Cleo Abram

This is Disney’s famous “Holotile” - it’s basically a treadmill but in every direction! Here's how it works... Up close, you can see the floor I’m walking on is made of rotating circular tiles. One gear on the bottom controls overall spin, and another on top controls the angle of the head… But… how does it know which way I’m going? I think this is awesome. For more optimistic science and tech stories, follow for our show Huge If True! #animation #tech #stem #holotile #vr #lidar

Listen to this. Scientists just recorded these “sounds” COMING FROM THE SUN! They were recorded by the Parker Solar Probe, which is traveling closer to the sun than any spacecraft ever before. But if you thought - hey, you can’t hear things in space, there’s no air, you’re right! The “sounds” are really vibrations of electric and magnetic fields that scientists converted into sound waves. Here's what they mean... Scientists have been turning space data into sound for decades as a way to help us pick out things we don’t notice in raw data. And this new probe is gathering a whole new symphony from the sun for us to learn from… If you want more optimistic science and tech stories, follow along for our show Huge If True!

This is the world’s most realistic lightsaber! It’s patented by Disney because they needed a REAL looking lightsaber in Disney Parks… What makes it special compared to toy versions is that smooth extension and perfect glow. Here's how it works... Inside, there’s a clear cap with two long translucent tapes attached to motors that unroll it from the inside, allowing the lightsaber to extend upwards. As they extend out of the hilt, the tapes bend into a concave shape to create a rigid blade. On the tapes are a series of bright LEDS that are programed with strobing and flickering effects to create that perfect lightsaber glow as you move it around. My last question was: What can I do with it? For optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True! #animation #lightsaber #science #tech #stem

This new plane just went faster than sound WITH NO AUDIBLE SONIC BOOM. And it’s a big deal for bringing back supersonic planes you can fly in. You used to be able to get from New York to London in 3 and a half hours. But that all changed when the famous Concorde stopped flying, in part because many countries banned supersonic flight over land, largely because of the BOOOOOOM it makes as it passes by. But this plane showed how we might bring supersonic back, because the boom never made it to the ground!! And the way they did that is pretty cool... If you like optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge if true! #supersonic #boom #science #plane #airplane

How big is the BIGGEST black hole? Here's the range, from small (for a black hole!) to truly huge... Ever wondered what would happen if you fell into one? We’re making a longer video all about black holes featuring physicist Brian Cox, so follow for more of our show Huge If True! #blackhole #space #science #animation #deepest

What if you just kept running UP? When would you hit “space”? Here’s how long it would take you to hit the important points far above your head right now… If you want more optimistic science and tech stories, follow for our show Huge If True! #animation #space #science #technology #historyfacts

What if you got sucked into a black hole? First you’d be smashing into burning hot gas and dust inside what’s called the accretion disk. As you get closer to the center, you’d notice the universe looks like it’s speeding up, because the black hole is so massive it’s warping space and time around you. Going deeper, you’d reach a point where if you looked to your left or right, you might see the back of your own head! Because gravity here is so strong, light is getting bent completely around the black hole… You’re now approaching the event horizon. Where the gravitational pull is so strong, even light can’t escape. As you pass beyond it, in a supermassive black hole, your body is being stretched and squished. The gravity is increasing so quickly, your feet are pulled away from your head in a process called “spaghettification” And since no light can escape the event horizon, the last we’d see of you is a slowly fading image of what you looked like right before you crossed it. #animation #space #sciencefacts #spacefacts

These are photos that NASA chose to send to aliens. They’re riding on the first spacecrafts to leave our solar system, Voyager 1 and 2, which are now way out into interstellar space carrying golden records with these images on them. Here's what they show... It's a message about humanity, hurtling 17 kilometers per second through the space between stars so that maybe one day… someone will find it. For more optimistic science and tech, follow for more of our show Huge If True. #space #alien #interstellar #science

What if I dug a hole through the Moon? The first thing you’d hit are lava tubes! Here’s what happens if you go even farther… If you like optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True! #animation #deepest #science #technology #historyfacts

These two astronauts just got back from the International Space Station! They were supposed to be on the ISS 8 days, and they stayed more than 9 months. Here’s why... Back in June, they took off from earth on the Boeing Starliner. To reach the ISS, they had to chase it down, flying out to its orbit 250 miles above Earth and zooming to reach its speed of over 28,000 km/h. But as they approached, some of their thrusters malfunctioned. That made NASA worry the Starliner wouldn’t get the astronauts home safely, so they sent it back empty. But that meant these astronauts needed a different ride home! Usually there are around 7 crew on the ISS, and NASA swaps 4 out every 6 months or so. So in September, on the next planned SpaceX mission, they only sent 2 - leaving 2 seats back for our astronauts! And now, they’re safely HOME. For more optimistic science and tech stories, follow for our show Huge If True. #space #astronauts #ISS #NASA #spaceX

Did you know more than HALF of the cells in your body are non-human cells? We think of ourselves as one organism, but really we’re a whole civilization... Don't worry, by weight and volume, you’re still mostly human - because those cells are so big in comparison. But by cell count? You’re outnumbered! If you want more optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True. #science #animals #microscope #stem #animation

