Contents

HOW STRETCHING ACTUALLY CHANGES YOUR MUSCLES......................................................................1

WHY YOU PROCRASTINATE EVEN WHEN IT FEELS BAD.........................................................................2
WHAT BENEFITS OF DAYDREAMING......................................................................................................4
THE BENEFITS OF A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP.............................................................................................6
HOW SUGAR AFFACTS THE BRAIN.........................................................................................................9
THE SCIENCE OF SPICINESS..................................................................................................................11
THE BRIE(F) HISTORY OF CHESSE.........................................................................................................13
ONE OF THE MOST BANNED BOOKS OF ALL TIME...............................................................................15
WHEN DID SLAVERY ACTUALLY END IN THE UNITED STATES?..............................................................17
HOW DO AIRPLANES ACTUALLY FLY?...................................................................................................19
WHAT CAUSES SLEEPWALKING?..........................................................................................................21
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU DIDN’T SLEEP?...................................................................................23
WHAT CAUSES INSOMNIA?..................................................................................................................25
WHAT’S THE SMARTEST AGE?.............................................................................................................27
HOW MEMORIES FORM AND HOW WE LOSE THEM...........................................................................29
THE BENIFITS OF A BILINGUAL BRAIN..................................................................................................31
CAN ZOOS ACTUALLY SAVE SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION......................................................................32
FOOD EXPIRATION DATES DON’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINKS...............................................................34
4 THINGS ALL GREAT LISTENERS KNOW...............................................................................................35
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO BREAK THE BAD HABIT?..................................................................................37
ARE ALL OF YOUR MEMORIES REAL?...................................................................................................39
HISTORY’S DEADLIEST COLORS............................................................................................................41

HOW STRETCHING ACTUALLY CHANGES YOUR MUSCLES

Here we have an athlete preparing for a game. They’ve put on their gear and done their
warmup, and now it’s time for one more routine— stretching. Typically, athletes stretch
before physical activity to avoid injuries like muscle strains and tears. But does stretching
actually prevent these issues? And if so, how long do the benefits of stretching last?
00:30
To answer these questions, we need to know what's actually happening in the body when
we stretch. There are two kinds of stretching our athlete might be doing. Dynamic stretches,
which are controlled movements that engage a range of muscles throughout the
motion. And static stretches, where the stretcher holds a position to keep specific muscles at
a fixed length and tension. Our athlete is currently doing a static hamstring stretch— a 30
second interval where he pulls his hamstring beyond its usual range of motion. However,
while we often think of stretching a muscle like stretching a rubber band, muscles are
actually comprised of various tissue types, which interact to make a complex
material. Rubber is elastic, meaning it resists being stretched and then returns to its original
shape. But muscle is viscoelastic. This means that, in addition to those elastic
qualities, muscle changes under the stress of being stretched.
01:29
Let’s see this in action. At the large scale, this hamstring stretch is pulling on layers of
protective tissue surrounding the muscle fibers, as well as the tendons that connect this
muscle to nearby bones. These tissues contain elastic proteins like collagen and
elastin, which allow them to slightly elongate over the duration of the stretch. At the smaller
scale, these skeletal muscle fibers are comprised of millions of sarcomeres— the smallest
contracting unit of muscle tissue. Sarcomere’s long, fibrous proteins can relax to elongate
muscle fibers or they can contract to shorten them— pulling on tendons and protective
tissue to create the force propelling our athlete’s body. And when those tissues have been
stretched out, they retain their strength at longer lengths, allowing our athlete to take full
advantage of his improved range of motion.
02:26
Unlike a rubber band, this muscle’s resistance to stretching decreases with each 30 second
stretch, allowing our athlete to continually elongate his hamstring. And this improved
flexibility likely decreases the chance of incurring certain muscle injuries. But due to muscle’s
elastic properties, this effect will be gone in just 10 minutes without further activity. The
exercise from his match should elevate his muscle’s temperature and continue elongating
the muscle, maintaining his increased flexibility throughout the game. But once he gives his
hamstrings a break, they’ll retract back to their previous state.
03:06
So if all this is just temporary, how can you permanently improve your flexibility? For skeletal
muscles, improved flexibility comes from additional sarcomeres, which allow you to
maintain strength at even greater lengths. Sarcomeres are added and subtracted to
muscles depending on how frequently they’re used, so improving overall flexibility requires
a comprehensive stretching regimen. Plus, you need to stretch often— very often. Current
research suggests at least 10 minutes a day for roughly two months. And since it's unsafe to
hold any stretch for too long, it's recommended that you break up your stretching within any
given session. Frequent stretching also makes lasting changes to your brain. The more you
stretch a muscle, the higher your pain threshold becomes, allowing you to stretch further
and further.
03:58
Long-term improvements to your flexibility can provide a better range of motion for your
joints, potentially reducing your risk of muscle injury in the short and long-term. But it’s also
possible to stretch too much, as flexible people can move their joints in potentially
dangerous ways. Stretching also isn't helpful for every kind of movement, especially those
where muscle injuries aren't very common. For example, long distance running only involves
a small range of motion for the joints involved, so stretching is unlikely to prevent that
sport’s most common injuries.
04:32
When it comes down to it, different lifestyles require different kinds of mobility. And no
single stretching regimen is flexible enough to fit every situation.

WHY YOU PROCRASTINATE EVEN WHEN IT FEELS BAD

00:07
It’s 5 p.m. and you’ve just realized that report you’ve been putting off is due tomorrow. It’s
time to buckle down, open your computer... and check your phone. Maybe catch up on your
favorite YouTube channel? Actually, you should probably make dinner first. You usually like
cooking, though it’s hard to enjoy with this work hanging over your head, and oh— it’s
actually pretty late! Maybe you should just try again in the morning? This is the cycle of
procrastination, and I promise you, we have all been there. But why do we keep
procrastinating even when we know it’s bad for us?
00:49
To be clear, putting something off isn’t always procrastinating. Responsible time
management requires deciding which tasks are important and which ones can
wait. Procrastination is when we avoid a task we said we would do, for no good
reason, despite expecting our behavior to bring negative consequences. Obviously, it’s
irrational to do something you expect to harm you. But ironically, procrastination is the
result of our bodies trying to protect us, specifically by avoiding a task we see as threatening.
01:26
When you realize you need to write that report, your brain responds like it would to any
incoming threat. Your amygdala, a set of neurons involved in emotional processing and
threat identification, releases hormones including adrenaline that kick off a fear
response. This stress-induced panic can overpower the impulses from your prefrontal
cortex, which typically help you think long term and regulate your emotions. And it’s in the
midst of this fight, flight, or freeze response that you decide to handle the threat by avoiding
it in favor of some less stressful task.
02:05
This response might seem extreme— after all, it’s just a deadline, not a bear attack. But
we’re most likely to procrastinate tasks that evoke negative feelings, such as dread,
incompetence, and insecurity. Studies of procrastinating university students have found
participants were more likely to put off tasks they perceived as stressful or challenging. And
the perception of how difficult the task is increases while you’re putting it off. In one
experiment, students were given reminders to study throughout the day. While they were
studying, most reported that it wasn’t so bad. But when they were procrastinating, they
consistently rated the idea of studying as very stressful, making it difficult to get started.
02:55
Because procrastination is motivated by our negative feelings, some individuals are more
susceptible to it than others. People who have difficulty regulating their emotions and those
who struggle with low self-esteem are much more likely to procrastinate, regardless of how
good they are at time management. However, it's a common misconception that all
procrastinators are lazy. In the body and brain, laziness is marked by no energy and general
apathy. When you’re feeling lazy, you’re more likely to sit around doing nothing than distract
yourself with unimportant tasks. In fact, many people procrastinate because they care too
much. Procrastinators often report a high fear of failure, putting things off because they’re
afraid their work won’t live up to their high standards.
03:48
Whatever the reason for procrastination, the results are often the same. Frequent
procrastinators are likely to suffer from anxiety and depression, ongoing feelings of
shame, higher stress levels and physical ailments associated with high stress. Worst of all,
while procrastination hurts us in the long run, it does temporarily reduce our stress
level, reinforcing it as a bodily response for coping with stressful tasks. So, how can we break
the cycle of procrastination?
04:23
Traditionally, people thought procrastinators needed to cultivate discipline and practice strict
time management. But today, many researchers feel the exact opposite. Being too hard on
yourself can layer additional bad emotions onto a task, making the threat even more
intense. To short-circuit this stress response, we need to address and reduce these negative
emotions. Some simple strategies include breaking a task into smaller elements or journaling
about why it's stressing you out and addressing those underlying concerns. Try removing
nearby distractions that make it easy to impulsively procrastinate. And more than anything,
it helps to cultivate an attitude of self-compassion, forgiving yourself, and making a plan to
do better next time. Because a culture that perpetuates this cycle of stress and
procrastination hurts all of us in the long term.

WHAT BENEFITS OF DAYDREAMING

00:09
On a daily basis, you spend between a third and half your waking hours daydreaming. That
may sound like a huge waste of time, but scientists think it must have some purpose, or
humans wouldn’t have evolved to do so much of it. So to figure out what's going on
here, let’s take a closer look at the mind-wanderer in chief: the bored teenager.

00:29
Wouldn’t it be cool to discover something, anything. Like even this plant. Just to be one of
those explorers who sails around drawing stuff for years on end and everyone thinks they’re
a genius. But does anyone even do that anymore? Is there anything left to discover? And
would I be tough enough to deal with the dysentery or scurvy or piranhas or whatever? I
barely have the endurance to make it through track practice... but I will. Any day now, I’ll
have the discipline to show up before sunrise and practice. I’ll win all my races. Winning will
become so easy, I’ll pick up other events just for fun. And once I'm in the Olympics, they’ll
have no choice but to crown me team captain, which I will graciously accept. And will I be
nasty to the teammate who yelled at me? No. I’ll just calmly say, “hope you’re in a better
mood.”
01:22
Okay. Yours and other people's daydreams might sound or feel something like that. Let's see
what was going on. To see what parts of the brain are active when you’re doing a task, or
thinking, or daydreaming, scientists use brain imaging techniques that show increased blood
flow and energy expenditure in those areas.

