Whether the topic is popcorn or particle physics, you can count on BrainStuff to explore -- and explain -- the everyday science in the world around us.
Latest episodes
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11 min
Was James Dean's Final Car Cursed?
After James Dean died in a car crash at 24 years old, the remains of that car -- a silver Porsche 550 Spyder -- were implicated in a series of other accidents before the car appare…
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7 min
BrainStuff Classics: Does the Community of Lily Dale Reconnect the Living and the Dead?
Spiritualism is a 19th-century belief system that holds that the living can communicate with spirits of the dead through mediums. Learn about the community where spiritualism is fa…
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14 min
How Did the Philadelphia Experiment Work?
The Philadelphia Experiment is a fringe theory that says a secret military project made a WWII ship disappear (or time travel, or eat some of its crew). Learn about the hoax that g…
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14 min
Can Your Hair Really Turn White Overnight?
Tales of some great shock or fright suddenly turning a person's hair white go back thousands of years. Learn what researchers think is really going on -- and how our hair normally…
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11 min
Why Are Brown Recluse Spiders Not All That Scary?
Brown recluse spiders rarely bite humans, and when they do, it only causes a reaction in about 10 percent of cases. Learn how to identify brown recluses and what their bites do in…
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8 min
BrainStuff Classics: When Has a Single Vote Decided an Election?
Voting is an incredibly important way to make your voice heard, but it's very rare for a candidate to win or lose by just one vote. Learn how rare -- and about a few times that it'…
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12 min
How Do You Grow a 3,000-Pound Pumpkin?
The largest pumpkins in the world now weigh well over a ton, and the record gets broken just about every year. But how (and why) would you go about growing one? Learn how competiti…
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14 min
How Do Your Nerves Tell Your Muscles to Function?
Every movement our bodies make -- from waving at a friend to pumping blood -- is goverened by complex electrochemical handshakes among our nerves and our muscles. Learn how volunta…
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12 min
Why Did the Massive Maginot Line Fail to Stop Hitler?
After years of trench warfare in WWI, France built a line of massive underground bunkers and other defensive fortifications along hundreds of miles of its border. Learn how the Mag…
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7 min
BrainStuff Classics: Why Are Some Americans Cancelling Columbus Day?
Some U.S. cities and states have officially changed Columbus Day to Indigenous Peoples' Day. Learn why -- and why some Americans disagree with the change -- in this classic episode…
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10 min
American Versus British English: What Are Biscuits, Muffins, and Pudding?
The English-language terms for different baked goods vary based on where English is being spoken. Learn why an American cookie is a British biscuit, an American biscuit is a Britis…
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14 min
How Do Sunspots Work?
When dark spots appear on the surface of the Sun, we're actually seeing the result of massive distortions in solar magnetic fields caused by roiling plasma -- and they appear in re…
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11 min
Did the 'Lost Continent' of Lemuria Really Exist?
A sunken continent called Lemuria was first proposed as a scientific explanation for lemur populations in the mid-1800s, but it quickly became part of the mythology of Theosophist…
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8 min
BrainStuff Classics: How Did a Mad King Design Disney's Castle?
Walt Disney based Sleeping Beauty's castle -- the centerpiece of Disneyland and the Disney logo -- on a real castle in the Bavarian Alps of Germany. Learn about Neuschwanstein Cast…
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15 min
Could the Bird Flu Cause a Human Pandemic?
Since the early 2000s, the H5N1 bird flu has sickened wild and domestic birds around the world -- and sometimes humans and other mammals, too. Learn how this strain of avian influe…
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10 min
Where Do Butternut Squash Come From?
Humans started domesticating edible gourds thousands of years ago, but one of today's most popular varieties has been around for less than a century. Learn about the history and sc…
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12 min
How Did the Great Stink of London Work?
In London in the summer of 1858, a Great Stink settled over the city. The sewage from its growing population was baking in the streets -- and infiltrating the city's water supply.…
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9 min
BrainStuff Classics: How Do Blue Whales Work?
It's a good question. The blue whale is the largest known animal to ever grace the planet (they may be twice as big as Megalodon was! Their tongues are as heavy as elephants!), but…
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12 min
Do Political TV Ads Really Change Minds?
Every U.S. election cycle, political campaigns bombard American televisions with advertisements for candidate X versus Y. But can these ads really make a difference, especially wit…
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14 min
How Does Myasthenia Gravis Work?
What happens when your immune system attacks the point of communication between your nerves and muscles? That's an autoimmune condition called myasthenia gravis, and it leads to mu…