science of Game of Thrones - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Utu-LpJn3Is There Was No First Human - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdWLhXi24Mo How The Elements Got Their Names - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtg9p6A6xnY Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    How Many Heartbeats Are We Given?

  4. 4h ago

    Barrage of the Cosmic Space Junk!

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate No Sandra Bullocks were harmed in the making of this video. Tweet this video ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSjunk Share on FB ⇒ http://bit.ly/OKTBSjunkFB ↓ More info and sources below ↓ Window chip in the ISS: http://www.esa.int/spaceinimages/Images/2016/05/Impact_chip The extent of space debris: http://www.esa.int/spaceinvideos/Videos/2013/04/Space_debris_story Where did all that debris come from? http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/guest-blog/where-did-all-that-space-debris-come-from/ USSTRATCOM space surveillance fact sheet: https://www.stratcom.mil/factsheets/11/Space_Control_and_Space_Surveillance/ This is cool: http://stuffin.space/ Every satellite orbiting Earth, visualized: http://qz.com/296941/interactive-graphic-every-active-satellite-orbiting-earth/ 8 weird pieces of space junk: http://www.wired.com/2009/02/spacestuff/ Project West Ford: http://www.wired.com/2013/08/project-west-ford/ STK animation courtesy of Analytical Graphics, Inc. Get yourself an awesome IOTBS shirt! http://dftba.com/besmart ---------------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is written and hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. 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! Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: http://twitter.com/okaytobesmart http://twitter.com/jtotheizzoe Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: http://instagram.com/jtotheizzoe Snapchat: YoDrJoe Produced by PBS Digital Studios 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

    Barrage of the Cosmic Space Junk!

  5. 5h ago

    What's The Most Accomplished Species on Earth?

    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 ↓ Life. There's just so MUCH of it! Click here to SUBSCRIBE -- http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub There are now more than 7 billion human beings on Earth, and that got me wondering: How successful are we compared to other species? I take a look at out how our numbers stack up to some other domains of life. It turns out that biomass, or what things weigh, can be more important than how many of something there are. Find out how our numbers stack up against everything from bugs to bacteria, and get ready for some mind-blowing numbers! For more on the numbers in the video, check out the blog: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/41790778768/episode-extra-life-by-the-numbers-how-do-we-know Have an idea for an episode or an amazing science question you want answered? Leave a comment below! Written and hosted by Joe Hanson Produced by Painted On Productions (http://www.paintedon.com/) Music: Whalehawk: http://vimeo.com/musicstore/track/137257 Clips from this episode via: "Aspens" by Altitude Filmworks: http://vimeo.com/50345182 "Golden Aspen Meadow" by David Huting: http://vimeo.com/9695494 Red-billed queleas by Antero Topp: http://youtu.be/3_zLeu5n4yM Bacterial growth: http://youtu.be/gEwzDydciWc Dengue virus infection: http://youtu.be/0PUsdv1kDTc ----------- 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

    What's The Most Accomplished Species on Earth?

  6. 6h ago

    Are You Sharing a Breath From Isaac Newton?

    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 ↓ We all breathe the same air. Literally. Click here to SUBSCRIBE, it's FREE! -- http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Take a deep breath. Smell that? It could be a little eau de Einstein. Or maybe a whiff of Cleopatra. Here's an amazing thought: every time you breathe, you could be sharing air with everyone who's ever lived. A few million of the same air molecules that enter your lungs in a lifetime also entered Albert Einstein or Marie Curie's lungs! That's some smart air. Earth's atmosphere is big, but not as big as many people think. All the air that keeps us alive is just a thin candy shell around our planet. In this episode, echoing the words of John F. Kennedy, I'll show you the science of how we all share the same air. So let's be careful about what we're putting in it! References for this episode: http://dft.ba/-5AuU Read about John F. Kennedy's American University speech: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_University_speech Earth's atmosphere illustrated by Adam Nieman: http://adamnieman.posterous.com/ Written and hosted by Joe Hanson Produced by Painted On Productions (http://www.paintedon.com/) Music: Johnny Ripper (with Ekoda) - Speak ----------- 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

    Are You Sharing a Breath From Isaac Newton?