01:42
These brain areas are active, working together and communicating with each other. Taken
together, they're called the executive network. When your mind starts to wander, a different
set of brain areas becomes active. These areas make up the default mode network. The
name default mode makes it sound like nothing is going on. And in fact, for many
years, scientists associated this pattern of activity with rest. But a closer look reveals that
these are the brain areas involved when we revisit a memory, when we think about our
plans and hopes, and yes, when our minds are wandering off on a wild daydream. The mind
can wander to unproductive or distressing places and brood over negative past events, like
an argument. It can also wander to neutral, everyday matters, like planning out the rest of
one's afternoon. But where mind-wandering really gets interesting is when it crosses into
the realm of free-moving associative thought that you aren’t consciously directing. This kind
of mind-wandering is associated with increases in both ideas and positive emotions, and the
evidence suggests that daydreaming can help people envision ways to reach their goals and
navigate relationships and social situations.

02:48
Scientists think there may be two essential parts to this process: a generative phase of free-
flowing ideas and spontaneous thoughts, courtesy of the default mode network, followed by
a process of selecting, developing, and pursuing the best ideas from that generative
burst, driven by logical thinking thanks to the executive network. A host of imaging studies
suggest that these two networks working in sync is a crucial condition for creative
thinking. Taken together, the evidence clearly suggests the logical realm of the executive
network and the imaginative realm of the default mode network are closely related. And as
you can see, the executive network is still playing a role when the default mode network is
doing its thing during daydreaming.

03:30
In teenagers, the prefrontal cortex and other areas involved in executive function are still
developing, but teens are perfectly capable of thinking through their problems and
goals, especially when given space to do so on their own.
THE BENEFITS OF A GOOD NIGHT’S SLEEP

00:07
It's 4 a.m., and the big test is in eight hours, followed by a piano recital. You've been studying
and playing for days, but you still don't feel ready for either. So, what can you do? Well, you
can drink another cup of coffee and spend the next few hours cramming and practicing, but
believe it or not, you might be better off closing the books, putting away the music, and
going to sleep.

00:35
Sleep occupies nearly a third of our lives, but many of us give surprisingly little attention and
care to it. This neglect is often the result of a major misunderstanding. Sleep isn't lost
time, or just a way to rest when all our important work is done. Instead, it's a critical
function, during which your body balances and regulates its vital systems, affecting
respiration and regulating everything from circulation to growth and immune response.
01:05
That's great, but you can worry about all those things after this test, right? Well, not so
fast. It turns out that sleep is also crucial for your brain, with a fifth of your body's circulatory
blood being channeled to it as you drift off. And what goes on in your brain while you
sleep is an intensely active period of restructuring that's crucial for how our memory works.

01:29
At first glance, our ability to remember things doesn't seem very impressive at all. 19th
century psychologist Herman Ebbinghaus demonstrated that we normally forget 40% of new
material within the first twenty minutes, a phenomenon known as the forgetting curve.

01:47
But this loss can be prevented through memory consolidation, the process by which
information is moved from our fleeting short-term memory to our more durable long-term
memory.

01:58
This consolidation occurs with the help of a major part of the brain, known as the
hippocampus. Its role in long-term memory formation was demonstrated in the 1950s by
Brenda Milner in her research with a patient known as H.M. After having his hippocampus
removed, H.M.'s ability to form new short-term memories was damaged, but he was able to
learn physical tasks through repetition. Due to the removal of his hippocampus, H.M.'s
ability to form long-term memories was also damaged. What this case revealed, among
other things, was that the hippocampus was specifically involved in the consolidation of
long-term declarative memory, such as the facts and concepts you need to remember for
that test, rather than procedural memory, such as the finger movements you need to master
for that recital.

02:51
Milner's findings, along with work by Eric Kandel in the 90's, have given us our current
model of how this consolidation process works. Sensory data is initially transcribed and
temporarily recorded in the neurons as short-term memory. From there, it travels to the
hippocampus, which strengthens and enhances the neurons in that cortical area. Thanks to
the phenomenon of neuroplasticity, new synaptic buds are formed, allowing new
connections between neurons, and strengthening the neural network where the information
will be returned as long-term memory.
03:25
So why do we remember some things and not others? Well, there are a few ways to
influence the extent and effectiveness of memory retention. For example, memories that are
formed in times of heightened feeling, or even stress, will be better recorded due to the
hippocampus' link with emotion. But one of the major factors contributing to memory
consolidation is, you guessed it, a good night's sleep.

03:51
Sleep is composed of four stages, the deepest of which are known as slow-wave sleep and
rapid eye movement. EEG machines monitoring people during these stages have shown
electrical impulses moving between the brainstem, hippocampus, thalamus, and
cortex, which serve as relay stations of memory formation. And the different stages of sleep
have been shown to help consolidate different types of memories.

04:19
During the non-REM slow-wave sleep, declarative memory is encoded into a temporary
store in the anterior part of the hippocampus. Through a continuing dialogue between the
cortex and hippocampus, it is then repeatedly reactivated, driving its gradual redistribution
to long-term storage in the cortex. REM sleep, on the other hand, with its similarity to
waking brain activity, is associated with the consolidation of procedural memory. So based
on the studies, going to sleep three hours after memorizing your formulas and one hour
after practicing your scales would be the most ideal.

04:58
So hopefully you can see now that skimping on sleep not only harms your long-term
health, but actually makes it less likely that you'll retain all that knowledge and practice from
the previous night, all of which just goes to affirm the wisdom of the phrase, "Sleep on
it." When you think about all the internal restructuring and forming of new connections that
occurs while you slumber, you could even say that proper sleep will have you waking up
every morning with a new and improved brain, ready to face the challenges ahead.
HOW SUGAR AFFACTS THE BRAIN

00:06
Picture warm, gooey cookies, crunchy candies, velvety cakes, waffle cones piled high with ice
cream. Is your mouth watering? Are you craving dessert? Why? What happens in the brain
that makes sugary foods so hard to resist?

00:23
Sugar is a general term used to describe a class of molecules called carbohydrates, and it's
found in a wide variety of food and drink. Just check the labels on sweet products you
buy. Glucose, fructose, sucrose, maltose, lactose, dextrose, and starch are all forms of
sugar. So are high-fructose corn syrup, fruit juice, raw sugar, and honey. And sugar isn't just
in candies and desserts, it's also added to tomato sauce, yogurt, dried fruit, flavored waters,
or granola bars.

00:55
Since sugar is everywhere, it's important to understand how it affects the brain. What
happens when sugar hits your tongue? And does eating a little bit of sugar make you crave
more?

01:05
You take a bite of cereal. The sugars it contains activate the sweet-taste receptors, part of
the taste buds on the tongue. These receptors send a signal up to the brain stem, and from
there, it forks off into many areas of the forebrain, one of which is the cerebral
cortex. Different sections of the cerebral cortex process different tastes: bitter, salty,
umami, and, in our case, sweet. From here, the signal activates the brain's reward
system. This reward system is a series of electrical and chemical pathways across several
different regions of the brain. It's a complicated network, but it helps answer a single,
subconscious question: should I do that again? That warm, fuzzy feeling you get when you
taste Grandma's chocolate cake? That's your reward system saying, "Mmm, yes!" And it's
not just activated by food. Socializing, sexual behavior, and drugs are just a few examples of
things and experiences that also activate the reward system. But overactivating this reward
system kickstarts a series of unfortunate events: loss of control, craving, and increased
tolerance to sugar.

02:13
Let's get back to our bite of cereal. It travels down into your stomach and eventually into
your gut. And guess what? There are sugar receptors here, too. They are not taste buds, but
they do send signals telling your brain that you're full or that your body should produce
more insulin to deal with the extra sugar you're eating.

02:31
The major currency of our reward system is dopamine, an important chemical or
neurotransmitter. There are many dopamine receptors in the forebrain, but they're not
evenly distributed. Certain areas contain dense clusters of receptors, and these dopamine
hot spots are a part of our reward system. Drugs like alcohol, nicotine, or heroin send
dopamine into overdrive, leading some people to constantly seek that high, in other words,
to be addicted. Sugar also causes dopamine to be released, though not as violently as
drugs. And sugar is rare among dopamine-inducing foods. Broccoli, for example, has no
effect, which probably explains why it's so hard to get kids to eat their veggies.

03:13
Speaking of healthy foods, let's say you're hungry and decide to eat a balanced meal. You do,
and dopamine levels spike in the reward system hot spots. But if you eat that same dish
many days in a row, dopamine levels will spike less and less, eventually leveling out. That's
because when it comes to food, the brain evolved to pay special attention to new or
different tastes. Why? Two reasons: first, to detect food that's gone bad. And second,
because the more variety we have in our diet, the more likely we are to get all the nutrients
we need. To keep that variety up, we need to be able to recognize a new food, and more
importantly, we need to want to keep eating new foods. And that's why the dopamine levels
off when a food becomes boring.

03:57
Now, back to that meal. What happens if in place of the healthy, balanced dish, you eat
sugar-rich food instead? If you rarely eat sugar or don't eat much at a time, the effect is
similar to that of the balanced meal. But if you eat too much, the dopamine response does
not level out. In other words, eating lots of sugar will continue to feel rewarding. In this way,
sugar behaves a little bit like a drug. It's one reason people seem to be hooked on sugary
foods.

