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Peek inside the meteorite vault at Arizona State University where billion-year-old rocks from space give researchers clues about the formation of our solar system. The meteorites survived their journeys through space and the Earth’s atmosphere and were collected around the world to be preserved inside the vault. Dr. Laurence Garvie, curator of the Center for Meteorite Studies at Arizona State University, studies, shows and smells, these metallic messengers from the universe to “unravel their stories”.
Produced by Emily V. Driscoll
Music by Audio Network.com
Filmed by Brandon Swanson
Additional Footage and Stills Provided by
Arizona State University, Laurence Garvie, The Weather Network,
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, NASA's Scientific
Visualization Studio, ABC Library
Thanks to Emilie Dunham, Zachary Torrano, Meenakshi Wadhwa

Tour the unique artifacts, including a yeti scalp and 4-tusked elephant, collected by Explorers Club members during research expeditions over the last century. Executive Director Will Roseman reveals the remarkable science and stories of the collection at the Club Headquarters in New York City.

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If you were looking at two shapes—specifically, a pointy, jagged polygon and an amoeboid-like splotch—which would you name "bouba," and which would you name "kiki"? In most scientific research, upwards of 90 percent of people will associate the pointy one with "kiki" and and the rounded one with "bouba." This worldwide phenomenon is known as the "Bouba-Kiki Effect" and has been recorded in many languages, and even with toddlers. Why most of us share the same tendency to link certain nonsensical visual and auditory stimuli isn't clear, but cognitive psychologists like Kelly McCormick have several compelling theories.

Astronauts are allowed to bring special “crew preference” items when they go up in space. NASA astronaut Don Pettit chose candy corn for his five and a half month stint aboard the International Space Station. But these candy corn were more than a snack, Pettit used them for experimentation.
Footage courtesy of Don Pettit. Music courtesy of Bardo Music/South Hill Project. Produced by Flora Lichtman

Jesus Dapena studies how humans reach great heights, biomechanically. The world record for the high jump -- the event in which a person propels him- or herself over a horizontal bar -- is just over eight feet. To understand how this is possible, Dapena, a professor in the department of kinesiology at Indiana University, has filmed athletes and analyzed their movements to better understand the biomechanics of the leap. Dapena explains the basic ingredients of the high jump.

In Demon Hill, the rules of gravity don't apply as you expect them to. Down is not down, exactly. The room, created by Los Angeles artist Julian Hoeber and on display at the Harris Lieberman Gallery in New York, is modelled on a stock roadside attraction, Hoeber says. It's based on a simple trick: the room is tilted on a compound angle. The result is disorienting and highly popular -- drawing about 20,000 people when it appeared in L.A. Michael Landy, professor of neural science and psychology at New York University, explains how the piece creates a battle between our senses.

There are millions of specimens of ice age plants and animals in the Page Museum's collections. Yet excavators and preparators will continue to dig up, clean and catalog millions of more fossils for the foreseeable future. The Page Museum's Chief Curator, Dr. John Harris, explains how paleontological and climatological research at the museum relies upon on tar pit's prolific fossil deposits.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Filmed by Luke Groskin and Christian Baker
Additional Stills and Video by The Page Museum
Shutterstock
Robin O'Keefe
Charles R. Knight
Rudyard Sadleir
David Berkowitz

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A new line of camouflage was designed with deer eyes in mind.

The badminton birdie many Americans hit around their backyards can fly faster than 200mph in professional games! The key to the birdie's speed is its unique aerodynamic shape and materials combined with a complicated kinetic chain of movements by players.

Credits

Produced by Emily V. Driscoll

Filmed By
Jon Foy
Emily V. Driscoll
Chris Colton

Narrated by Luke Groskin

Music by Audio Network

Stills by Shutterstock

Special Thanks
The Boston Open sponsored by MIT
Michele Cruz
Alex Liu
Kota Morikawa
Nilay Nanavanti
New York City Badminton
Victor Ng
Beth Sopka
Peter Teuben
Xun Wang
Chibing & Vernoica Wu

How do you become a scientist? "It's really easy: you start out as a little kid and then you never grow up," says explorer and biologist Sylvia Earle. In the latest installment of Science Friday's Desktop Diaries series, Her Deepness takes us on a tour on her Oakland office (Earle has desks all over the country) -- items of interest include a shrunken head, a life-size green moray, and a submersible capsule.

