Have you ever found yourself seeing images right before falling asleep? If so, you might be experiencing hypnagogia! Learn more about what causes our pre-sleep hallucinations in this episode of SciShow, hosted by Hank Green.
Author Archives: wesleyb
What is Inflation?
From groceries to travel and from video games to shoes, it seems that just about everything is getting more expensive these days. That increase in prices is called inflation. Watch this short video to learn more about what inflation is, and more importantly, why it occurs.
PhD Student Finds Lost City in Mexico Jungle by Accident
Some achievements require consistent hard work.Some happen by blind luck. But some are a combination of the two. Read this fascinating story of a PhD student who stumbled across a picture on accident, but was skilled enough in his field of study to notice something in the picture that no one else had ever seen before—the ruins of an entire city.
New treatment for Type 1 Diabetics Gives Hope to University of Chicago Patients
Before insulin was first used in the 1920s (barely 100 years ago), a patient with Type 1 Diabetes was expected to live less than 2 years after being diagnosed. After insulin, diabetics began living longer and longer. Type 1 diabetics today can expect to live into their late 60s or early 70s—but doing so requires a lot of medicine, devices, and thoughtful care. However, a new treatment option is currently being tested that may make care easier and help patients live even longer.
In Victorian England, Ghost Stories Were a Beloved Christmas Tradition
“Christmas traditions are abundant, from hanging stockings to leaving milk and cookies out for Santa. They’re all fairly wholesome, too. But in Victorian England, Christmas was an opportunity to exchange gruesome stories of ghosts, evil spirits, and people gone mad.”
30 New Year’s Superstitions to Bring You Good Luck in 2025
If you’re looking for a few extra ways to cultivate good fortune for 2025, check out this list of New Year’s Eve superstitions that includes customs from across the globe. Make like the Danes and jump off a chair, wake to see the run rise like they do in Japan, or eat twelve grapes (no more, no less) at midnight, just as they do in Spain. This list will give you many good ideas for your celebrations!
9 Virtual Tours of Shakespearean Spots
William Shakespeare is widely considered to be the greatest writer in the English language and now, thanks to modern technology, you can explore some of the most iconic places from the playwright’s life, and the locations said to have inspired him, from the comfort of your own home.
Why Do We Buy What We Buy?
In this interview, a sociologist explains how competition among consumers—not necessarily the providers of goods and services—is what drives spending.
Study: You Really Can ‘Work Smarter, Not Harder’
Studying or practicing a skill non-stop may not be the ticket to achieving your goals, according to this study.
Your Brain Perceives Reality By Hallucinating
Are our minds playing tricks on us all the time? Click this link to watch an animated video that explains what perception and hallucination have in common.
A Look Into The Legend of Sleepy Hollow
Did you know that Sleepy Hollow is a real place? And that many of the characters in the story were loosely based on real people? Take a brief tour of the area with National Geographic and learn how Washington Irving got some of his ideas for America’s most famous ghost story.
Teen is one of the first ever to get his genes edited. Why he says the process is ‘cool and freaky’
Johnny Lubin, one of the first in the world to try a new kind of medicine that uses a gene-editing tool called CRISPR to offer a potential cure for sickle cell disease.
Germany’s hottest Halloween party at Frankenstein Castle
Did you know that Frankenstein’s castle is a real place? Not only that, but it throws Germany’s biggest Halloween party every year!
Thousands of people from all over come to tour the castle, dance, eat, compare costumes, and spend the spookiest night of the year in one of Europe’s spookiest locations!
What Causes Déjà Vu?
It’s an eerie feeling: You walk into a place you know you’ve never been before but are overwhelmed by a sense of familiarity—a memory you can’t quite reach. Has this all happened before?
The sensation is known as déjà vu, and though it is hard to study, scientists are slowly figuring out why it happens.
‘The Latest Shopping Trend? Not Shopping
Influencers sometimes push a lifestyle of constantly buying new clothing, high-tech gadgets, or the hottest new cosmetic products. But a growing number of people are becoming disillusioned with what they perceive as pressure to constantly purchase new things. Their solution? Buying less.
The 10 Most Intriguing Science Breakthroughs of 2023
It’s too early to know what the greatest scientific discoveries and achievements of 2024 will be, but now that we’ve had some time to reflect on last year, here is one site’s opinion on what the Top 10 most intriguing advancements of 2023 were. Which ones do you agree with? Are there any you think should have made the list?
Ryan Coogler talks Afrofuturism in ‘Black Panther: Wakanda Forever’
Hear the creative artists behind the Black Panther movies, including director and writer Ryan Coogler, discuss Afrofuturism and how it influenced their superhero films to create a world unlike anything seen on the big screen before—and how those films would go on to shatter box office records and start a discussion about an art movement many had never heard of before then.
Scientists Say They’ve Discovered A New Human Organ
Quick! How many organs are there in the human body?
Don’t worry, I can’t remember, either. But whatever that number is, some scientists are proposing that we add one more to the list—a newly discovered system of fluid-filled tissue that goes throughout the body called the interstitium. And understanding it may open up brand-new options for treating everything from cancer to immune disorders to gum disease!
18 Halloween-themed Phobias You Might Have
A “phobia” is an extreme, uncontrollable fear of a specific item, activity, or setting. The word “phobia” comes from the Latin word phobos, meaning fear or flight (as in running away from something). There are hundreds of phobias people may have, ranging from a fear of spiders to a fear of flying to a fear of meeting new people. Here are some phobias closely related to Halloween. Do any of them scare you?
This year’s Olympic flame isn’t a flame at all—and that’s a good thing
The 2024 Olympic Games in Paris had a goal of being the most environmentally-friendly games in history. One way to meet this goal was by asking the question: “What if the Olympic flame looked like a flame, but wasn’t one?” Learn how engineers came up with the illusion at the heart of the Olympic Games