Accidental Discoveries

This segment from Swift: Eyes through Time traces the history military officers and engineers discovering a strange phenomenon in the sky that astronomers now know are gamma-ray bursts.

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Astronomy Theories

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time deals with the advancement of science through changing existing ideas, refuting outdated theories, and incorporating new findings.

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Beyond Einstein

NASA scientists describe some of the ways current science is addressing several of Einstein's fundamental questions and theories in this video adapted from NASA.

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Blacker Than Black

In this video adapted from NASA, two members of a NASA research team working to produce carbon nanotubes share some background behind this new technology, show examples of how it will be useful, and explain the various tests being performed to ensure readiness for spaceflight.

Colliding Neutron Stars Create Black Hole and Gamma-ray Burst

This video from NASA describes the detailed computer modeling used to predict that colliding neutron stars can produce gamma-ray bursts similar to those associated with black holes.

Cooking Cookies with Solar Power

In this video segment adapted from ZOOM, two solar cookers are tested against a control to see which can cook a "s'more" faster.

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Cosmic Origin Spectrograph

This video from NASA features the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS), which allows scientists to use spectrographic analysis to assess the composition of intergalactic material.

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Detecting Life on Other Planets

In this video from NOVA scienceNOW, learn how scientists detect potential signs of life on distant planets.

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Einstein's Thoughts on the Ether

Do light waves travel through the ether like waves on a lake travel through water? In this video segment adapted from NOVA, a young Albert Einstein grapples with this question while examining the speed of light.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum: FRONTLINE

This video segment adapted from FRONTLINE introduces the electromagnetic spectrum and explains how the various types of electromagnetic waves are distinguished by the amount of energy each wave carries.

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The Electromagnetic Spectrum: NASA

From radio waves to gamma rays, this video segment from NASA introduces the seven categories of the electromagnetic spectrum and how each type of radiation is part of our everyday lives.

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Eve: Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment

In this NASA video, scientists describe how the Extreme Ultraviolet Variability Experiment will sample and track the Sun's ultraviolet irradiance, providing a detailed time sequence of extreme ultraviolet output -- data that can provide advance warning for potentially disruptive energy bursts.

Galileo's Telescope

The invention of the telescope helped change our understanding of the universe. This video segment adapted from NOVA looks at Galileo's contribution to this technology.

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Gamma-ray Burst Theories

This video segment from Swift: Eyes through Time introduces and explains theories of the origin of gamma-ray bursts.

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Gamma Ray Telescope Senses High-Energy Radiation

This video from NASA describes the GLAST satellite, which is equipped with a gamma-ray telescope, and shares some background about the kinds of extreme universal phenomena indicated by the presence of gamma rays.

Growing Plants in Space

Learn about the challenges and benefits of growing plants in space from plant biologist Dr. Ray Wheeler in this video from NASA.

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How Light Travels

In this video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science, observe demonstrations of the fundamental idea that light travels in straight lines.

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Hubble's Expanding Universe

This adapted video segment, using footage from NOVA and NASA, examines Edwin Hubble's work and how his findings laid the foundation for the Big Bang theory.

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The Index of Refraction and Snell’s Law

Learn about the index of refraction and Snell's law in this video from the ICT Center.

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Infrared Energy

Explore infrared energy and how NASA detects it to study our Earth's systems more completely in this video adapted from NASA.

Interference and Diffraction

Learn about interference and diffraction in this video from the ICT Center.

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LAMP: Peering into the Lunar Dark

In this video from NASA, learn more about the Lyman-Alpha Mapping Project (LAMP), an instrument on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter mission to map and study the Moon.

Laser Tag

In this video adapted from QUEST, take a ride along with South San Francisco police officers and learn about the latest high-tech tools used in traffic law enforcement.

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Laser Waterfall

In this video from the Encyclopedia of Physics Demonstrations, observe how a laser beam is trapped in a water jet because the light reflects against the surface of the water.

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LED and Transmitter Characteristics

Learn about fiber optic transmitters in this video from the ICT Center.

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LIDAR 3D Mapping

See how researchers create 3-D maps of planets by using LIDAR (light detection and ranging) instruments in this video adapted from NASA.

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Light and Color

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science illustrates the dispersion of light through a prism and how raindrops refract sunlight to form rainbows.

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Light and the Law of Reflection

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science demonstrates the law of reflection by showing how light energy is reflected off both smooth and rough surfaces at predictable angles.

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Light Particles Acting Like Waves: The Uncertainty Principle

This video segment adapted from A Science Odyssey uses a laser beam to demonstrate how light particles act like waves, illustrating Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle.

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Light Years

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science describes how astronomical distances can be measured in units of light-years, and how the finite speed of light allows astronomers to study how the universe looked long ago.

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Looking Back in Time

This video segment of Swift: Eyes through Time provides concrete examples to explain the concept that distance in space equals distance in time.

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Meet Carrie Anderson: Taking on Titan

In this video from NASA, astronomer Carrie Anderson studies Saturn's moon, Titan, using data transmitted from the Cassini space probe.

Observing Refraction of Light

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science illustrates how light changes speed, and thus direction, in a process known as refraction.

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Photodetector and Receiver Characteristics

Learn about fiber optic receivers in this video from the ICT Center.

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Pixels and Pigments

This original animation from KET illustrates the mathematics of creating color in individual pixels in a television or computer screen. Adjusting the values of red, green, and blue forms different colors.

A Simple Fiber-Optic Communications System

Learn about rise-time analysis in fiber optic communications systems in this video from the ICT Center.

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A Simple Fiber Numerical Aperture Measurement

Learn about measuring the numerical aperture of an optical fiber in this video from the ICT Center.

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Solar Power

This video segment from Vegas PBS shows the largest solar power system to date in the U.S. and explains how solar power can serve the needs of large-scale facilities and benefit the environment.

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Speed of Light

This video segment adapted from Shedding Light on Science uses historical illustrations and everyday examples to show that light has a speed and does not travel instantaneously.

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Telescope Girl

In this video segment from ZOOM, 12-year-old Katy gives people in her neighborhood a glimpse of the moon through a 10-inch reflecting telescope she built herself.

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Thunderstorms Produce Antimatter

This video from NASA explains the process by which gamma-ray flashes associated with storms produce matter/antimatter particle pairs.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Gamma Waves

Get an overview of gamma waves and examples of conditions and events that produce gamma waves, the highest-energy radiation on the EM spectrum, in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Infrared

Explore the ways scientists use technology to “see” infrared light in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Microwaves

See microwaves in the context of other areas of the electromagnetic spectrum in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Radio Waves

This video from NASA provides an overview of the radio band of electromagnetic spectrum and offers a brief history of the discovery and early applications of radio waves.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Ultraviolet

Explore the ultraviolet band of the EM spectrum in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: Visible Light

See just how narrow the visible light band is relative to other EM energy in this video from NASA.

Tour of the Electromagnetic Spectrum: X-rays

Get both an “everyday” and an “exotic” view of x-rays in this video from NASA.