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Like many spice junkies, Dr. Marco Tizzano once believed he could develop a tolerance to the burning, painful sensations generated by eating chilis. But as a chef and researcher in chemosensory sensations, he now knows better. Dr. Tizzano explains how capsaicin creates a chemical cascade inside your body and why emotions might make chili lovers think they can handle the heat.

Crystal formation is essential in making smooth chocolate that's solid at room temperature and melts in your mouth. Richard Ludescher, professor of food science at Rutgers, and Rick and Michael Mast, of Mast Brothers Chocolate in Brooklyn, NY explain the science and art of chocolate making.
Produced by Emily V. Driscoll
Filmed by Stavros Basis, Ben Effinger, Jon Foy
Lighting by Tony Sur

Music by Audio Network
Narration by Christopher Intagliata

Additional Stills by
Shutterstock

Thanks to
Ken Branson
Robert Forman
Luke Groskin
Derek Herbster
Julie Leibach
Annie Minoff
Ariel Zych

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Paleoartist and scientific illustrator Gabriel Ugueto has a golden rule for his work: Accuracy. In order to resurrect the dinosaurs, Ugueto begins with a single bone and works his way from inside out. He researches whether there are any related animals alive today, or existing fossils that may shed light on how the bone fragment fits into a larger piece, and reconstructs the entire skeletal system. He then sketches in muscle groups, and adds skin and color considering where the animal lived and during what period of time.

But his resulting illustrations often don’t match the Jurassic Park-inspired dinosaurs that we’re used to.

Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Illustrations by Gabriel Ugueto
Additional Images by Shutterstock and E. Frey

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From the mandibles of a creepy crawly to your body comes a revolution in biomedical engineering. It's worm spit, from the silk worm moth caterpillar, although you may know it by its more common name, silk. Dr. David Kaplan explains how bioengineers at Tufts University are crafting this versatile protein into a myriad of medical materials.

Many of us spend more time at our desks than anywhere else. Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson takes us into his office at the Hayden Planetarium in New York City for a tour of his office, in the fourth of Science Friday's Desktop Diaries series. From a Saturn lamp Tyson made as a kid to his van Gogh pillow, Tyson has a lot of universe-themed paraphernalia. Tyson highlights some of his collection, and talks about what his journey to science stardom has been like.

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How do you turn apples into a delicious hard cider? Just ask Alejandro del Peral, a cidermaker from upstate New York. It takes blending suitable apples, adding the right yeast, and experimenting with sourness to get the cider exactly right. As he puts it, the process is "about 50 percent chemistry, and the other 50 percent is art."

Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Special Thanks to Chau Tu and Nine Pin Cider

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Its Latin name translates as "the vampire squid from hell." And while its crimson skin and glowing eyes support its title, deep sea ecologists like Bruce Robison of the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute have come to see the vampire squid as the antithesis of a bloodsucking predator. In fact, studies have shown that Vampyroteuthis infernalis is actually a gentle steward of the ocean's depths, gracefully foraging on marine detritus.

Produced by Christian Baker
Music by Audio Network
Additional Footage Provided by the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute

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Biomechanists use many high-tech tools such as MRI or CT scanning to visualize the connective tissues of specimens. But for Dr. Adam Summers of the University of Washington's Friday Harbor Labs - none of these methods provide the inspiration of clearing and staining. Using a cocktail of chemicals, clearing and staining turns soft tissues transparent while tinting bones and cartilage bright red and blue. Preparing gobies, stingrays, and sharks in this manner has revealed to Dr. Adam Summers critical data while allowing him, and us, to appreciate the beauty of each fish's form.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Filmed by Ryan Hawk
Music by Audio Network
Additional Photos by Adam Summers and Shutterstock

The secret to animating hair? Physics. Kelly Ward, senior software engineer for Walt Disney Animation Studios, was responsible for bringing Rapunzel's locks to life in Disney's Tangled. The hair had to look realistic, but not too real -- otherwise Rapunzel would be dragging 80 pounds behind her.

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Produced by Christian Baker

Music by Audio Network
Corals have long since been in the news for being at risk of bleaching. At Georgia Aquarium, a team of biologists are helping restore coral in the wild—by cultivating them in the lab.
Additional footage courtesy Georgia Aquarium and Prelinger Archive