Cleo Abram

Dinosaurs were not like I thought...
Check out https://groundnews.com/Cleo for a data-driven, balanced approach to staying informed. Use my link to save 50 percent on the Vantage plan and see how current events are framed from every perspective.

I’m finally learning the truth about dinosaurs.

I’ve loved dinosaurs since I was a kid, but it turns out a lot of what I thought I knew is wrong… or at the least outdated. So, in this video, I’m gonna show you the cutting edge of dinosaur discovery. I’ll give you rare access into a warehouse full of dinosaur bones, try to find my own fossil, and show you something new these scientists just discovered…

Chapters:
00:00 What were dinosaurs really like?
01:08 Why is today a big deal for dinosaur discovery?
03:31 How big were dinosaurs, really?
05:49 When did dinosaurs actually live?
08:20 How many dinosaurs have we found?
09:26 What was the T-Rex like?
10:39 Did I find a bone??
11:55 What IS a dinosaur?
14:31 What did dinosaur skin feel like?
15:06 What color were dinosaurs?
15:51 Can you guess this modern animal?
16:54 How were dinosaur fossils formed?
17:34 Why did dinosaurs go extinct?*
19:14 Why do we study dinosaurs?

Thank you to the team at the Philip J. Currie Dinosaur Museum and the Pipestone Creek Bonebed for making my dreams of hunting for dinosaur fossils come true!

Correction:
17:40 Some of the dinosaurs animated here went extinct before this mass extinction event. Thank you to the thoughtful commenter who pointed this out! We sincerely appreciate it.

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- How do dinosaur fossils form? Natural History Museum: https://youtu.be/87E8bQrX4Wg?si=O-aY_J-oLaENIRhb
- Why are birds the only surviving dinosaurs? Natural History Museum: https://youtu.be/9GVvtKK5sFw?si=1sMXLcp_XbbKm7Mq
- What Makes A Dinosaur? Minute Earth: https://youtu.be/HIbG-dUFnf4?si=JLnfG-oanRrYcq_9
- The Day the Dinosaurs Died – Minute by Minute, Kurzgesagt: https://youtu.be/dFCbJmgeHmA?si=fHEcj0C5VQ1qVks1
- Evolution of Dinosaurs in 10 Minutes, What If: https://youtu.be/qWvzBCfFNug?si=JiZigpmXXxb3izkz
- The Biggest Dinosaurs Of All Time, Insider Science: https://youtu.be/VoFX7g0ffAA?si=g44WXEqz6A7K7y8w
- Paleontologist Reviews Dinosaur Movie Scenes, Vanity Fair: https://youtu.be/PJXrCtQAYDs?si=82TDpRtXjX4MfATS
- 25th anniversary of the first known feathered dinosaurs, Nature: https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-04586-4
- Tyrannosaurus rex couldn’t run says new research, U Manchester: https://www.manchester.ac.uk/about/news/tyrannosaurus-rex-couldnt-run-says-new-research/
- A Computational Analysis of Limb and Body Dimensions in Tyrannosaurus rex: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3192160/
- A Fresh Science Makeover for SUE, Field Museum: https://www.fieldmuseum.org/blog/fresh-science-makeover-sue
- Tracing the evolution of amniote chromosomes: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4031395/
- A new hypothesis of dinosaur relationships and early dinos

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why deep sea maps are SO BAD (and how to fix it)...
Subscribe for more optimistic science and tech stories.

Our maps of the ocean are surprisingly bad! On Google Maps it looks like we know so much… but we know less about the ocean floor than we do the surface of Mars. And that’s a big problem, because we are using the ocean all the time: We’re laying internet cables across it, we fight wars in it, we search it during a crisis - like the imploded OceanGate Titan submersible or the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370. 71% of the surface of the Earth is water! And yet we have a surprisingly limited view of what’s below it.

But that’s also understandable. Because cartographically speaking, water sucks. For Mars or Earth’s surface, we can take pictures. But light doesn’t get to the ocean floor, so we need other ways to see it. The good news is, we’re developing that tech right now, and an international group called Seabed 2030 is working to piece together a better map.

There is a terrifying, incredible, alien world on our own planet, and we’re FINALLY using technology to see it more clearly.