04:24
So, think back to all those different kinds of sugar. Each one is unique, but every time any
sugar is consumed, it kickstarts a domino effect in the brain that sparks a rewarding
feeling. Too much, too often, and things can go into overdrive. So, yes, overconsumption of
sugar can have addictive effects on the brain, but a wedge of cake once in a while won't hurt
you.

THE SCIENCE OF SPICINESS

00:06
Why does your mouth feel like it's on fire when you eat a spicy pepper? And how do you
soothe the burn? Why does wasabi make your eyes water? And how spicy is the spiciest
spice? Let's back up a bit.
First, what is spiciness? Even though we often say that something tastes spicy, it's not
actually a taste, like sweet or salty or sour. Instead, what's really happening is that certain
compounds in spicy foods activate the type of sensory neurons called polymodal
nociceptors. You have these all over your body, including your mouth and nose, and they're
the same receptors that are activated by extreme heat. So, when you eat a chili pepper, your
mouth feels like it's burning because your brain actually thinks it's burning. The opposite
happens when you eat something with menthol in it. The cool, minty compound is activating
your cold receptors. When these heat-sensitive receptors are activated, your body thinks it's
in contact with a dangerous heat source and reacts accordingly. This is why you start to
sweat, and your heart starts beating faster. The peppers have elicited the same fight-or-flight
response with which your body reacts to most threats. But you may have noticed that not all
spicy foods are spicy in the same way. And the difference lies in the types of compounds
involved. The capsaicin and piperine, found in black pepper and chili peppers, are made up
of larger, heavier molecules called alkylamides, and those mostly stay in your
mouth. Mustard, horseradish, and wasabi are made up of smaller molecules, called
isothiocyanates, that easily float up into your sinuses. This is why chili peppers burn your
mouth, and wasabi burns your nose. The standard measure of a food's spiciness is its rating
on the Scoville scale, which measures how much its capsaicin content can be diluted before
the heat is no longer detectable to humans. A sweet bell pepper gets 0 Scoville heat
units, while Tabasco sauce clocks in between 1,200-2,400 units. The race to create the
hottest pepper is a constant battle, but two peppers generally come out on top: The Trinidad
Moruga Scorpion and the Carolina Reaper. These peppers measure between 1.5 and 2
million Scoville heat units, which is about half the units found in pepper spray. So, why
would anyone want to eat something that causes such high levels of pain? Nobody really
knows when or why humans started eating hot peppers. Archaeologists have found spices
like mustard along with human artifacts dating as far back as 23,000 years ago. But they
don't know whether the spices were used for food or medication or just decoration. More
recently, a 6,000 year old crockpot, lined with charred fish and meat, also contained
mustard. One theory says that humans starting adding spices to food to kill off bacteria. And
some studies show that spice developed mostly in warmer climates where microbes also
happen to be more prevalent. But why we continue to subject ourselves to spicy food
today is still a bit of a mystery. For some people, eating spicy food is like riding
rollercoasters; they enjoy the ensuing thrill, even if the immediate sensation is
unpleasant. Some studies have even shown that those who like to eat hot stuff are more
likely to enjoy other adrenaline-rich activities, like gambling. The taste for spicy food may
even be genetic.
And if you're thinking about training a bit, to up your tolerance for spice, know
this: According to some studies, the pain doesn't get any better. You just get tougher. In fact,
researchers have found that people who like to eat spicy foods don't rate the burn any less
painful than those who don't. They just seem to like the pain more. So, torment your heat
receptors all you want, but remember, when it comes to spicy food, you're going to get
burned.
THE BRIE(F) HISTORY OF CHESSE

00:07
Before empires and royalty, before pottery and writing, before metal tools and weapons
– there was cheese. As early as 8000 BCE, the earliest Neolithic farmers living in the Fertile
Crescent began a legacy of cheesemaking almost as old as civilization itself. The rise of
agriculture led to domesticated sheep and goats, which ancient farmers harvested for
milk. But when left in warm conditions for several hours, that fresh milk began to sour. Its
lactic acids caused proteins to coagulate, binding into soft clumps. Upon discovering this
strange transformation, the farmers drained the remaining liquid – later named whey – and
found the yellowish globs could be eaten fresh as a soft, spreadable meal. These clumps, or
curds, became the building blocks of cheese, which would eventually be aged, pressed,
ripened, and whizzed into a diverse cornucopia of dairy delights.

01:15
The discovery of cheese gave Neolithic people an enormous survival advantage. Milk was
rich with essential proteins, fats, and minerals. But it also contained high quantities of
lactose – a sugar which is difficult to process for many ancient and modern
stomachs. Cheese, however, could provide all of milk’s advantages with much less
lactose. And since it could be preserved and stockpiled, these essential nutrients could be
eaten throughout scarce famines and long winters. Some 7th millennium BCE pottery
fragments found in Turkey still contain telltale residues of the cheese and butter they held.

01:57
By the end of the Bronze Age, cheese was a standard commodity in maritime
trade throughout the eastern Mediterranean. In the densely populated city-states of
Mesopotamia, cheese became a staple of culinary and religious life. Some of the earliest
known writing includes administrative records of cheese quotas, listing a variety of cheeses
for different rituals and populations across Mesopotamia. Records from nearby civilizations
in Turkey also reference rennet. This animal byproduct, produced in the stomachs of certain
mammals, can accelerate and control coagulation. Eventually this sophisticated
cheesemaking tool spread around the globe, giving way to a wide variety of new, harder
cheeses. And though some conservative food cultures rejected the dairy delicacy, many
more embraced cheese, and quickly added their own local flavors.

02:54
Nomadic Mongolians used yaks’ milk to create hard, sundried wedges of Byaslag. Egyptians
enjoyed goats’ milk cottage cheese, straining the whey with reed mats. In South Asia, milk
was coagulated with a variety of food acids, such as lemon juice, vinegar, or yogurt and then
hung to dry into loafs of paneer. This soft mild cheese could be added to curries and
sauces, or simply fried as a quick vegetarian dish. The Greeks produced bricks of salty brined
feta cheese, alongside a harder variety similar to today’s pecorino romano. This grating
cheese was produced in Sicily and used in dishes all across the Mediterranean. Under
Roman rule, “dry cheese” or “caseus aridus,” became an essential ration for the nearly
500,000 soldiers guarding the vast borders of the Roman Empire.

03:53
And when the Western Roman Empire collapsed, cheesemaking continued to evolve in the
manors that dotted the medieval European countryside. In the hundreds of Benedictine
monasteries scattered across Europe, medieval monks experimented endlessly with different
types of milk, cheesemaking practices, and aging processes that led to many of today’s
popular cheeses. Parmesan, Roquefort, Munster and several Swiss types were all refined and
perfected by these cheesemaking clergymen. In the Alps, Swiss cheesemaking was
particularly successful – producing a myriad of cow’s milk cheeses. By the end of the 14th
century, Alpine cheese from the Gruyere region of Switzerland had become so
profitable that a neighboring state invaded the Gruyere highlands to take control of the
growing cheese trade.

04:46
Cheese remained popular through the Renaissance, and the Industrial Revolution took
production out of the monastery and into machinery. Today, the world produces roughly 22
billion kilograms of cheese a year, shipped and consumed around the globe. But 10,000
years after its invention, local farms are still following in the footsteps of their Neolithic
ancestors, hand crafting one of humanity’s oldest and favorite foods.

ONE OF THE MOST BANNED BOOKS OF ALL TIME

00:07
In 1998, a Maryland school district removed one of American literature’s most acclaimed
works from its curriculum. Parents pushing for the ban said the book was both “sexually
explicit” and “anti-white.” Following an outcry from other parents and teachers, the decision
was eventually reversed. But this was neither the first nor the last attack on Maya Angelou’s
“I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.”
00:30
Few books have been challenged more often than Angelou's memoir. And while book
banning decisions typically aren’t made at the state or national level, most of the schools
and libraries that have banned Angelou’s book have given similar reasons. Most commonly,
they argue that the memoir’s account of sexual assault and the violence of US racism are
inappropriate for young readers. But these concerns miss the point of Angelou’s story, which
uses these very themes to explore the danger of censorship and silence in the lives of young
people.
01:01
Published in 1969, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings” traces the author’s childhood growing
up poor, Black and female in the southern US. Central to the narrative is Angelou’s
experience of being sexually assaulted when she was seven and a half years old. Surrounded
by adults who consider the subject too taboo to discuss, Angelou decides that she is to
blame. And when she finally identifies her abuser in court, he is killed by vigilantes. Angelou
believes her voice is responsible for his death, and for six years, she stops speaking almost
entirely. The book chronicles Angelou’s journey to rediscover her voice, all while exploring
the pain and misplaced shame that emerges from avoiding uncomfortable realities.
01:48
The memoir’s narrative voice expertly blends her childhood confusion with her adult
understanding, offering the reader insights Angelou was deprived of as a child. She connects
her early experiences of being silenced and shamed to the experience of being poor and
Black in the segregated United States. “The Black female,” she writes, “is caught in the
tripartite crossfire of masculine prejudice, white illogical hate, and Black lack of power.” Her
autobiography was one of the first books to speak openly about child sexual abuse, and
especially groundbreaking to do so from the perspective of the abused child. For centuries,
Black women writers had been limited by stereotypes characterizing them as
hypersexual. Afraid of reinforcing these stereotypes, few were willing to write about their
sexuality at all. But Angelou refused to be constrained. She publicly explored her most
personal experience, without apology or shame.
02:49
This spirit of defiance charges her writing with a sense of hope that combats the memoir’s
often traumatic subject matter. When recalling how a fellow student defied instructions not
to sing the Black National Anthem in the presence of white guests, she writes, “The tears
that slipped down many faces were not wiped away in shame. We were on top again... We
survived.”
03:15
Angelou’s memoir was published amidst the Civil Rights and Black Power movements, when
activists were calling for school curricula that reflected the diversity of experiences in the
US. But almost as soon as the book appeared in schools, it was challenged. Campaigns to
control lesson plans surged across America in the 1970s and 80s. On the American Library
Association’s list of most frequently banned or challenged books, “I Know Why The Caged
Bird Sings” remained near the top for two decades. But parents, students, and educators
have consistently fought back in support of the memoir. And by 2013, it had become the
second most taught non-fiction text in US high school English classes.
04:04
When asked how she felt about writing one of the most banned books, Angelou said, “I find
that people who want my book banned have never read a paragraph of my writing, but have
heard that I write about a rape. They act as if their children are not faced with the same
threats. And that’s terrible.” She believed that children who are old enough to be the
victims of sexual abuse and racism are old enough to read about these subjects. Because
listening and learning are essential to overcoming, and the unspeakable is far more
dangerous when left unspoken.

