Experimenters Poppy and Sugar visit Nina in her workshop and discover that the foundations for floating houses need to be built in a special way. Next, they visit some real floating houses in Ijburg in the Netherlands to find out how really heavy things can float. Finally, they do an experiment that explains why floating houses stay steady in the water.

Metals have had such an impact on civilization that we name some eras for the discovery of specific metals: the Bronze Age and the Iron Age. In this program, learn about the characteristic and properties of metals, as well as the appearance of metals throughout history. We’ll explore prehistory; metals and tools; the first metals to be discovered; advantages of metal as compared to stone, wood, and bone; pure metals; alloys; heavy metals; iron;...

Airports implemented full body scanners as a security measure. This video identifiesthe three companies that manufacture commercial full body scanners, the two types of scanners, and how the scanners work.

14-year-old Zoë is an acrobat. She lives with her parents in a Dutch circus and the aerial silks are her favorite discipline. She practices often. She climbs high into the silks which hang down from the top of the circus tent. Her favorite tricks are the ‘drops.’ Zoë wraps herself into the silk so that when she lets herself fall, the cloth catches her just above the ground. She falls because of gravity. Zoë wants to know more: how does gravity...

Why does a glass of ice heat up while a mug of tea cools down? What’s making them change temperature? Can Yanick figure out the physics behind heat transfer before his morning tea in the Physics House is a lukewarm disappointment?

Featuring footage from the BBC and other natural history archives, the Fierce Earth series showcases the power of nature's fury. This episode focuses on monsoon season. The team follows the path of the monsoon across India until they reach a village thought to be the wettest place in the world; Leah Gooding explores how locals handle the rain. Dougal Jerram traverses a waterfall and explores the cave system created by torrential rains.

Take a tour of both the central and peripheral nervous systems, and find out how information travels from one part of the body to another. Watch how nerve impulses travel from neuron to neuron with the help of an animated diagram. Learn about the parts of the brain and understand their functions. See models of the eye, ear, tongue, and nose, and learn how sensations are communicated from these parts of the body to the brain.

Dr. Helen Czerski investigates the extraordinary science behind sounds we're familiar with and sounds we normally can't hear. At the Palace of Westminster,she teams up with scientists from the University of Leicester to carry out state-of-the-art measurements to reveal how Big Ben vibrates to create pressure waves in the air at particular frequencies. With soprano singer Lesley Garrett, Helen explores the science of the singing voice. At the summit...

The Internet was invented during the Cold War and launched in 1969. Yet it wasn't made for the public. In fact, it was developed for the army to communicate quickly and secretly so that no spies could intercept and no bombs could disrupt the sharing of information. It was nothing like what we know today. This program takes a look at the history of the Internet, the 1972 introduction of electronic mail, and the launch of the World Wide Web. Nobody...

The story of the photoelectric effect is an ongoing one, from its discovery in 1887 to its use in a myriad of today's devices, such as cameras and cell phones. This program tells that story, charting the contributions of Hertz, Lenard, Planck, and Einstein, while making use of actual experiments, clever demonstrations, and formulas that describe each aspect of a crucial physics phenomenon. Topics include: Hertz's initial experiment; Lenard's investigations;...