In this episode of Huge If True, I dive deep - with help from my friend and fellow video journalist @johnnyharris - to show you how we’re mapping the ocean, the surprising things we’ve discovered in the depths, and why this new technology could be… huge if true :)

Chapters:
00:00 How bad are our ocean maps?
01:40 How deep is the ocean?
03:05 What is the deepest part of the ocean?
04:04 The craziest method to map the ocean
06:20 How does sonar work?
07:31 What did the first ocean maps look like?
09:30 How do we map the ocean now?
10:30 What is Seabed 2030?
11:40 How do we use underwater robots?
12:27 Concerns with mapping the deep ocean
13:11 Why deep ocean mapping is huge if true

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- 24-hour a day live streaming from the deep sea: www.NautilusLive.org
- Livestream of ocean research (my favorite): https://www.youtube.com/@EVNautilus
- To see recent seafloor visualizations (NOAA): https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/maps/ocean-exploration-data-atlas/
- To learn more about the high-stakes race to map the Earth's oceans: The Deepest Map, by Laura Trethewey https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-deepest-map-laura-trethewey
- To see how amazing our Mars maps are (Murray Lab): https://murray-lab.caltech.edu/CTX/V01/SceneView/MurrayLabCTXmosaic.html
- The Ocean is Way Deeper Than You Think, RealLifeLore: https://youtu.be/GE-lAftuQgc?si=yjGHgbaDZYILXpT0
- What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Place on Earth? The Deep Sea, Kurzgesagt: https://youtu.be/PaErPyEnDvk?si=AcXwb3F-ERJXGFRI
- The Unspeakable Horrors of the Deep Sea, Casual Geographic: https://youtu.be/MCf4zwOfRas?si=08gYwFdm3OwWoP4D
- Why no aquarium has a great white shark, Vox: https://youtu.be/QMbHLF_zwjs?si=gGrgYBNQqK9L-Twd
- This Incredible Animation Shows How Deep The Ocean Really Is, Insider: https://youtu.be/UwVNkfCov1k?si=L1Rj4V4HIFUP8gjy
- How Much of

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

What's really down in the deep Earth?
Subscribe to support optimistic science and tech journalism!

Have you ever thought, “what if I just dug a really really deep hole?”

Well, the USSR actually did. The hole they dug is deeper than the deepest part of the ocean. It’s deeper than Mt. Everest is tall! They began digging it in the 1970s as part of a space race, but down. The United States only got to 600 ft before pulling funding. But the USSR kept going for 20 years. They made it about a third of the way through the Earth’s crust and then STOPPED.

But what if… you just… kept... digging?

If you dug a hole to the center of the Earth, what would you find? What would happen to you? And what does our newest tech tell us is REALLY down below your feet?

In this video, we’re going on a journey to the center of the Earth…

Chapters:
0:00 What if you dug a hole to Earth’s core?
1:05 What happens when I start digging?
1:36 What are the deepest made-made things?
2:25 What is the deepest hole humans ever dug?
3:03 What happens in the mantle?
3:45 Why is the Earth hot?
4:38 What did we used to think was inside the Earth?
5:06 How do we know what’s inside the Earth??
5:59 What’s inside the core?
6:26 Um, the magnetic field switches direction??
7:13 Why is the Earth in layers?
8:53 What’s at the center of the Earth?
9:46 Earth’s core spins at its own rate??
10:52 What don’t we know?
11:33 Subscribe to support Huge If True!

Corrections:
1:43 The Mponeng Gold Mine is in South Africa, not China.
We always strive to get every detail right but we do sometimes make mistakes. We care more about getting it right than being right, and we'll always issue corrections. Thank you for your help making Huge If True great!

