New episode: How to find ancient cities hiding under the trees
Added 2025-04-17 12:05:01 +0000 UTCHi folks,
Today we have an 18-minute feature video about how lasers are uncovering an ancient Maya megalopolis. Would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
I relished working on this one because it's a delightful example of how advancements in basic research end up supercharging investigations in totally different fields. When the laser was developed in the late 1950s—based on a theory Einstein published in 1917 and with public funding—it was called "a solution looking for a problem." They couldn't have anticipated that we'd be fixing our vision, mapping tectonic plates, or studying ancient cities in the jungle of the Yucatan peninsula! Check out our Patreon feed for a "deleted scene" all about lasers. And kudos to Charlie for the gorgeous animations in this piece.
Live events coming up:
April 18 (tomorrow!): Hangout for the Mayors and Council Members
May 5: Science Paper Book Club. (Will send out the paper soon)
In shorts, we have a couple of clips from Adam's big episode rewinding plate tectonics in case you yearn to relive those great moments:
He's promised a behind-the-scenes for ya'll so stay tuned for that!
Lastly, some news: Howtown won an award "for excellence in independent video journalism"! Watch Adam's acceptance speech at the International Journalism Festival here. He gave a little shout out to me and you! ❤️
Anything good that comes from our channel is also coming from you. Ever grateful to have you all lifting us up. Back soon.
Love,
Joss (& Adam)
Comments
So well deserved! Congrats!
Mark B
2025-04-25 19:42:06 +0000 UTC
