Videos

Pierogi moons, rubber duckie comets and spewing ice balls: We have some very strange neighbors among the myriad planets, moons and objects that circle our sun.

Large quantum computers are difficult to build, but they can answer questions too complicated for conventional computation, unlocking new research possibilities in fields like protein modeling and data encryption.

This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on March 22, 2017. It is a Nature Video production.

Nature has full responsibility for all editorial content, including Nature Video content. This content is editorially independent of sponsors.

Researchers use eye-tracking software to peek inside a child's mind when words fail, reading eye patterns to understand language production and combat conditions such as specific language impairment.

Kea parrots have a special call that makes nearby parrots burst into play.

Vibrant images of our planet are common now, but it was only 70 years ago when we first caught a glimpse of Earth from a height of more than 100 miles. Watch a history of photographing Earth, from the first captured German rockets to iconic images like Earthrise and the Pale Blue Dot.

This video was reproduced with permission and was first published on March 16, 2017. It is a Nature Video production.

For thousands of years people have struggled to pin down pi. Watch how mathematicians from Archimedes on have wrapped their heads around the math of circles.

Many social animals start to feel itchy after watching one of their fellows scratch, and scientists now have a better understanding of why an itch can spread through a group.

Iridescent butterfly wings get their brilliance from structures smaller than a wavelength of light. Scientists are now peeking inside the chrysalis to watch these structural colors form as a living butterfly develops.

"Lens of Time: Building a Butterfly Wing” was first published on bioGraphic © 2016, California Academy of Sciences.

Could the drummer robot lead its cyber brethren to march in sync—or maybe someday even start a band?

These deceptively cute purple worms are in fact fearsome predators, launching a net of sticky slime from tiny hoses to capture prey. Scientists are using high-speed cameras to understand how the fluid forces the worm's flexible tubes to oscillate and spray the goo over unlucky insects.

"Lens of Time: Velvet Worms—Secret of the Slime” was first published on bioGraphic © 2016, California Academy of Sciences.

A baker’s half-dozen of Earth-size worlds is orbiting a (relatively) nearby star—and some could be habitable

New studies suggest lonely planets flying through intergalactic space were formed by star-destroying supermassive black holes.