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- What If You Dig A Hole Through The Earth (our previous Short): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1WXL1IfivVo
- What If You Just Keep Digging (our previous Short): https://www.youtube.com/shorts/yMNmhpQ7mOs
- How Deep Humans Have Dug, Insider Tech: https://youtu.be/tzhWVzyo4kI?si=KveNdkqDB4H_GvT_
- What Would A Journey To Earth’s Core Be Like? Bright Side: https://youtu.be/3FoSAHk7DMA?si=E0yceK9HFFHbhzEN
- What’s The Deepest Hole We Can Possibly Dig? RealLifeLore: https://youtu.be/E39GIysMevQ?si=Mt8kp_CPbbMXng0f
- Why Did the Russians Seal Up the Deepest Hole in the World? How Stuff Works: https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/kola-superdeep-borehole.htm
- Fantastically Wrong: The Legendary Scientist Who Swore Our Planet Is Hollow, WIRED: https://www.wired.com/2014/07/fantastically-wrong-hollow-earth/
- How Does Earth’s Core Generate a Magnetic Field? USGS: https://www.usgs.gov/faqs/how-does-earths-core-generate-a-magnetic-field
- Reversing the Geomagnetic Field, NASA: https://astrobiology.nasa.gov/news/reversing-the-geomagnetic-field/
- Why Is It Hot Underground? Minute Earth: https://youtu.be/mOSpRzW2i_4?si=05MWOpajl3plH2Re
- Earth’s inner core seems to be slowing its spin, Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/01/23/earth-core-slowing/
- Earth’s Inner Core May Have an Inner

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

When should artists get paid in a world with AI music?
Subscribe for more optimistic science and tech stories!

Artificial intelligence is changing how music gets made - and how musicians get paid. AI is letting people clone artists’ voices, create completely new songs as fake collaborations, generate lyrics in seconds, even produce full tracks just by typing in a few words. It’s all causing some to say AI will be “the death of music.”

Technology causes turning points in history. And I think we’re in one right now for music. The stakes are high: If we get this wrong, we could jeopardize how human musicians make money and art. But if we get it right, we have an opportunity to leap ahead in how we as humans get to express ourselves.

To really understand what’s happening with AI music, you need to understand how the music industry ALREADY works - and how it could be changing. In this video, I took a deep dive into that topic with the help of two people right in the thick of it: The artist Grimes and CEO of Spotify Daniel Ek.

Chapters:
00:00 What is happening with AI in music?
02:05 Why would we want AI music?
04:03 How are musicians using AI?
06:17 When should musicians get paid?
07:15 What is copying versus inspiration?
08:26 How does copyright work in music?
10:06 Should artists get paid for AI training on their music?
11:55 What happens when AI generates its own songs?
12:54 How could AI music be "huge if true"?

You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun tech explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts, threads and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, Huge If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
Elf Tech, by Grimes: https://elf.tech/connect
Who Sampled, my favorite site to see sampled tracks: https://www.whosampled.com
Frank singing Lil jon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7zoQeH2wQFM
Johnny Cash Barbie: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FKKGxySvaII
Linkin Park Pokemon: https://youtu.be/CuCUdQ3xrEk?si=wFaim8O86IUamItB
An A.I. Hit of Fake ‘Drake’ and ‘The Weeknd’ Rattles the Music World, New York Times: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/04/19/arts/music/ai-drake-the-weeknd-fake.html
The Music Industry Has an AI Problem, Washington Post: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2023/05/02/ai-drake-heart-on-my-sleeve-and-cultural-appropriation/c236dbfc-e8f1-11ed-869e-986dd5713bc8_story.html
Spotify will not ban AI-made music, BBC: https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-66882414
Grimes Launches AI Software That Allows Anyone To Insert Her Voice Into Music, Hypebeast: https://hypebeast.com/2023/5/grimes-ai-software-elf-tech-voice-music

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM and 35mm prime
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX

I used music from Lickd for this video:

Get Unholy (Instrumental) by Sam Smith, Kim Petras and over 1M + mainstream tracks here https://go.lickd.co/Music
License ID: 81a29AAvBJO

Get Don't Start Now by Dua Lipa and over 1M + mainstream tracks here https://go.lickd.co/Music
License ID: 2ZnbrkkMnz1

Get Paradise by Coldplay and over 1M + mainstream tracks

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If an asteroid is coming for Earth… what would we really do?
Have a coffee with me! Try Cometeer with code CLEO for $20 off your Discovery Box on http://cometeer.com/cleo

Imagine, it’s 2034, and a rock the size of a mountain, far off in our solar system is on a direct impact course for Earth. How would we know? And what would we actually DO about it?