WHEN DID SLAVERY ACTUALLY END IN THE UNITED STATES?

00:08
One day, while hiding in the kitchen, Charlotte Brooks overheard a life-changing secret.
00:14
At the age of 17, she’d been separated from her family and taken to William Neyland’s Texas
Plantation. There, she was made to do housework at the violent whims of her enslavers.
00:26
On that fateful day, she learned that slavery had recently been abolished, but Neyland
conspired to keep this a secret from those he enslaved. Hearing this, Brooks stepped out of
her hiding spot, proclaimed her freedom, spread the news throughout the plantation, and
ran. That night, she returned for her daughter, Tempie. And before Neyland’s spiteful bullets
could find them, they were gone for good.
00:53
For more than two centuries, slavery defined what would become the United States— from
its past as the 13 British colonies to its growth as an independent country. Slavery fueled its
cotton industry and made it a leading economic power. 10 of the first 12 presidents enslaved
people. And when US chattel slavery finally ended, it was a long and uneven process.
01:19
Enslaved people resisted from the beginning— by escaping, breaking tools, staging
rebellions, and more. During the American Revolution, Vermont and Massachusetts
abolished slavery while several states took steps towards gradual abolition. In 1808, federal
law banned the import of enslaved African people, but it allowed the slave trade to continue
domestically.
01:43
Approximately 4 million people were enslaved in the US when Abraham Lincoln was elected
president in 1860. Lincoln opposed slavery, and though he had no plans to outlaw it, his
election caused panic in Southern states, which began withdrawing from the Union. they
vowed to uphold slavery and formed the Confederacy, triggering the start of the American
Civil War.
02:05
A year into the conflict, Lincoln abolished slavery in Washington, D.C., legally freeing more
than 3,000 people. And five months later, he announced the Emancipation Proclamation. It
promised freedom to the 3.5 million people enslaved in Confederate states. But it would
only be fulfilled if the rebelling states didn’t rejoin the Union by January 1st, 1863. And it
bore no mention of the roughly 500,000 people in bondage in the border states of Delaware,
Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri that hadn’t seceded.
02:42
When the Confederacy refused to surrender, Union soldiers began announcing
emancipation. But many Southern areas remained under Confederate control, making it
impossible to actually implement abolition throughout the South.
02:56
The war raged on for two more years, and on January 31st, 1865, Congress passed the 13th
Amendment. It promised to end slavery throughout the US— except as punishment for a
crime. But to go into effect, 27 states would have to ratify it first.
03:15
Meanwhile, the Civil War virtually ended with the surrender of Confederate General Robert
E. Lee on April 9th, 1865. But although slavery was technically illegal in all Southern states, it
still persisted in the last bastions of the Confederacy. There, enslavers like Neyland continued
to evade abolition until forced. This was also the case when Union General Gordon Granger
marched his troops into Galveston, Texas, on June 19th and announced that all enslaved
people there were officially free— and had been for more than two years.
03:50
Still, at this point, people remained legally enslaved in the border states. It wasn’t until more
than five months later, on December 6th, 1865, that the 13th Amendment was finally
ratified. This formally ended chattel slavery in the US.
04:10
Because official emancipation was a staggered process, people in different places
commemorated it on different dates. Those in Galveston, Texas, began celebrating
“Juneteenth”— a combination of “June” and “nineteenth”— on the very first anniversary of
General Granger’s announcement. Over time, smaller Juneteenth gatherings gave way to
large parades. And the tradition eventually became the most widespread of emancipation
celebrations. But, while chattel slavery had officially ended, racial inequality, oppression, and
terror had not. Celebrating emancipation was itself an act of continued resistance. And it
wasn't until 2021 that Juneteenth became a federal holiday.
04:54
Today, Juneteenth holds profound significance as a celebration of the demise of slavery, the
righteous pursuit of true freedom for all, and a continued pledge to remember the past and
dream the future.

HOW DO AIRPLANES ACTUALLY FLY?

00:07
By 1917, Albert Einstein had explained the relationship between space and time. But, that
year, he designed a flawed airplane wing. His attempt was based on an incomplete theory of
flight. Indeed, insufficient and inaccurate explanations still circulate today. So, where did
Einstein go wrong? And how do planes fly?
00:32
Though we don’t always think of it this way, air is a fluid medium— it’s just less dense than
liquids like water. Things that are lighter than air are buoyant within it, while heavier objects
require an upward force, called lift, to stay aloft. For planes, this force is mostly generated by
the wings.
00:52
One especially pervasive false description of lift is the “Longer Path” or “Equal Transit Time”
explanation. It states that air molecules traveling over the top of a curved wing cover a
longer distance than those traveling underneath. For the air molecules above to reach the
wing’s trailing edge in the same instance as those that split off and went below, air must
travel faster above, creating a pocket of lower pressure that lifts the plane. This explanation
has been thoroughly debunked. Air molecules floating above and below the wing don't need
to meet back up. In reality, the air traveling above reaches the wing’s trailing edge much
faster than the air beneath.
01:37
To get a sense of how lift is actually generated, let's simulate an airplane wing in motion. As
it moves forward, the wing affects the movement of the air around it. As air meets the
wing’s solid surface, a thin layer sticks to the wing. This layer pulls the surrounding air with
it. The air splits into pathways above and below the wing, following the wing’s contour. As
the air that’s routed above makes its way around the nose of the wing, it experiences
centripetal acceleration, the force you also feel in a sharply turning car. The air above
therefore gathers more speed than the air traveling below. This increased speed is coupled
with a decrease in pressure above the wing, which pulls even more air across the wing’s
upper surface. The air flowing across the lower surface, meanwhile, experiences less of a
change in direction and speed. The pressure across the wing’s lower surface is thus
higher than that above the upper surface. This pressure difference results in the upwards
force of lift. The faster the plane travels, the greater the pressure difference, and the greater
that force. Once it overcomes the downward force of gravity, the plane takes off.
02:54
Air flows smoothly around curved wings. But a wing’s curvature is not the cause of lift. In
fact, a flat wing that’s tilted upwards can also create lift— as long as the air bends around
it, contributing to and reinforcing the pressure difference. Meanwhile, having a wing that’s
too curved or steeply angled can be disastrous: the airflow above may detach from the wing
and become turbulent. This is probably what happened with Einstein’s wing
design, nicknamed “the cat’s back.” By increasing the wing’s curvature, Einstein thought it
would generate more lift. But one test pilot reported that the plane wobbled like “a
pregnant duck” in flight.
03:39
Our explanation is still a simplified description of this nuanced, complex process. Other
factors, like the air that’s flowing meters beyond the wing’s surface— being swept up, then
down— as well as air vortices formed at the wing’s tips, all influence lift. And, while experts
agree that the pressure difference generates lift, their explanations for how can vary. Some
might emphasize the air’s behavior at the wing’s surface, others the upward force created as
the air is deflected downwards. However, there's no controversy when it comes to the
math. Engineers use a set of formulas called the Navier-Stokes equations to precisely model
air’s flow around a wing and detail how lift is generated.
04:24
More than a century after Einstein’s foray into aeronautics, lift retains its reputation as a
confounding concept. But when it feels like it’s all going to come crashing down,
remember: it’s just the physics of fluid in motion.
04:42
This video was made possible with support from Marriott Hotels. With over 590 hotels and
resorts across the globe, Marriott Hotels celebrates the curiosity that propels us to
travel. Check out some of the exciting ways TED-Ed and Marriott are working together, and
book your next journey at Marriott Hotels.

WHAT CAUSES SLEEPWALKING?

