Since the 1960s, developmental psychologists point to the "Visual Cliff"—an experiment that plops babies on a fake precipice—as proof that infants learn to fear heights as they learn to crawl. Yet, over the past 25 years, a series of rigorous (and adorable) experiments by Karen Adolph of NYU's Infant Action Lab has shattered this myth, revealing that while babies can learn from experiences near high ledges or narrow bridges, it's not a phobia they acquire.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Starring Derek Hough, Tessa Rose Confessore, and Clarabelle Kaufman
Music by Audio Network Footage
Stills and Additional Footage provided by Karen Adolph and the NYU Infant Action Lab,
Eleanor Gibson and R.D. Walk
KTCA Twin Cities Public Television
Ira Flatow
Glacier National Park (C.C. 3.0)

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In 1957 at The Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, Dr. Karl P. Schmidt, famed snake expert and herpetologist, made a detailed scientific account of the effect of venom from a snake bite in the human body—his body. Schmidt made the record while he was dying. The newspapers called his notes a “death diary.”

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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

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.

http://www.sciencefriday.com/cider
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

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.

http://www.sciencefriday.com
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.

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

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

It's floating all around you, all the time—a wafting cloud formed by billions of bacteria that slough off your body with every movement you make. At the Biology and the Built Environment Center at the University of Oregon, researchers have revealed that not only can they detect and catalog this personal microbial cloud, but each person's cloud is unique.

More Microbe Week videos! (Click "show more" for links)
BrainCraft: Good Sleep = Good Gut? https://youtu.be/jkjqQXX47KE
Gross Science: What Really Causes Cavities? https://youtu.be/WU05zZJKSdE
AMNH: Microbes of New York https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mTdeZU_8cLI
Science Friday: Your Very Special Bacterial Cloud https://youtu.be/2_ib7Z4bmrg
Inspired by the Secret World Inside You exhibition http://www.amnh.org/exhibition....s/the-secret-world-i


Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network and Ego Plum's Live Performance of Raymond Scott's "In the Hall of the Mountain Queen"
Additional Video by The American Museum of Natural History
Microbe Stills by B. Peterson © AMNH
Special Thanks to Roxana Hickey, Jessica Green, Ashley Bateman, Clarisse Betancourt and Erin Chapman

Many of us spend more time at our desks than anywhere else. Theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku takes us on a tour of his office, where he writes his bestsellers and records his radio shows. The futuristic 1950s TV show Flash Gordon jump-started his interest in science. Watching it as a kid, Kaku realized that it was the problem-solving scientist, not the chiseled crimefighter Flash, who was really the hero. Originally published May 20, 2011.

http://www.sciencefriday.com
With its fanned plumage and bold strut, a male wild turkey's display conjures images of Americana and festive feasts. But this grandstanding isn't intended for human eyes - it's for female turkeys who actually use it to discern a male's genetic prowess. How exactly she parses his performance to pick her suitor can be a fairly complex enterprise but thanks to the research of Dr. Richard Buchholz of the University of Mississippi, we have some clues as to what a female turkey finds "hot" in a male.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Footage ands Stills Provided by
Pronghorn Productions - www.pronghornproductions.comRichard Buchholz, Ph.d.
Pond5,
U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Sgt. White Knight YT User (C.C. 3.0)
"Light Curve on the Road" (C.C. 3.0)
Music by Audio Network, Ponchielli, "Dance of the Hours"

Many of us spend more waking hours at our desk than anywhere else. Writer and neurologist Oliver Sacks explains what his desk means to him in the first in a series of Desktop Diaries. From lumps of metal to lemurs, Sacks describes some of his treasures, his preferred method for writing his books and why he takes comfort in dense metals.

Thought to the be inspiration of "sea serpent" stories, the monstrously-long Oarfish provokes wonder in nearly all that witness it. Yet despite our fascination, little is known about this fish, its lifecycle and how it navigates its deep-sea environment. With help of a frozen specimen, CalState Assistant Professor Misty Paig-Tran provides us with a biomechanist insights into this real-life "sea monster's" unusual physiology.
Produced by Luke Groskin
Filmed by Christian Baker, Luke Groskin, CalState - Fullerton Music by Audio Network
Additional Stills and Video by UnCruise Adventures, Mark Benfield NOAA, and Juan, Pablo Maturana, Corrine Bourbellion, Thomas Kohler

The axolotl is a Mexican salamander with an incredible ability: Cut its leg off, and the limb will grow right back! How it does this and why humans can't is still a bit of a mystery. Researchers like Susan Bryant of UC Irvine are studying these amphibians to understand the underlying mechanisms for their miraculous regenerative powers.
Produced by Christian Baker
Music by Audio Network
Additional Stills and Video by the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Dr. Susan Bryant, Dr. David Gardiner, and Dr. Akira Satoh

SCIENCE FRIDAY'S CEPHALOPOD WEEK 2016 BEGINS May 17th!
http://www.sciencefriday.com/cephalopodweek
With thousands of chemically-sensitive suckers, color-changing skin, and a brain that literally stretches when they eat, octopuses seem like aliens living in our oceans. Understanding their physical adaptations and how octopuses might process their own sensations requires a flexible imagination. Thankfully, Frank Grasso of Brooklyn College is up to the task. He reveals some of the small biological and behavioral clues that researchers have uncovered as they try to understand these curious creatures.

As the owner of Casa Della Mozarella, a world-famous Italian deli on New York City's Arthur Avenue, Orazio Carciotto has been making mozzarella for over 30 years. During that time, Orazio has learned that mastering the flavor and texture of this silky smooth cheese requires a deft (and burn-resistant) hand and a mastery of milk curd chemistry. Now, he bestows the tricks of his trade upon you!

Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network
Production Assistance and Cheese Slicing by Rachel Bouton
Additional Video by Xochitl Garcia

http://www.sciencefriday.com
Armed with appetites and attitudes, brush-clearing goats will mow down weeds and shrubs from even the steepest of Southern California's hillsides. Perfectly adapted to a life of constant browsing, these ruminants are being deployed as a shield against the region's rampant wildfires. We join Ian Newsam, owner of Brush Goats 4 Hire, and his "elite" herd of goats as they reduce the invasive plants and fuel that contributes to the fires.

Produced by Luke Groskin
Music by Audio Network

Additional Stills and Video Courtesy
Henry the Goat, California Office of Emergency Management, U.S. Geological Survey, Youtube User "thatlocalsportsguy"

If you spin a hard-boiled egg in a pool of milk, the milk will wick up the sides of the egg and spray off at the egg's equator. Engineer Tadd Truscott, of Brigham Young University, along with Ken Langley and others, launched an investigation to figure out why this happens -- complete with a custom-built spinning apparatus, billiard balls and high speed video cameras.

A couple of neuroscientists saw Snowball, the dancing sulphur-crested cockatoo, on YouTube and decided to do a study on him.