  7. 7h ago

    Exoplanets: Are There Other Earths?

    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 ↓Is Earth the only living needle in this haystack of planets?Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Are there exoplanets like Earth? We live in one of a hundred billion of galaxies, each with hundreds of billions of stars. And now, thanks to modern astronomy, we know that the Milky Way is home to perhaps a hundred billion planets! In the past two decades, these exoplanet discoveries have spawned new questions about our universe, and if there might be another Earth, or other life, somewhere out there.In part 1 of our two-part series on exoplanets, we'll look at how astronomers find exoplanets, and what it means to call them Earth-like. We'll trace the history of planetary science back three thousand years and examine Earth's changing status in the cosmos. We were once the center of the universe, and now Earth is just another rock in the sky. What does that mean for us?Check out "Five Billion Years of Solitude" by Lee Billings: http://amzn.to/18Tzv59 This week's t-shirt comes from Wowch: http://www.wowch.com/puppyplanetMore reading:There are five billion Earth-like planets in the Milky Way: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/05/science/cosmic-census-finds-billions-of-planets-that-could-be-like-earth.html?_r=0 The exoplanet catalog: http://phl.upr.edu/projects/habitable-exoplanets-catalog Methods of detecting exoplanets: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methods_of_detecting_extrasolar_planets Interactive catalog of Kepler's exoplanet discoveries: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/science/space/keplers-tally-of-planets.html?ref=space A philosophical and historical look at the exoplanet revolution: http://www.aeonmagazine.com/nature-and-cosmos/the-real-meaning-of-the-exoplanet-revolution/ The Kepler telescope and the "adjacent possible": http://nautil.us/blog/clever-apes-a-busted-telescope--the-adjacent-possible How the Kepler telescope scanned the sky: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com/post/62343351213/kepler-exoplanet-tally An ode to the late Kepler telescope: http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2013/08/an-ode-to-kepler-the-planet-hunter/278738/Joe Hanson - Host and writerJoe Nicolosi - DirectorAmanda Fox - ProducerKatie Graham - Director of PhotographyAndrew Matthews - Editor and Motion GraphicsKate Eads - Production ManagerFilmed at Onion Creek Productions in Austin, TXProduced by PBS Digital Studios: http://www.youtube.com/user/pbsdigitalstudios -----------Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmartTwitter 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-smartFacebookhttps://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

    Exoplanets: Are There Other Earths?

  8. 8h ago

    Is Space a Thing?

    Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Try 23andMe: http://www.23andme.com/okay Don’t miss our next video! SUBSCRIBE! ►► http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub ↓↓↓ More info and sources below ↓↓↓ Since the days of Ancient Greece, philosophers and scientists have been wondering: What is space? Is the absence of things… a thing? These questions continued to fascinate physicists in the modern era, leading Isaac Newton, Ernst Mach, and Albert Einstein to wonder about the true nature of the fabric of the cosmos. The search for an answer led them to some of the greatest theories in physics. This week, we ask if space and time are really real, and how they come together to make “spacetime”! ----------- READ MORE: “The Fabric of the Cosmos” by Brian Greene http://amzn.to/2tF9fZO (Public library: http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/681349969) ----------- FOLLOW US: Merch: https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter: @okaytobesmart @DrJoeHanson Tumblr: http://www.itsokaytobesmart.com Instagram: @DrJoeHanson Snapchat: YoDrJoe ----------- It’s Okay To Be Smart is hosted by Joe Hanson, Ph.D. Director: Andrew Matthews Writer: Andrew Matthews Producer/editor/animator: Andrew Matthews Producer: Stephanie Noone and Amanda Fox 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

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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
    269