00:07
Mumbling fantastical gibberish; devouring blocks of cheese in the nude; peeing in places
that aren’t toilets; and jumping out of windows. These are all things people have reportedly
done while sleepwalking, a behavior that’s mostly benign but can be dangerous in rare
cases. It's estimated that around 18% of people sleepwalk at least once in their lives. So,
what exactly is sleepwalking?
00:38
First, we have to understand just how many of our daily activities do not require our active
attention. Your prefrontal cortex is your brain's conscious, deliberate, decision-making
control hub. You might decide to get up and walk using your prefrontal cortex, but the
intricate coordination of sensory inputs and muscles that follows does not require any
attention. Instead, it’s mostly executed by a network of specialized nerve cells along the
lower part of the brain and spinal cord, sometimes called “central pattern generators.” These
areas govern automatic movements and basic actions related to survival.
01:25
People with a REM sleep behavior disorder may enact their dreams while they’re in REM
sleep, usually keeping their eyes closed. However, this is a separate condition. Sleepwalking
arises from a very different stage of sleep— the deepest stage of non-REM sleep, which is
called “slow-wave sleep.” In this state, the cortex, including the prefrontal cortex, is
essentially turned off. When someone is roused from this stage, they’ll usually appear
groggy before either dozing off again or becoming fully conscious. For that moment, though,
they’re in an intermediate state straddling sleep and wakefulness. A sleepwalking episode is,
essentially, an extreme, prolonged version of this.
02:17
When sleepwalking, the prefrontal cortex remains inactive, so the person doesn’t possess
executive, deliberate control over their actions. But other parts of their brain are active. And,
as we know, the body is capable of a lot without involving the prefrontal cortex.
Sleepwalkers avoid obstacles, walk, and speak— though it's often nonsense. Most
sleepwalkers can do basic things, operating in a peaceful, unemotional, dreamless state.
02:50
In rare cases, sleepwalkers perform more complex tasks like cooking and driving. They're
occasionally guided by physical urges, like eating or pursuing sexual activities. And some
episodes involve the brain’s fight or flight system, during which the person might suddenly
perceive an imminent danger, and vocalize, cry, or even jolt out of bed and run away. These
episodes, called “sleep terrors,” are more common in young children and usually result
naturally.
03:23
Indeed, sleepwalking is generally more common in children, perhaps because the brain
areas that control the transition between sleep and wakefulness are still developing. But the
exact mechanisms that cause sleepwalking remain unclear. Many cases appear to run in
families, while others are more mysterious. Anything that could lead to partial awakening is
thought to increase the likelihood. This includes factors that promote deeper slow-wave
sleep— like sedatives, hot sleep environments, and operating on too little sleep— or things
that disrupt sleep— like stress and other sleep disorders, such as sleep apnea and restless
leg syndrome.
04:08
Doctors will usually evaluate these factors and promote habits that aid in healthy sleep, such
as exercise, stress management, and a consistent and sufficient sleep schedule. They’ll also
often recommend safety measures, like hiding dangerous items, installing door alarms and
securing windows. If this doesn't help, they'll consider certain medications. But many of the
available treatments for sleepwalking haven’t yet been rigorously studied, so how they work
and how effective they are is not entirely clear.
04:41
So, what should you do if you encounter a sleepwalker? A common misconception is that
rousing a sleepwalker causes irreparable harm. Fortunately, this is not true. However, trying
to forcefully wake them can cause confusion and distress. The best practice seems to be to
gently guide them back to bed; and, if they resist, to simply ensure they’re safe until the
episode resolves.
WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF YOU DIDN’T SLEEP?

00:07
In 1965, 17-year-old high school student, Randy Gardner stayed awake for 264 hours. That's
11 days to see how he'd cope without sleep. On the second day, his eyes stopped focusing.
Next, he lost the ability to identify objects by touch. By day three, Gardner was moody and
uncoordinated. At the end of the experiment, he was struggling to concentrate, had trouble
with short-term memory, became paranoid, and started hallucinating. Although Gardner
recovered without long-term psychological or physical damage, for others, losing shuteye
can result in hormonal imbalance, illness, and, in extreme cases, death.
00:50
We're only beginning to understand why we sleep to begin with, but we do know it's
essential. Adults need seven to eight hours of sleep a night, and adolescents need about ten.
We grow sleepy due to signals from our body telling our brain we are tired, and signals from
the environment telling us it's dark outside. The rise in sleep-inducing chemicals, like
adenosine and melatonin, send us into a light doze that grows deeper, making our breathing
and heart rate slow down and our muscles relax. This non-REM sleep is when DNA is
repaired and our bodies replenish themselves for the day ahead.
01:30
In the United States, it's estimated that 30% of adults and 66% of adolescents are regularly
sleep-deprived. This isn't just a minor inconvenience. Staying awake can cause serious bodily
harm. When we lose sleep, learning, memory, mood, and reaction time are affected.
Sleeplessness may also cause inflammation, halluciations, high blood pressure, and it's even
been linked to diabetes and obesity.
02:00
In 2014, a devoted soccer fan died after staying awake for 48 hours to watch the World Cup.
While his untimely death was due to a stroke, studies show that chronically sleeping fewer
than six hours a night increases stroke risk by four and half times compared to those getting
a consistent seven to eight hours of shuteye. For a handful of people on the planet who
carry a rare inherited genetic mutation, sleeplessness is a daily reality. This condition, known
as Fatal Familial Insomnia, places the body in a nightmarish state of wakefulness, forbidding
it from entering the sanctuary of sleep. Within months or years, this progressively worsening
condition leads to dementia and death.
02:47
How can sleep deprivation cause such immense suffering? Scientists think the answer lies
with the accumulation of waste prducts in the brain.
02:56
During our waking hours, our cells are busy using up our day's energy sources, which get
broken down into various byproducts, including adenosine. As adenosine builds up, it
increases the urge to sleep, also known as sleep pressure. In fact, caffeine works by blocking
adenosine's receptor pathways. Other waste products also build up in the brain, and if
they're not cleared away, they collectively overload the brain and are thought to lead to the
many negative symptoms of sleep deprivation.
03:29
So, what's happening in our brain when we sleep to prevent this? Scientists found
something called the glymphatic system, a clean-up mechanism that removes this buildup
and is much more active when we're asleep. It works by using cerebrospinal fluid to flush
away toxic byproducts that accumulate between cells. Lymphatic vessels, which serve as
pathways for immune cells, have recently been discovered in the brain, and they may also
play a role in clearing out the brain's daily waste products.
04:03
While scientists continue exploring the restorative mechanisms behind sleep, we can be sure
that slipping into slumber is a necessity if we want to maintain our health and our sanity.

WHAT CAUSES INSOMNIA?

00:06
What keeps you up at night? Pondering deep questions? Excitement about a big trip? Or is it
stress about unfinished work, an upcoming test, or a dreaded family gathering? For many
people, this stress is temporary, as its cause is quickly resolved. But what if the very thing
keeping you awake was stress about losing sleep? This seemingly unsolvable loop is at the
heart of insomnia, the world’s most common sleep disorder.
00:36
Almost anything can cause the occasional restless night - a snoring partner, physical pain, or
emotional distress. And extreme sleep deprivation like jetlag can throw off your biological
clock, wreaking havoc on your sleep schedule. But in most cases, sleep deprivation is short-
term. Eventually, exhaustion catches up with all of us.
00:59
However, some long-term conditions like respiratory disorders, gastrointestinal problems,
and many others can overpower fatigue. And as sleepless nights pile up, the bedroom can
start to carry associations of restless nights wracked with anxiety. Come bedtime, insomniacs
are stressed. So stressed their brains hijack the stress response system, flooding the body
with fight-flight-or-freeze chemicals. Cortisol and adrenocorticotropic hormones course
through the bloodstream, increasing heart rate and blood pressure, and jolting the body into
hyperarousal. In this condition, the brain is hunting for potential threats, making it
impossible to ignore any slight discomfort or nighttime noise.
01:46
And when insomniacs finally do fall asleep, the quality of their rest is compromised. Our
brain’s primary source of energy is cerebral glucose, and in healthy sleep, our metabolism
slows to conserve this glucose for waking hours. But PET studies show the adrenaline that
prevents sleep for insomniacs also speeds up their metabolisms. While they sleep, their
bodies are working overtime, burning through the brain’s supply of energy-giving glucose.
This symptom of poor sleep leaves insomniacs waking in a state of exhaustion, confusion,
and stress, which starts the process all over again.
02:27
When these cycles of stress and restlessness last several months, they’re diagnosed as
chronic insomnia. And while insomnia rarely leads to death, its chemical mechanisms are
similar to anxiety attacks found in those experiencing depression and anxiety. So suffering
from any one of these conditions increases your risk of experiencing the other two.
02:49
Fortunately, there are ways to break the cycle of sleeplessness. Managing the stress that
leads to hyperarousal is one of our best-understood treatments for insomnia, and good
sleep practices can help rebuild your relationship with bedtime. Make sure your bedroom is
dark and comfortably cool to minimize “threats” during hyperarousal. Only use your bed for
sleeping, and if you’re restless, leave the room and tire yourself out with relaxing activities
like reading, meditating, or journaling. Regulate your metabolism by setting consistent
resting and waking times to help orient your body’s biological clock. This clock, or circadian
rhythm, is also sensitive to light, so avoid bright lights at night to help tell your body that it’s
time for sleep.
03:38
In addition to these practices, some doctors prescribe medication to aid sleep, but there
aren’t reliable medications that help in all cases. And over-the-counter sleeping pills can be
highly addictive, leading to withdrawal that worsens symptoms.
03:52
But before seeking any treatment, make sure your sleeplessness is actually due to insomnia.
Approximately 8% of patients diagnosed with chronic insomnia are actually suffering from a
less common genetic problem called delayed sleep phase disorder, or DSPD. People with
DSPD have a circadian rhythm significantly longer than 24 hours, putting their sleeping
habits out of sync with traditional sleeping hours. So while they have difficulty falling asleep
at a typical bedtime, it’s not due to increased stress. And given the opportunity, they can
sleep comfortably on their own delayed schedule.
04:30
Our sleeping and waking cycle is a delicate balance, and one that’s vital to maintain for our
physical and mental wellbeing. For all these reasons, it’s worth putting in some time and
effort to sustain a stable bedtime routine, but try not to lose any sleep over it.

WHAT’S THE SMARTEST AGE?