In this video, we play out a fictional asteroid headed for Earth – with help from my friend and former NASA engineer Mark Rober and rare access into a remote facility where they discover NEW asteroids – to show you all the real science and tech we would use to defend our planet if an asteroid is about to hit Earth!

[SPOILER] Our rock was published in the Minor Planet Electronic Circular (MPEC) here! MPEC 2025-K125 : 2025 KS6

Chapters:
00:00 Did an asteroid hit Earth?
01:00 What happens if an asteroid is headed towards Earth?
01:52 Is that Mark Rober?
03:26 How big was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?
04:30 What happens when an asteroid hits Earth?
07:30 How are asteroids discovered?
10:39 Will an asteroid hit Earth?
13:15 Can we stop an asteroid?
15:27 What if we nuke an asteroid?
18:03 Did we discover an asteroid?
19:41 Did we stop the asteroid from hitting Earth?
20:42 Why is this HUGE* If True?
21:34 Can we escape Alcatraz?
21:42 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Veritasium, "These are the asteroids to worry about": https://youtu.be/4Wrc4fHSCpw?si=WhtX_q0TRzimx17b
- NASA “Planetary Defenders (NASA + Documentary)”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jOb2DQWvDvc&t=665s
- NASA's Near-Earth Object Observation Programs (Including Catalina Sky Survey): https://science.nasa.gov/planetary-defense-neoo/
- JPL Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS): https://cneos.jpl.nasa.gov/
- The Minor Planet Center: https://minorplanetcenter.net/
- International Asteroid Warning Network: https://iawn.net/
- Space Mission Planning Advisory Group: https://www.cosmos.esa.int/web/smpag#:~:text=It%20was%20formally%20endorsed%20by%20the%20Committee,page%20is%20the%20technical%20reference%20for%20SMPAG.
- DART Mission: https://dart.jhuapl.edu/Mission/index.php
- ESA, Asteroid Danger Explained: https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2018/06/Asteroid_danger_explained
- Definitions and Assumptions - NEO: https://neo.ssa.esa.int/definitions-assumptions

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of HUGE* If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Hey, welcome to the joke down low!

What do you call a famous asteroid? A rock star.

Find a way to use “rock star” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Thank you, Vox, for the best job I ever had. Here’s what’s next.
Subscribe to see the next episode: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Credits: (After the trailer, these will be at the end of each episode.)
Produced and edited by: Cleo Abram
Animated by: Whitney Theis

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

#news #journalism #tech

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This machine found something scientists thought was impossible…
If you want to talk to Mico, go to this link: https://bit.ly/CleoAbram-Copilot

In the middle of the desert, miles from any city, are two HUGE concrete tubes. They’re part of a giant machine running the most precise experiment humans have ever built…

Each tube is 4 kilometers long, and inside there’s a big metal pipe. And at the end of each pipe, scientists place some of the smoooooothest mirrors ever made. And then they fire a powerful laser that gets split down each tube, bouncing it back and forth… building up more and more power… until… they bring those beams back together… to discover something that just 100 years ago scientists thought was impossible to find!

Finding it took hundreds of scientists and over a billion dollars. But what did we find?? And what’s the cutting edge we’re finding NOW that makes those scientists want to build… AN EVEN BIGGER ONE?

Let me show you…

Chapters
00:00 What's the most precise experiment humans have built?
01:41 How do we know what’s out in the universe?
02:33 What if two stars collide?
03:41 What are gravitational waves?
6:34 What's inside the concrete tubes in the desert?
5:50 How did they build the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory?
07:42 How does the laser experiment work?
09:20 What's the LIGO dance?
11:14 What are the most reflective mirrors in the world?
14:02 What happened when they turned on the laser machine?
15:17 Did we detect gravitational waves?
16:16 Can we manipulate gravity?
17:44 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- LIGO: https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/learn-more
- Paper on First Gravitational Wave Detection: https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03837
- Einstein's Theory of Gravitation: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/research/science-field/einsteins-theory-gravitation
- Advancements to LIGO: Quantum Squeezing: https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20231023
- Advanced LIGO Documentary “LIGO”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX4vCNi544w
- Caltech, “LIGO: The First Observation of Gravitational Waves”: https://youtu.be/wrqbfT8qcBc?si=39S3-hcXpU6Dwiyg
- Physics Girl, “I Visited the First Gravitational Wave Detector! LIGO | STELLAR”: https://youtu.be/jtp71NT0GNg?si=6BUilmCISXlwN8qr
- Veritasium, “The Absurdity of Detecting Gravitational Waves”: https://youtu.be/iphcyNWFD10?si=DFZYSAIyW90oIoNe
- Caltech “How Squeezing Light Reduces Uncertainty in LIGO's Measurements”: https://youtu.be/q5lnamXhnfI?si=QrbgPVHwkYs1CEip

