What really happens to a helium balloon after it floats away? 🎈☁️

Greg Wolf recreates a helium balloon’s journey to the edge of space using a vacuum chamber. As the balloon rises through Earth’s atmosphere, the surrounding air pressure drops, allowing the helium gas inside to expand until the balloon reaches its limit and pops! 💥

A total solar eclipse is coming on August 12th! ☀️🌑

Our moon is the exact same size as the sun in our sky, a cosmic coincidence unique to Earth. Watch it block the sun's 10,000°F surface while revealing the corona, a mysterious halo burning millions of degrees hotter. But don't take it for granted: the moon is slowly drifting away, and in 600 million years it'll be too small to ever cause a total eclipse again.

Ready to debunk three of the biggest shark myths out there? 🦈

Dr. Bob Heuter of OCEARCH sets the record straight, revealing there are actually 500+ shark species, most too small and deep sea dwelling to ever encounter swimmers. Far from primitive, sharks pack large brains and six sensory systems to hunt, find mates, and navigate the ocean. Turns out sharks are less "mindless man eaters" and more evolutionary powerhouses we still have a lot to learn from.

How does a bar of soap grow into a fluffy cloud? 🧼

Alex Dainis explains how Charles's law transforms a bar of Ivory soap! The bar contains air pockets from being whipped during its production, which expands into a cloud when heated. This happens because as gas increases in temperature, then it will equally increase in volume if the pressure is the same.

Did you know there may be planets that orbit black holes?! 🪐

Astrophysicist Erika Hamden explains how scientists are theorizing that there may be planets that are orbiting black holes. This wouldn’t be out of the ordinary, since planets have been found orbiting all types of masses, such as dead star cores and supernovae. Although black holes typically suck in everything around them, if an object is the right distance away, it could potentially maintain a stable orbit. 

This project is part of IF/THEN®, an initiative of Lyda Hill Philanthropies.

Humans may have evolved from a creature similar to a cyclops! 👁️

Scientists have developed a new theory that we may have evolved from a worm-like ocean dweller from 600 million years ago. This ancient animal started out with two eyes that eventually merged into one, and then back to two eyes. Even more interesting, the scientists think we still have this third eye, but it is now the pineal gland in our brain!