00:07
What is the smartest age? Perhaps a day of friendly competition will lead us to the answer.
00:14
Tomorrow’s the annual Brain Clash— ten teams of two competing in a decathlon of mental
challenges, trivia competitions, and puzzles. I’ve been training all year. I’ll need to pick the
smartest, most capable teammate. I’ve narrowed down the roster.
00:31
First we have Gabriela. She may only be 8, but don’t underestimate her! She’s fluent in two
languages and is the ultimate outside-the-box thinker.
00:41
Then there’s Ama. She can recite 100 digits of pi, designs satellites for a living, and bakes a
perfect soufflé.
00:49
Or I could go with Mr. Taylor. He’s the best chess player in the neighborhood, not to mention
he’s competed in over 20 Brain Clashes and is a five-time champion! I’m not sure who to
pick! Who’s the smartest?
01:05
Which of these teammates should Amir choose for tomorrow's contest and why? Of course,
it depends.
01:11
While intelligence is often associated with things like IQ tests, these assessments fail to
capture the scope and depth of a person’s varied abilities. So instead, we’ll break down the
idea of “smart” into categories like creativity, memory, and learning and explore when the
brain’s best at each of them.
01:30
Let's start at the very beginning. In the first few years of life, your brain undergoes incredible
rapid growth, called synaptogenesis, where more than 1 million new neural connections are
formed every second.
01:42
As the brain develops, it goes through a pruning process. Based on your experience and
environment, used connections are strengthened and unused connections are removed.
Frequently used neuronal pathways are myelinated, wrapped in a layer of insulation,
allowing information to travel faster. This creates a more efficient, fine-tuned brain. But this
brain remodeling happens within and between brain regions at different times, allowing
different skills to flourish at different ages.
02:13
For example, in childhood, brain regions involved in language learning develop quickly,
which is why many children can learn and master multiple languages. Yet the prefrontal
cortex, a brain region responsible for cognitive control and inhibition, is slower to develop.
As a result, some young children may struggle with strategic games, such as chess or
checkers, which require constant concentration, planning, and abstract thought. At the same
time, children tend to be more flexible, exploration-based learners. They often use more
creative approaches when finding solutions to riddles and are, on average, less afraid to
make mistakes.
02:51
But adults have their own unique set of abilities. Adults benefit from a well-developed
prefrontal cortex, allowing them to better execute skills that require learning, focus, and
memory, making them quick and efficient puzzle solvers or crossword masters.
03:06
Late in adulthood, these same skills may decline as the brain’s memory center, known as the
hippocampus, shrinks. But there’s a reason for the phrase “older and wiser.” After a lifetime
of learning, older adults have more knowledge to recall and utilize, making them excellent
trivia partners.
03:24
Other factors that Amir should consider are his own strengths. As an adolescent, the
prefrontal cortical regions of your brain are more developed than in childhood. This allows
you to better navigate logic and math puzzles. Simultaneously, deep inside the brain, regions
that are important in motivation and reward are developing even faster, driving teenagers
like Amir to be curious and adventurous learners.
03:49
In many ways, you can think of the teenager as a jack-of-all-trades, with brains wired to seek
out new experiences and learn quickly. You’re at a dynamic stage, where the choices you
make and the skills you focus on can actually guide the development of your brain.
04:06
So, what’s the smartest age? There’s no single answer. It’s 8, 16, 25, 65, and everything in
between; our brains have adapted to prioritize different skills at various ages to meet that
stage of life’s challenges and demands. So no matter who Amir picks, having an age-diverse
team is a good strategy.
HOW MEMORIES FORM AND HOW WE LOSE THEM

00:06
Think back to a really vivid memory. Got it? Okay, now try to remember what you had for
lunch three weeks ago. That second memory probably isn't as strong, but why not? Why do
we remember some things, and not others? And why do memories eventually fade?
Let's look at how memories form in the first place. When you experience something, like
dialing a phone number, the experience is converted into a pulse of electrical energy that
zips along a network of neurons. Information first lands in short term memory, where it's
available from anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes. It's then transferred to
long-term memory through areas such as the hippocampus, and finally to several storage
regions across the brain. Neurons throughout the brain communicate at dedicated sites
called synapses using specialized neurotransmitters. If two neurons communicate
repeatedly, a remarkable thing happens: the efficiency of communication between them
increases. This process, called long term potentiation, is considered to be a mechanism by
which memories are stored long-term, but how do some memories get lost?
Age is one factor. As we get older, synapses begin to falter and weaken, affecting how easily
we can retrieve memories. Scientists have several theories about what's behind this
deterioration, from actual brain shrinkage, the hippocampus loses 5% of its neurons every
decade for a total loss of 20% by the time you're 80 years old to the drop in the production
of neurotransmitters, like acetylcholine, which is vital to learning and memory. These
changes seem to affect how people retrieve stored information.
Age also affects our memory-making abilities. Memories are encoded most strongly when
we're paying attention, when we're deeply engaged, and when information is meaningful to
us. Mental and physical health problems, which tend to increase as we age, interfere with
our ability to pay attention, and thus act as memory thieves.
Another leading cause of memory problems is chronic stress. When we're constantly
overloaded with work and personal responsibilites, our bodies are on hyperalert. This
response has evolved from the physiological mechanism designed to make sure we can
survive in a crisis. Stress chemicals help mobilize energy and increase alertness. However,
with chronic stress our bodies become flooded with these chemicals, resulting in a loss of
brain cells and an inability to form new ones, which affects our ability to retain new
information.
Depression is another culprit. People who are depressed are 40% more likely to develop
memory problems. Low levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter connected to arousal, may
make depressed individuals less attentive to new information. Dwelling on sad events in the
past, another symptom of depression, makes it difficult to pay attention to the present,
affecting the ability to store short-term memories.
Isolation, which is tied to depression, is another memory thief. A study by the Harvard
School of Public Health found that older people with high levels of social integration had a
slower rate of memory decline over a six-year period.
The exact reason remains unclear, but experts suspect that social interaction gives our brain
a mental workout. Just like muscle strength, we have to use our brain or risk losing it.
But don't despair. There are several steps you can take to aid your brain in preserving your
memories. Make sure you keep physically active. Increased blood flow to the brain is helpful.
And eat well. Your brain needs all the right nutrients to keep functioning correctly. And
finally, give your brain a workout. Exposing your brain to challenges, like learning a new
language, is one of the best defenses for keeping your memories intact.
THE BENIFITS OF A BILINGUAL BRAIN

00:06

¿Hablas español? Parlez-vous français? 你会说中文吗？ If you answered, "sí," "oui," or "会"
and you're watching this in English, chances are you belong to the world's bilingual and
multilingual majority. And besides having an easier time traveling or watching movies
without subtitles, knowing two or more languages means that your brain may actually look
and work differently than those of your monolingual friends. So what does it really mean to
know a language? Language ability is typically measured in two active parts, speaking and
writing, and two passive parts, listening and reading. While a balanced bilingual has near
equal abilities across the board in two languages, most bilinguals around the world know
and use their languages in varying proportions. And depending on their situation and how
they acquired each language, they can be classified into three general types. For example,
let's take Gabriella, whose family immigrates to the US from Peru when she's two-years old.
As a compound bilingual, Gabriella develops two linguistic codes simultaneously, with a
single set of concepts, learning both English and Spanish as she begins to process the world
around her. Her teenage brother, on the other hand, might be a coordinate bilingual,
working with two sets of concepts, learning English in school, while continuing to speak
Spanish at home and with friends. Finally, Gabriella's parents are likely to be subordinate
bilinguals who learn a secondary language by filtering it through their primary language.
Because all types of bilingual people can become fully proficient in a language regardless of
accent or pronunciation, the difference may not be apparent to a casual observer. But recent
advances in brain imaging technology have given neurolinguists a glimpse into how specific
aspects of language learning affect the bilingual brain. It's well known that the brain's left
hemisphere is more dominant and analytical in logical processes, while the right hemisphere
is more active in emotional and social ones, though this is a matter of degree, not an
absolute split. The fact that language involves both types of functions while lateralization
develops gradually with age, has lead to the critical period hypothesis. According to this
theory, children learn languages more easily because the plasticity of their developing brains
lets them use both hemispheres in language acquisition, while in most adults, language is
lateralized to one hemisphere, usually the left. If this is true, learning a language in
childhood may give you a more holistic grasp of its social and emotional contexts.
Conversely, recent research showed that people who learned a second language in
adulthood exhibit less emotional bias and a more rational approach when confronting
problems in the second language than in their native one. But regardless of when you
acquire additional languages, being multilingual gives your brain some remarkable
advantages. Some of these are even visible, such as higher density of the grey matter that
contains most of your brain's neurons and synapses, and more activity in certain regions
when engaging a second language. The heightened workout a bilingual brain receives
throughout its life can also help delay the onset of diseases, like Alzheimer's and dementia
by as much as five years. The idea of major cognitive benefits to bilingualism may seem
intuitive now, but it would have surprised earlier experts. Before the 1960s, bilingualism was
considered a handicap that slowed a child's development by forcing them to spend too
much energy distinguishing between languages, a view based largely on flawed studies. And
while a more recent study did show that reaction times and errors increase for some
bilingual students in cross-language tests, it also showed that the effort and attention
needed to switch between languages triggered more activity in, and potentially
strengthened, the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. This is the part of the brain that plays a
large role in executive function, problem solving, switching between tasks, and focusing
while filtering out irrelevant information. So, while bilingualism may not necessarily make
you smarter, it does make your brain more healthy, complex and actively engaged, and even
if you didn't have the good fortune of learning a second language as a child, it's never too
late to do yourself a favor and make the linguistic leap from, "Hello," to, "Hola," "Bonjour" or
"你好’s" because when it comes to our brains a little exercise can go a long way.