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

Follow along for more episodes of HUGE* If True: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

—
Hey, welcome to the joke down low!

What did Gravity say to Light?
Nothing, it just waved!

Find a way to use “wave” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

... Not the story I was expecting.
Subscribe to see the next episode: https://www.youtube.com/cleoabram?sub_confirmation=1

Fracking made it possible to get and burn much, much more oil and natural gas. To do it, companies drill into rock deep beneath the Earth's surface and pump in fluid at high enough pressure to crack that rock open, allowing the trapped oil and gas to escape into their pipes. But the fossil fuels they released have directly contributed to climate change, and we're all now paying the price.

But here's the hopeful twist: It turns out that this technology - the same one perfected to squeeze every drop of dirty fossil fuels out of the earth - might be the key to unlocking an even bigger source of energy. One that's actually... clean.

This video explains how fracking is now being used in geothermal to get more clean energy out of the ground, in the hope of moving away from fossil fuels. Along the way, we'll meet Professor Mukul Sharma, aka the "Frack King," and longtime energy reporter David Roberts. Oh, and my parents (thanks, Mom and Dad!).

Chapters:
00:00 What is fracking for oil and gas?
01:15 Does fracking pollute water?
03:20 Does fracking cause earthquakes?
04:43 What is geothermal energy?
06:54 What is enhanced geothermal?
07:54 How much energy comes from geothermal?
09:05 Is enhanced geothermal safe?
10:03 Why do we need fracking for geothermal?

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources and additional reading:
- “Hydraulic Fracturing for Oil and Gas: Impacts from the Hydraulic Fracturing Water Cycle on Drinking Water Resources in the United States,” US Environmental Protection Agency: https://www.epa.gov/hfstudy
- “Studies link earthquakes to fracking in the Central and Eastern US,” Seismological Society of America: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/04/190426110601.htm
- “Millimeter-Wave Technology Demonstration for Geothermal Direct Energy Drilling,” US Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy: https://www.arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/projects/millimeter-wave-technology-demonstration-geothermal-direct-energy-drilling
- “Enhanced Geothermal Energy,” US Department of Energy: https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/enhanced-geothermal-systems-0
- “Geothermal energy is poised for a big breakout,” David Roberts, Vox: https://www.vox.com/energy-and-environment/2020/10/21/21515461/renewable-energy-geothermal-egs-ags-supercritical
- “Underground Oil Deposits,” HowStuffWorks: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/underground-oil-deposits.htm
- “Electricity Mix,” Our World In Data: https://ourworldindata.org/electricity-mix

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: M

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the craziest Olympic sport by far. Trust me.
This episode is #sponsored by @NBCSports @YouTube #WinterOlympics

Every four years, people lose their minds over one Olympic sport. They make fun of it! But the more I learned about it, the more obsessed I got… and I realized that all these people making fun? They’re getting this totally wrong. This is the coolest Olympic sport by far. The sport I’m talking about is… CURLING.

From stones so unique they all have to come from one tiny island, to a tech doping scandal nobody wants to talk about. It’s a game with strategy so complicated it’s called “chess on ice”. And a physics mystery that’s gone unsolved for over a century that could one day help us design robots for space. And that’s just the start…

Trust me, you don’t know enough about Curling…YET. So I’m going to take you onto the ice at the Olympic Trials… to show you what everyone’s missing and why Curling is the Olympic sport you should be watching.

