Science in Shorts playlist 2022

Top 10

• Extreme violence and snow

  Gamma-ray bursts are the most violent things in the Universe, but by the time their cosmic messengers reach Earth, they’re tiny, tired and fading fast. Samuele Ronchini scales mountains to find and interpret them.

  Authors:

  Samuele Ronchini

  Institution:

  Gran Sasso Science Institute

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Out on a limb

  Most people think they know a bit about the human genome, and most assume that humans must be the peak of genome complexity. The Tree of Life team debunks that idea and romps through the weird and wonderful things they’ve found lurking where you’d least expect them.

  Authors:

  Luke Lythgoe for the Tree of Life Team

  Institution:

  The Wellcome Sanger Institute

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Now you see me

  What would you do tomorrow if I gave you an invisibility cloak today? The Metasurfers are getting closer to this vanishing act. And this is how it works.

  Authors:

  Ahmed Dorrah & Xinghui Yin for The Metasurfers

  Institution:

  Harvard University

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Salmonella and me

  How a childhood snack in a sandpit sparked Emma Werner’s startling discovery that a VIP (Very Important Polypeptide) was hooking up with her least favourite bacterium in a new and unexpected way.

  Authors:

  Emma Werner

  Institution:

  Cambridge University

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Don’t be alarmed

  The liver is the only organ that can regenerate if it gets damaged. What switches on this response, and keeps it from continually growing like your hair and fingernails?

  Authors:

  Eleanor Jenkins, Filippo Macchi & Elena Magnani for the Kirsten Sadler Edepli Lab Team

  Institution:

  NYU Abu Dhabi

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• A power hungry killer

  Do you want to see a Dutch scientist explain why the malaria parasite is deadly for humans, but not for mosquitoes? Of course you do. Malaria kills more than half a million people every year, and this team is working to unplug its energy supply.

  Authors:

  Alex van der Starre, Cas Boshoven, Felix Evers, Julie Verhoef, Nick Proellochs & Taco Kooij

  Institution:

  Radboud University Medical Centre

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Disorderly conduct in space

  Gily Ginosar used bats to find out how the brain’s GPS builds a changing 3D image of the world as you move through it. It turned out to be nowhere near as predictable and neatly ordered as she thought.

  Authors:

  Gily Ginosar

  Institution:

  Weizmann Institute of Science

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Stick with me, kid

  To make super-strong sand for a sandcastle that lasts forever, you just need the right kind of glue and a 3D printer. But to make an ultra-sticky glue you can squirt through an inkjet printhead is as easy as trying to thread a needle with a hotdog.

  Authors:

  Amy Elliott for ORNL Binder Jet Team

  Institution:

  Oak Ridge National Laboratory

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Iron’s will

  How would you explain what iron molecules do inside the body’s cells? Or inside the cells of bacteria? Got a suit of armour handy? Excellent; because that’s exactly what you need. Honestly.

  Authors:

  Pavel Dolezal

  Institution:

  Charles University

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

• Crumpled sheets

  Nobody looks at their unmade bed in the morning and wonders if maths can explain the state of it, do they? Or the crumpled tissue in their pocket? Or the scrunched up crisp packet on the pavement? Apparently, they do. And you’ll be amazed where that’s leading.

  Authors:

  Jovana Andrejavic & Chris Rycroft for Team Crumple

  Institution:

  Harvard University

  Please visit YouTube to view this video.

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