CAN ZOOS ACTUALLY SAVE SPECIES FROM EXTINCTION

00:07
For thousands of years, native Takhi horses roamed the steppes of Central Asia. But by the
late 1960s, they’d become extinct in the wild— the last herds struggling in meager habitats
against hunters and competition from local livestock. Some small groups of Takhi survived in
European zoos, but their extinction still seemed inevitable. To prevent this terrible fate, a
coalition of scientists and zoos pulled together to start an international Takhi breeding
program. By the 1990s, these collaborators in Europe and the US began releasing new
generations of Asia’s ancient wild horse back into their native habitat. This Takhi revival was
a world-famous conservation victory, but the full story is much more complicated than it first
appears. And its twists and turns raise serious questions about the role of zoos and what
conservation even means.
01:03
To get the whole story, we need to start in the late 1800s when Russian explorer Nikolay
Przhevalsky was gifted the remains of one of these wild horses. Though the Takhi had long
been known to local Mongolians, European scientists were intrigued by the remains, which
looked more like those of a donkey or zebra than any known domestic horse. They
concluded the species was a sort of missing link between wild asses and modern horses. And
as reports of the newly dubbed Przhevalsky’s horse circulated through Europe and America,
zoo proprietors became eager to acquire the previously unknown species. At this time, zoos
were focused primarily on drawing visitors with exotic animals, and their exhibitions were
more concerned with entertainment than animal welfare. But in the early 1900s, the near
extinction of the American bison and the total extinction of other species like the passenger
pigeon inspired zoos to rebrand as centers for conservation. And as it became clear that
Przhevalsky’s horse might be headed for a similar fate, zoos began breeding programs to
sustain the captive population.
02:14
However, the individuals behind these programs came to an interesting conclusion about
how the horses should be bred. Like their colleagues, they believed the species represented
a missing link between modern domestic horses and their more primitive ancestors. They
also knew that some of the horses in their collections weren’t purebred Takhi, and many
didn’t even resemble the species’ standard description. So breeders felt it was up to them to
determine what a wild Takhi should look like, and breed them accordingly. Basing their work
on just a few specimens and broad beliefs about what a primitive horse might look like, they
created a rigorous model for the ideal Takhi. And over the 20th century, breeders in western
zoos and private collections created a population of thousands of horses all carefully bred to
share the same physical characteristics.
03:11
Of course, in their native habitat, wild Takhi had regularly interbred with domesticated
horses for millennia, producing a population with much more diverse appearances. So when
it was time to introduce the Takhi to their ancestral home, they were quite different from
the horses who’d been taken from those steppes a century earlier. Complicating things even
further, while these new Takhi herds were no longer in zoos, to this day, almost all remain
closely monitored and controlled for their own protection. So in a strange way, it’s hard to
say if these animals are actually in the wild or even if they’re truly Takhi.
03:51
The story of the Takhi horse is not unique. In many of our conservation victories, it’s difficult
to say exactly what was saved, and the role that zoos play in conservation can be very
complicated. It's clear that zoos have been and can continue to be significant forces for
animal preservation, especially efforts to save charismatic animals from extinction. But
today, the most direct cause of animal extinctions are humanity’s impacts on animal habitats
and Earth’s climate. So if zoos truly want to help protect the diversity of animal life on this
planet, perhaps they should redirect their efforts to preserving the natural habitats these
animals so desperately need.

FOOD EXPIRATION DATES DON’T MEAN WHAT YOU THINKS

00:07
How much of the food in your fridge will you toss before it reaches the table? Hamburger
buns from last summer’s picnic? Milk past its sell-by date? Carrots that lost their crunch?
Countries around the world waste huge amounts of food every year, and the United States is
one of the worst offenders. 37% of US food waste comes from individual households. And
roughly 20% of those food items are tossed because consumers aren’t sure how to interpret
the dates they’re labeled with. But most of those groceries are still perfectly safe to eat. So if
the dates on our food don’t tell us that something’s gone bad, what do they tell us?
00:52
Before the 20th century, the path between where food was produced and where it was
eaten was much more direct, and most people knew how to assess freshness using sight,
smell, and touch. But when supermarkets began stocking processed foods, product ages
became harder to gauge. In the US, grocers used packaging codes to track how long food
had been on the shelves, and in the 1970s, consumers demanded in on that info. Many
supermarkets adopted a system still in place today called open dating, where food
manufacturers or retailers labeled products with dates indicating optimum freshness. This
vague metric had nothing to do with expiration dates or food safety. In fact, it’s rarely
decided with any scientific backing, and there are usually no rules around what dates to use.
So most manufacturers and retailers are motivated to set these dates early, ensuring
customers will taste their food at its best and come back for more.
01:58
This means many foods are safe to eat far beyond their labeled dates. Old cookies, pasta,
and other shelf-stable groceries might taste stale, but they aren’t a health risk. Canned foods
can stay safe for years, so long as they don't show signs of bulging or rusting. Low freezer
temperatures keep bacteria that cause food poisoning in check, preserving properly stored
frozen dinners indefinitely. Refrigerated eggs are good for up to five weeks, and if they spoil,
your nose will let you know. And you can always spot spoiled produce by off odors, slimy
surfaces, and mold.
02:38
Of course, there are some cases where you’re better safe than sorry. The USDA recommends
eating or freezing meat within days of purchase. Beyond their printed dates, ready-to-eat
salads, deli meats, and unpasteurized cheeses are more likely to carry pathogenic bacteria
that can slip past a smell or taste test. And the dates on infant formula are regulated to
indicate safety. But while some of these labels work as intended, the vast majority don’t. In a
2019 survey of over 1,000 Americans, more than 70% said they use date labels to decide if
food is still edible, and nearly 60% said they’d toss any food past those dates. Restaurants
and grocers often do the same.
03:26
To avoid all this waste, many experts advocate for laws to require that date labels use one of
two standardized phrases: “Best if used by,” to indicate freshness, or “Use by” to indicate
safety. This solution isn't perfect, but some US researchers estimate that setting these
standards at a federal level could prevent roughly 398,000 tons of food waste annually.
Grocers could also try removing date labels on produce, as several UK supermarket chains
have done to encourage consumers to use their own judgement. Many experts also
advocate for policies incentivizing grocers and restaurants to donate unsold food. Currently,
confusion around dates has led at least 20 US states to restrict donating food past its labeled
date, even though the federal government actually protects such donations. Countries like
France go even further, requiring that many supermarkets donate unsold food.
04:29
Regardless of what your government decides, the best way to prevent food waste is to eat
what you buy! And don’t forget that your eyes, nose, and tongue are usually all you need to
decide if food is fit for consumption or the compost bin.

4 THINGS ALL GREAT LISTENERS KNOW

00:07
It's easy to tell when someone's not paying attention, but it can be surprisingly tricky to
know what truly excellent listening looks like. Behavioral scientists have found that good
listening is one of the most important things we can do to improve our relationships,
develop our worldview, and potentially even change people's minds. So, what can we do to
become better listeners?
00:34
At its core, listening in a one-on-one conversation is about taking an interest in another
person and making them feel understood. There’s no universally agreed upon definition of
high-quality listening, but some recurring features include attentiveness, conveying
understanding, and showing a positive intention towards the speaker. This doesn’t mean you
can simply go through the motions— researchers have found that merely smiling and
nodding at set intervals doesn’t quite work. However, there is something slightly
performative about listening in that it’s important to show you’re doing it. So, in addition to
actively attending to a speaker’s words, good listeners also use questions and body language
that indicate their understanding and their desire to understand.
01:22
This might feel awkward at first, and what’s most effective might depend on your
relationship with the speaker. But with time and practice you can internalize these basic
behaviors. So let’s say a good friend wants to tell you about an issue they’re having with
their partner. Before even starting your conversation, remove any distractions in the
environment. Turn off the TV, take off your headphones and put your phone away— far
away. One study showed that even the visible presence of a phone made conversations feel
less intimate and fulfilling to those involved.
02:01
Once the conversation begins, one of the most important things you can do is also the most
obvious— try not to interrupt. This doesn’t mean you need to stay completely silent. But if
you do interject, look for natural pauses to ask open-ended questions that benefit the
speaker, not just your curiosity. Questions like “What happened next?” or “How did that
make you feel?” confirm that you’re following the story while also helping the speaker dive
deeper into their own thoughts. Another great way to show your understanding is by
summarizing what you just heard and asking if you’ve missed anything. Summaries like this
show the speaker that you're truly trying to understand them rather than just waiting for
your turn to talk. Speaking of which, while a good conversation requires back and forth,
planning out your response while the speaker is talking is a common way to miss what’s
being said. So try to stay present and if you lose focus, don't be shy about asking the speaker
to repeat what you missed. This might feel embarrassing, but asking for clarification actually
shows that you’re committed to understanding. Finally, don’t be afraid of silence. It’s okay to
ask for a moment to formulate your response and taking a beat to think can help speakers
reflect on their speech as well.
03:26
These might seem like small changes, but together they make a big difference. And when
people feel heard, they report more satisfaction, trust, and connection in their relationships.
In the workplace, employees who feel heard generally experience less burnout, and perceive
the managers who listened to them more favorably. Unfortunately, while it might be easy to
listen to some people, it can be hard to muster all this focus and attention if you disagree
with or dislike the speaker. But these situations might actually benefit most from your efforts
to listen openly. The theory of psychological reactance suggests that trying to force someone
to change their mind makes them more likely to defend their point of view. However, recent
studies suggest that high-quality listening fosters open-mindedness by creating a non-
judgmental and psychologically safe environment.
04:26
Of course, truly open-minded listening isn’t about changing people’s minds. Good listening is
not the same as agreeing, and conversations don’t have to end with a happy resolution. But
even during a disagreement, sometimes being heard is enough to start a deeper
conversation.
WHY IS IT SO HARD TO BREAK THE BAD HABIT?

