Professor Lee Berger is an award-winning researcher, explorer, author, palaeoanthropologist, and speaker. His explorations into human origins on the African continent, Asia, and Micronesia for the past two and a …

This video is part of our Brilliant Breakthroughs series: our new 20-episode mini-series exploring the “Eureka!” moments and proud accomplishments of the greatest scientific minds of our time. Join us …

World Science Festival co-founder Brian Greene and seven-time Emmy Award–winner Alan Alda muse on Einstein’s Theory of Relativity in a post-performance discussion after a reading of Alda’s play “Dear Albert.”

As computers become progressively faster and more powerful, they’ve gained the impressive capacity to simulate increasingly realistic environments. Which raises a question familiar to aficionados of The Matrix—might life and the world as we know it be a simulation on a super advanced computer?

Nowadays, the tools for tracing your family tree have advanced far beyond looking back at names in the family Bible or compiling a scrapbook of paper records. Using your genetic information to find long-lost relatives is easier and cheaper than ever before—and scientists are looking to push the technology even further by analyzing our skin and facial features.

In this highly entertaining performance combining math with magic, Arthur Benjamin—aka, the the “Mathemagician”—displays amazing feats of mental mathematical gymnastics and explains the secrets behind his lightning-fast math skills. How does the Mathemagician best an electronic calculator?

Is our response to music hard-wired or culturally determined? Is the reaction to rhythm and melody universal or influenced by environment? John Schaefer, scientist Daniel Levitin, and musical artist Bobby McFerrin engage in live performances and cross-cultural demonstrations to illustrate music’s noteworthy interaction with the brain and our emotions.

Sexuality and gender play a profound role in shaping identity, but for much of human history how they are determined has remained obscure. How does sexual orientation develop? What is it? Can it be changed?