It's Okay to Be Smart

It's Okay to Be Smart

Join host Joe Hanson as he explores the eccentricities of the scientific world. From physics and astronomy, to biology and neuroscience, nothing is off-limits in this quirky exploration of all science has to offer.

Many hot air balloons taking off into the sky.

Man in glasses and cardigan holds palms together with lips parted in mid-speech. He stands before a green background with white scratches.

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Extreme Microbes Are Eating the Titanic

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Can You Bend Light Like This?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: 97% of Climate Scientists Really Do Agree

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: How Your Memory Works

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Do We Itch?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Biomass--How Much Does Life on Earth Weigh?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Science of Farts

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Surprising Reason We Eat Spicy Food

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Do We Cry?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Proof of Evolution Is Hiding in Your DNA

Different math equations and graphs are drawn, with a butterfly as the backdrop.

Sixteen eyeballs, each with different eye color. Caption: Martin-Schultz scale.

A group of animals, a gorilla, a rhino, a lemur cat, and a scaled lizard.

Seven different butterflies, where four are placed at the corners facing the butterfly at the center and two at either side of the central butterfly.

An animal with the body of a lion, an extra goat head on its back, and a snake instead of a tail. Caption: Chimera.

A view of Moon in the dark sky. Caption: Maria, Latin for seas, and Sea of Tranquility, Mare Tranquillitatis.

A star filled night sky. Caption: P B S.

Sunlight is shining through in a forest with large number of trees.

A comparison of passive echolocation used in vehicles and active echolocation in dolphins.

Eggs of Screech owl, Turkey vulture, Audubon's Caracara, Kingfisher, Common Murree, Yellow Billed. Caption: Stoddard Et Al. Science 20 17.

Two different types of bacteria are seen all over a human outline. Caption: 37.2 trillion and 39 trillion.

Collage with black and white illustration of a twelfth century Chinese man holding out a scrap of paper. A red lantern on a pole overhead. Red prohibited symbol covers image of 2 gold bars.

The sample particles enter the mass spectrometer, which is accelerated, and then separated according to their individual mass of the particles by a magnet.

An enlarged view of the cells lining the retina is shown from an eyeball. A colorful and a black and white picture of parrot are shown on either side of the eyeball.

A photo depicts many branches of a large tree.

Man with glasses raises eyebrows and parts lips mid-speech. Toys and books are on bookshelves in background.

An illustration depicts the sinuses present in a human skull.

A world map illustrates the amount of bug species consumed, on a scale from 0 to 300 plus.

An illustration depicts the recycling machine, and a recycled product.

A graph plots pressure in Pascal’s versus temperature in degrees Celsius. The horizontal axis is marked at negative 5, 0, and 100. The vertical axis ranges from 1 kilo Pascal to 100 Mega Pascal’s in increments of exponents of 10. At 1 atmospheric pressure water is in solid ice at negative 5 degrees to 0 degrees, in liquid state from 0 degrees to 100 degrees Celsius, and in vapor form above 100 degrees Celsius.

An astronaut Don Pettit talks to host Joe Hanson. A rocket is seen in the background.

An aerial view of a canopy of trees.

A scale shows world population. 2 billion people will be added by 20 50 to the 7 billion at present. A number, 2 X, is shown over the food crops, wheat and corn.

A woman holds a wailing infant in her arms.

A battery gauge has 14 blocks, where 7 blocks are full. The grades of the battery gauge reads, from top to bottom, as follows. Gamma rays, X rays, U V, visible rays, and infrared. An arrow points from visible light to infrared.

A cartoon shows Benjamin Franklin sleeping on a bed. Sunlight pours into the room through an open window.

Line graph titled, "Exponential Growth, Covid-19." Y axis reads, "Cases open parentheses Outside of China close parentheses" and X axis reads, "Feb twelfth" at left and "March fifteenth" at right. Pink dots gradually curve upward from left to right where they're labeled "X, 1 point 4."

Aerial view of man in glasses looking up at camera as he wipes his hands with a paper towel next to kitchen sink.

Man in glasses and zip sweatshirt parts lips in mid-speech. Bookshelves line wall in background. Title card reads, ''Cerebellum."

Orange glare flares out from bright central object and is surrounded by flecks of colored light in outer space.

2 red lines branch off from a red dot at the top connecting to red dots that continue to branch off in twos 5 times to form a crown-shaped contagion.

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Counting the Species in My Backyard

Man in glasses parts lips in mid-speech. Bookshelves and art supplies line walls in background. Title card reads, "How to fly. Stay in the air."

Two people standing apart, both wearing surgical masks.

Man in glasses and blue collared shirt gestures with hands out and lips pursed in mid-speech.

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: How the Pandemic Has Distorted Our Sense of Time

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Fastest Animals Are Way Faster Than You Think

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: 4 Ways the Universe Might End (All of Them Bad)

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Lizard That Uses Nanotechnology to Walk Upside Down

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Are There 7 Days in a Week?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Shocking Truth About Ben Franklin and the Kite

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Inside the Lab That Invented the COVID-19 Vaccine

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why the Heck Is Glass Transparent?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Do We Lie?

Man in glasses gestures with hand and parts lips in mid-speech. Toys and books on shelves displayed in background. Text at right reads, "Gimme that science!"

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Golden Ratio--Is It Myth or Math?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: What Is Impossible in Evolution?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Transcontinental Burrito Hypertunnel

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: How Ocean Currents (And How We Are Breaking Them)

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Are We Warm Blooded?

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: The Shocking Way Your Brain Runs on Electricity

Still image from: It's Okay to Be Smart: Why Is Sex a Thing?