00:07
Billions of people deal with a nail-biting habit at some point in their lives. Many will go to
great lengths to try to stop, employing strategies like rubbing chili peppers on their
cuticles, wearing gloves all day, dipping their hands in salt, and envisioning bacteria crawling
on their fingers.
00:25
And while not all of us are nail-biters, most of us do have a habit we'd like to kick. So what's
the best way to break one?
00:33
Scientists define habits as behaviors that are performed regularly, and cued subconsciously
in response to certain environments, whether it be a location, time of day, or even an
emotional state. They can include simple actions like picking your hair when stressed, but
also more complex practices ingrained in daily routines, like staying up late or brewing your
coffee in the morning. If you do something frequently, without much deliberation, then it’s
likely a habit.
01:02
They form because at some point your brain learns that the behavior is beneficial. Let's say
after opening a stressful email, you bite your nails. This is rewarding, as it’s enough to focus
your attention, curbing your email fueled anxiety. Within your brain, positive experiences
can trigger the release of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that mediates feelings of
pleasure. Dopamine is also a driver of neuroplasticity, meaning it can change how your
neurons wire and fire. Your brain builds connections that link the reward with the
behavior, driving you to repeat it. It also starts associating the behavior with other cues, like
your environment. Eventually, all it takes is the context of sitting at your desk to
subconsciously trigger a nail-biting habit— no stressful email or sense of relief required.
01:57
Once established, these cue-behavior-reward loops work fast, outpacing the decision-
making process. You may find yourself engaging in a habit before you have the chance to
notice and stop.
02:11
But this can be a good thing because not all habits are bad. They’re stored memories of
what’s worked in the past, which allow you to take swift action in the present. One study
estimated that on average, people spend more than 40% of their days performing regularly
repeated behaviors while their minds are occupied with other thoughts. A seemingly
automated morning routine, for example, saves you both time and precious mental energy.
02:39
Still, many people have habits that no longer serve them. Yet research shows that intentions
alone often fail to lead to long-term behavior change. This isn’t to say you can’t break a
habit. Rather, by understanding the basis of habits, you can create better plans for changing
them.
02:59
For example, we know habits are often cued by environments and routines. Lying in bed may
cause you to endlessly scroll through your phone, or watching TV on the couch may lead you
to grab a sugary snack. One of the most effective ways to manage behavior is to identify
these locations or times of day. Then try to modify them by changing your routine or
creating obstacles that make it more difficult to perform the habit in that space.
03:27
Moving, switching jobs, or even starting a new schedule, are particularly great times to
break a habit or build a new one. One 2005 study tracked university students’
exercising, reading, and TV watching habits before and after they transferred schools. When
students were no longer around old environments and routines, their habits, even the
strong ones, significantly changed.
03:52
For behaviors like nail-biting or hair-pulling, a practice called habit reversal training can be
helpful. Developed by psychologists in the 1970s, the aim is to change a habit by replacing it
with another one that’s less detrimental. The training requires you to analyze and
understand your habit cues, so you can effectively intervene at the right times. For example,
if you tend to bite your nails at work, preemptively keep a fidget toy at your desk. Then, if a
stressful email comes in, use the toy when you feel the urge to bite your nails.
04:26
Breaking a habit takes time, so remember to give yourself grace and have patience through
the process. And while many focus on their bad habits, it’s also worth celebrating the good
ones that help us move swiftly and successfully through our daily routines.

ARE ALL OF YOUR MEMORIES REAL?

00:06
In a study in the 1990s, participants recalled getting lost in a shopping mall as children. Some
shared these memories in vivid detail— one even remembered that the old man who
rescued him was wearing a flannel shirt.
00:23
But none of these people had actually gotten lost in a mall. They produced these false
memories when the psychologists conducting the study told them they’d gotten lost, and
although they might not remember the incident, their parents had confirmed it. And it
wasn’t just one or two people who thought they remembered getting lost— a quarter of the
participants did.
00:48
These findings may sound unbelievable, but they actually reflect a very common
experience. Our memories are sometimes unreliable. And though we still don’t know
precisely what causes this fallibility on a neurological level, research has highlighted some of
the most common ways our memories diverge from what actually happened.
01:10
The mall study highlights how we can incorporate information from outside sources, like
other people or the news, into our personal recollections without realizing it. This kind of
suggestibility is just one influence on our memories. Take another study, in which
researchers briefly showed a random collection of photographs to a group of
participants, including images of a university campus none of them had ever visited. When
shown the images three weeks later, a majority of participants said that they had probably
or definitely visited the campus in the past.
01:50
The participants misattributed information from one context— an image they’d seen— onto
another— a memory of something they believed they actually experienced. In another
experiment, people were shown an image of a magnifying glass, and then told to imagine a
lollipop. They frequently recalled that they saw the magnifying glass and the lollipop. They
struggled to link the objects to the correct context— whether they actually saw them, or
simply imagined them.
02:21
Another study, where a psychologist questioned over 2,000 people on their views about the
legalization of marijuana, highlights yet another kind of influence on memory. Participants
answered questions in 1973 and 1982. Those who said they had supported marijuana
legalization in 1973, but reported they were against it in 1982, were more likely to recall that
they were actually against legalization in 1973— bringing their old views in line with their
current ones. Our current opinions, feelings, and experiences can bias our memories of how
we felt in the past. In another study, researchers gave two groups of participants background
information on a historical war and asked them to rate the likelihood that each side would
win. They gave each group the same information, except that they only told one group who
had actually won the war— the other group didn’t know the real world outcome. In theory,
both groups’ answers should be similar, because the likelihood of each side winning isn’t
effected by who actually won— if there’s a 20% chance of thunderstorms, and a
thunderstorm happens, the chance of thunderstorms doesn’t retroactively go up to
100%. Still, the group that knew how the war ended rated the winning side as more likely to
win than the group who did not.
03:53
All of these fallibilities of memory can have real-world impacts. If police interrogations use
leading questions with eye witnesses or suspects, suggestibility could result in incorrect
identifications or unreliable confessions. Even in the absence of leading
questions, misattribution can lead to inaccurate eyewitness testimony. In a courtroom, if a
judge rules a piece of evidence inadmissible and tells jurors to disregard it, they may not be
able to do so. In a medical setting, if a patient seeks a second opinion and the second
physician is aware of the first one’s diagnosis, that knowledge may bias their conclusion. Our
memories are not ironclad representations of reality, but subjective perceptions. And there’s
not necessarily anything wrong with that— the problems arise when we treat memory as
fact, rather than accepting this fundamental truth about the nature of our recollections.
HISTORY’S DEADLIEST COLORS

00:07
In 1898, Marie and Pierre Curie discovered radium. Claimed to have restorative
properties, radium was added to toothpaste, medicine, water, and food. A glowing, luminous
green, it was also used in beauty products and jewelry. It wasn't until the mid-20th
century we realized that radium's harmful effects as a radioactive element outweighed its
visual benefits. Unfortunately, radium isn't the only pigment that historically seemed
harmless or useful but turned out to be deadly. That lamentable distinction includes a trio of
colors and pigments that we've long used to decorate ourselves and the things we
make: white, green, and orange.
Our story begins with white. As far back as the 4th century BCE, the Ancient Greeks treated
lead to make the brilliant white pigment we know today. The problem? In humans, lead is
directly absorbed into the body and distributed to the blood, soft tissues, and mineralized
tissues. Once in the nervous system, lead mimics and disrupts the normal functions of
calcium, causing damages ranging from learning disabilities to high blood pressure. Yet the
practice of using this toxic pigment continued across time and cultures. Lead white was the
only practical choice for white oil or tempera paint until the 19th century. To make their
paint, artists would grind a block of lead into powder, exposing highly toxic dust
particles. The pigment's liberal use resulted in what was known as painter's colic, or what
we'd now call lead poisoning. Artists who worked with lead complained of
palseys, melancholy, coughing, enlarged retinas, and even blindness. But lead white's
density, opacity, and warm tone were irresistible to artists like Vermeer, and later, the
Impressionists. Its glow couldn't be matched, and the pigment continued to be widely used
until it was banned in the 1970s.
As bad as all that sounds, white's dangerous effects pale in comparison to another, more
wide-spread pigment, green. Two synthetic greens called Scheele's Green and Paris
Green were first introduced in the 18th century. They were far more vibrant and flashy than
the relatively dull greens made from natural pigments, so they quickly became popular
choices for paint as well as dye for textiles, wallpaper, soaps, cake
decorations, toys, candy, and clothing. These green pigments were made from a compound
called cupric hydrogen arsenic. In humans, exposure to arsenic can damage the way cells
communicate and function. And high levels of arsenic have been directly linked to cancer
and heart disease. As a result, 18th century fabric factory workers were often poisoned, and
women in green dresses reportedly collapsed from exposure to arsenic on their skin. Bed
bugs were rumored not to live in green rooms, and it's even been speculated that Napoleon
died from slow arsenic poisoning from sleeping in his green wallpapered bedroom. The
intense toxicity of these green stayed under wraps until the arsenic recipe was published in
1822. And a century later, it was repurposed as an insecticide.
Synthetic green was probably the most dangerous color in widespread use, but at least it
didn't share radium's property of radioactivity. Another color did, though - orange. Before
World War II, it was common for manufacturers of ceramic dinnerware to use uranium oxide
in colored glazes. The compound produced brilliant reds and oranges, which were appealing
attributes, if not for the radiation they emitted. Of course, radiation was something we were
unaware of until the late 1800s, let alone the associated cancer risks, which we discovered
much later. During World War II, the U.S. government confiscated all uranium for use in
bomb development. However, the atomic energy commission relaxed these restrictions in
1959, and depleted uranium returned to ceramics and glass factory floors. Orange dishes
made during the next decade may still have some hazardous qualities on their surfaces to
this day. Most notably, vintage fiestaware reads positive for radioactivity. And while the
levels are low enough that they don't officially pose a health risk if they're on a shelf, the
U.S. EPA warns against eating food off of them.
Though we still occasionally run into issues with synthetic food dyes, our scientific
understanding has helped us prune hazardous colors out of our lives.