What Does A Cancer Cell Look Like?

Cells are tiny, but what they can reveal about our health is profound. UCLA's Amy Rowat is investigating the texture and squishiness of cells in our body, which can have a huge impact on treatments for cancer and genetic disorders. She explains the mechanics of a cell and describes the teeny, tiny instruments she's created to study them.

FEATURING: Amy Rowat, Assistant Professor, UCLA Department of Integrative Biology & Physiology.

We Are Built To Be Kind.

Greed is good. War is inevitable. Whether in political theory or popular culture, human nature is often portrayed as selfish and power hungry. UC Berkeley psychologist Dacher Keltner challenges this notion of human nature and seeks to better understand why we evolved pro-social emotions like empathy, compassion and gratitude.

We've all heard the phrase 'survival of the fittest', born from the Darwinian theory of natural selection. Keltner adds nuance to this concept by delving deeper into Darwin's idea that sympathy is one of the strongest human instincts — sometimes stronger than self-interest.

FEATURING: Dacher Keltner, professor of psychology and founding faculty director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley

Is Sugar in Fruit Different Than Sugar in Soda?

How does the sugar in fruit compare to the sugar in processed foods like soda or cookies?

Everyone loves a sweet treat, but on average, Americans eat nearly 66 pounds of added sugar per person per year. It's easy to exceed the daily recommended sugar intake when a 12 oz soda has about 11 teaspoons of added sugar. But what about the sugar in fruit? Should people be worried about how much fruit they're eating? Dr. Kimber Stanhope, a Nutritional biologist at UC Davis, walks us through the science.

8 Creatures You Won't Believe Exist

6 Almost Immortal Animals.

Intoxicating Alcohol Facts | What the Stuff?

Drinking has been so widespread throughout history that Patrick McGovern, an archaeological chemist at the University of Pennsylvania, called it "a universal language" in an Economist article. Indeed, you're hard-pressed to find a culture or event in history that alcohol (or lack of it) didn't feature in some way.

In a sense, alcoholic beverages are just a simple matter of chemistry and physiology. When yeast cells consume carbohydrates in grains, vegetables or fruits, they produce a fluid called ethyl alcohol. The latter, when ingested by humans, is converted into a chemical called acetaldehyde, and then eventually broken down into carbon dioxide and water. While ethyl alcohol is toxic in large enough doses, in more moderate quantities it merely relaxes the muscles and stimulates the brain by depressing inhibitions [source:Encyclopaedia Britannica].

But that explanation hardly does justice to a substance that people have been eagerly producing and consuming since the dawn of human civilization. The ancient Sumerians, who lived 4,500 years ago, even worshipped a goddess, Ninkasi, who ruled over the brewing and distributing of beer to the populace. In a royal tomb, we find figures sucking brew with straws out of what resembles a modern beer keg [source:Gately]. Who knew?

In that spirit (pardon the pun), here are 10 fascinating facts about alcohol that will enrich your cocktail conversations.

Gravity Visualized

Dan Burns explains his space-time warping demo at a PTSOS workshop at Los Gatos High School, on March 10, 2012. Thanks to Shannon Range from the Gravity Probe B program for creating the original demonstration which he shared with Dan in 2004.
Information on how to make your own Spacetime Simulator can be found here:

Power of Nanotechnology Video.

Vida en una gota de agua.Life in a Drop of Water.

Hundreds, even thousands, of fascinating organisms can be found in a single drop of pond water. Most are microscopic in size, and they include bacteria, protozoa, metazoa, diatoms, algae, and many others. Incredible close-up photography features dozens of these amazing life forms, including amoeba, paramecia, euglena, rotifers, water bears, and many more. While these organisms may appear strange, they actually have a lot in common with you and me. Students will learn not only how to identify some of the more common species, but they will also find out how to collect and maintain their own cultures. This program provides an excellent introduction to the study of simple, single-celled and multi-cellular organisms.

A brief guide to selected common painkillers.

The chemistry of matches.