March 30, 2017 Mysterious Word Parts, Demystified There are a number of words in English that seem to be formed from two parts, but one of the parts is obscure. Wonder no more at where these parts come from.
March 29, 2017 World Median Age 1960-2060 Median age is the age that divides a population into two numerically equal groups - that is, half the people are younger than this age and half are older. It is a single index that summarizes the age distribution of a population.
March 28, 2017 Why Song Translations Usually Suck It's been a long time since I did a linguistics video, but today Alex has stepped in and done a brilliant job. Song translations usually suck: and it's because you either have to lose the meaning or the sound. Let's talk about syllabic vs melisamatic singing, about music, and about Beethoven.
March 27, 2017 Lines in the Sand: When The Beach Becomes a Canvas Anyone can write their name in the sand, but Jim Denevan uses the beach to create stunning large-scale art. What started as a hobby over 20 years ago has resulted in worldwide recognition, and he's created masterworks from Russia to Chile to Australia. At the end of the day, though, Jim's just happy to find a new beach to make his canvas.
March 23, 2017 Whole Phrases Hidden in English Words Why say a whole sentence when just a word will do? You might never have noticed that these English words contain whole phrases within them.
March 22, 2017 The 5 Filters of the Mass Media Machine According to American linguist and political activist, Noam Chomsky, media operate through 5 filters: ownership, advertising, the media elite, flak and the common enemy.
March 17, 2017 Relativity in 500 Words Maxwell, 2nd class demon, continues the journey in the world of relativity. Inspired by "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" and "Mickey Mouse in the Delta Dimension" by Romano Scarpa.
March 15, 2017 Marshall McLuhan | Television "We live in a world where everything is supposed to be one thing ata time, lineal, connected, logical, and goal oriented. So, obviously for that left hemisphere world, this new right hemisphere dominance is bad. We’re now living in a world which pushes the right hemisphere way up because it’s an all-at-once world. The right hemisphere it’s an all-at-once, simultaneous world. So the right hemisphere, by pushing up into dominance, is making the old left hemisphere world, which is our educational establishment, our political establishment, make it look very foolish." — Marshall McLuhan, 1976
March 13, 2017 Get Lost with the World's Master Maze Maker For many of us, mazes represent a mysterious unknown, an enigmatic and entertaining puzzle of mythic proportions, and Englishman Adrian Fisher is the world's preeminent maze designer. Over the years, this master of deception has designed over 700 mazes in 40 countries and knows exactly how to twist, turn and disorient you. However, like all skillful mystery-makers, Fisher's greatest talent in maze-making is knowing how to perfectly blend the intrigue of exploration with the satisfaction that comes from finding your way.
March 10, 2017 The Man Who Was Godzilla Haruo Nakajima is perhaps Japan’s most famous actor, but you wouldn’t necessarily recognize his face. That’s because from 1954 to 1972, he was the man inside the Godzilla costume for 12 consecutive films. At 87 years old, many now consider Nakajima among the most iconic suit actors in film history. We caught up with the legend who gave life to the "King of the Monsters" to find out how he took on the challenge in the original groundbreaking movie.
March 9, 2017 Venus Flytrap Sea Anemone Venus flytrap sea anemone (Actinoscyphia sp.) filmed near the tentatively called “Moki” seamount, on the northern region of the American Samoa Exclusive Economic Zone, by NOAA Ship Okeanos Explorer. The sea anemone closes its tentacles to capture prey or to protect itself.
March 8, 2017 The Fearless Girl On the eve of International Women's Day, "Charging Bull," the former guerilla art sculpture by Arturo Di Modica that's now a fixture of Manhattan's Financial district got a new companion, a defiant, bronze statue of a girl who confronts him head-on, arms akimbo, standing proudly and powerfully. Conceived out of McCann New York and created by Artist Kristen Visbal, "The Fearless Girl" was commissioned by asset management firm State Street Global Advisors to mark its initiative urging the 3,500+ companies in which it invests for its clients to increase the number of women on their corporate boards.
March 6, 2017 Janna Levin on Dark Matter An animated take on dark matter, voiced by Janna Levin. Janna is a Columbia University astrophysicist and the Director of Sciences at Pioneer Works.
March 3, 2017 How Small Are We in the Scale of the Universe? In 1995, scientists pointed the Hubble Telescope at an area of the sky near the Big Dipper. The location was apparently empty, and the whole endeavor was risky – what, if anything, was going to show up? But what came back was nothing short of spectacular: an image of over 1,500 galaxies glimmering in a tiny sliver of the universe. Alex Hofeldt helps us understand the scale of this image.
March 1, 2017 How MLK Composed "I Have A Dream" Nerdwriter dissects American civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" public speech delivered during the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom on August 28, 1963, in which he calls for an end to racism in the United States and called for civil and economic rights