Why aren’t leaves black? If they absorb light for energy, wouldn’t all the wavelengths of light be better? Scientists have thought that was weird for a while, so these researchers built a model to try to answer it. They knew pigments in leaves absorb light and convert it into electrons that other parts of the plant can use to make food. But it isn’t as simple as, more wavelengths of light, more food… What they found is a surprising result that helps give you a better glimpse into what might be going on all around you… For more optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True! #nature #science #tech #stem #animation

In 2015 NASA sent one astronaut, Scott Kelly, to space for a year, while leaving his twin, Mark Kelly, on Earth, to study how space affects the body. Here's what they found... For more stories about science and tech in an optimistic way, follow for our show Huge If True! #NASA #space #science #twins

What’s going on with Microsoft’s new quantum chip? It could be a huge deal but there’s a big debate about it! Here’s why... The reason we want quantum computers is they could do new things, like simulate the natural world even better. The reason we don’t have useful ones yet is that they need to be bigger. But the problem is when you make them bigger, they have more errors. That's because the information inside, the “qubits,” are incredibly sensitive and they get disrupted easily. So Microsoft tried to build a new kind of qubit - a “topological qubit” - where instead of storing the information in one place, they spread it out using a new state of matter called “majorana quasi-particles.” That’s awesome because in theory you could get fewer errors with a bigger quantum computer, because if you mess with one part, you still have the information in another! The big claim in their press release is that they have not only created these new qubits but can control them. BUT nobody outside of Microsoft has seen proof of the controlling part. In their peer reviewed paper, they show results that are consistent with Majorana quasi-particles, but don’t definitively prove that’s what they’re seeing. So what they’ve already shown is big, and what they MIGHT show is huge if true.

For tech news in an optimistic way, follow for more of our show Huge If True! #microsoft #majorana1 #quantum #quantumcomputer

Where did the moon come from? Did it fly by the earth and get captured by its gravity? Did it form at the same time as the earth from the same stuff? Or did something else happen? The best theory right now is that the creation of the moon looked like this... For optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True… #animation #NASA #space #moon #physics

How big is the world’s biggest rocket?

Here’s how SpaceX’s Starship compares to other rockets… and everyday buildings… If you like optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True! #animation #deepest #science #technology #historyfacts #spacex #starship #astronaut

This new probe will create artificial eclipses of the sun! Why? To study the sun’s outer atmosphere or corona... The corona is a crazy place. It can be 500 times HOTTER than the surface of the sun itself. Scientists want to understand what happens there - like solar mass ejections and solar winds - which can affect us here on earth. But to study just the corona, we need to block out the rest of the sun’s bright light. So to do that, this probe will split in two and fly those two parts 150 meters apart while keeping them perfectly aligned… down to 1 millimeter precision. The first part will cast a shadow on the second, creating a little mini solar eclipse for the second probe, allowing it to collect data on the corona around the sun. What makes this mission so hard is that the probes will need to stay perfectly aligned and distanced to take these measurements… The probe recently launched and is going to start collecting data soon! If you want to stay updated on optimistic science and tech stories, follow for our show Huge If True. #sun #science #tech #space

Surprising result from a new asteroid sample: NASA sent a spacecraft to an asteroid 200 million miles away to land on an asteroid, steal a sample, and bring it back here so we can analyze it… and first results are now IN! Here's what they found and what it implies… For optimistic science and tech stories, follow for more of our show Huge If True! #animation #space #technology #historyfacts #asteroid #bennu

This is the matrix, for robots. Companies like NVIDIA are changing the way robots are trained. Until recently, we’ve had to train robots out in the real world, where they often need human supervision and can get damaged or wear down, or get limited data like from humans in motion capture suits. This all makes robot training costly and slow. But now, companies are building tools to train robots through simulation. Basically a virtual world where robots can get digital reps. This allows us to quickly run hundreds, thousand, or even millions of simulations in a fraction of the time. It’s possible we’re in a big bang moment right now for robots… Watch our full interview with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang for more… #robots #science #nvidia #robotics #matrix

Scientists created "woolly mice." They're cute. This is a new kind of mouse created using gene editing to give it woolly mammoth-like traits because the company that made them is trying to bring back the Woolly Mammoth. Not cloning or resurrecting it, but editing existing animal’s genes to make it look like a woolly mammoth, which they plan to do with Asian elephants, their closest living relative. Along the way, they created this Woolly Mouse by analyzing preserved DNA from Woolly Mammoths to pinpoint genes that made them suited for cold weather and then looking for similar genes in mice. Using the gene-editing tool CRISPR, scientists edited seven mice genes all at once and the mice turned out with thicker, wavier coats and a slower metabolism. They didn’t insert any new genes into the mice, they just combined a bunch of genetic changes that have already been observed individually in healthy mice into a single mouse. And we have an INCREDIBLE story coming about gene editing, so follow to see it! #science #tech #stem #crispr