Chapters
00:00 What's the most fascinating sport at the Winter Olympics?
01:40 How do you play curling?
02:57 Why are curling stones so crazy?
04:46 Why is curling chess on ice?
05:48 Why do they sweep in curling?
08:18 What is Broomgate?
10:11 How do curling stones defy physics?
11:58 What is the science of rubbing?
15:16 Why do people make fun of curling?
15:56 :)

You can find me on Instagram here: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
On TikTok here: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
Or on Twitter here: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- Curling clubs near NYC: https://licurling.org/, https://ardsleycurling.com/
Special thanks to Long Island Curling and Ardsley Curling for all of their support in the prep and research of this episode!
-World Curling: https://worldcurling.org/
-“History of the Game” https://www.scottishcurling.org/curling-history/history-of-the-game/
-“What is Curling?” https://www.stlouiscurlingclub.org/index.php/try-curling/about-curling
- Curling Clips YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@CurlingClips
- “Study of curling mechanism by precision kinematic measurements of curling stone’s motion” https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9440934/
- “The slippery science of Olympic curling: we still don’t know how it works” https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2022/02/the-slippery-science-of-olympic-curling--we-still-dont-know-how-,
- Original study: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000112841493&seq=657
- “Why all Olympic curling stones come from a Scottish island” https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-scotland-68699328,
- Kays Scotland https://www.kaysscotland.com/
- “PHOTO ESSAY: Scottish island Ailsa Craig is the granite source for Olympic curling stones” https://apnews.com/photo-essay/olympics-curling-island-ailsa-craig-scotland-photos-90cc3742fe35b63b87755ad126942c42
-“Ailsa Craig” https://science.nasa.gov/earth/earth-observatory/ailsa-craig-91856/
-World Curling “Around the House: Operation Ailsa Craig” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hPMe-pElwho
-Glossary on curling terms: https://www.olympics.com/en/news/glossary-of-curling,

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

So, uh... does it work?
Subscribe to see the next episode!

Metformin is an old, cheap drug used to help control blood sugar in people with diabetes. Now, it’s back in the news because some people - particularly wealthy people - are using it for possible anti-aging effects. That’s right. One of the most popular ways rich people are trying to live longer isn’t some million dollar cryo-something experiment, but a pill that costs pennies that's already on the market. So, the big question is: Does it work? To find out, I interviewed the lead researcher on the biggest study of metformin for anti-aging, Dr. Nir Barzilai. The answer he gives me? Well, it’s complicated.

Note: I do not take metformin, nor am I advocating anyone else should. Please don't get medical advice from a youtube video! The purpose of this video is to explain the research that exists, explore what it tells us about aging in general, and discuss the effort Dr. Barzilai is leading to learn more.

00:00 What is metformin?
00:53 What is aging?
01:46 Can we slow aging?
02:27 Does metformin work for anti aging?
03:40 How does metformin work?
04:37 What is the TAME Trial?
05:46 Should I take metformin?
07:31 Why slow aging?

Be featured in an episode - upload questions for me to answer! https://www.dropbox.com/request/Edocsb2kErpueQ7F9T1Q

I tell different stories in different places:
You can find me on TikTok here for short, fun explainers: https://www.tiktok.com/@cleoabram
You can find me on Instagram here for more personal stories: https://www.instagram.com/cleoabram
You can find me on Twitter here for thoughts and curated news: https://twitter.com/cleoabram

Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated video producer and journalist. Cleo produces detailed explainer stories about technology and economics. She wrote the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained, was the host and a senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, as well as a host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked. She now makes her own independent show, Huge If True. Each episode takes on one big technology innovation or idea, explains what it is, and helps people imagine the ways it could improve the world we live in by answering one simple question: If this works, what could go right?

Sources and additional reading:
- TAME Trial FAQ https://www.afar.org/tame-trial
- Dr. Nir Barzilai, Institute for Aging Research at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Faculty Profile https://einsteinmed.edu/faculty/484/nir-barzilai/
- “A beginner's guide to longevity research,” Laura Deming https://www.ldeming.com/longevityfaq
- “Aging and the border between health and disease,” European Respiratory Journal https://erj.ersjournals.com/content/44/5/1332
- “Can people with type 2 diabetes live longer than those without? A comparison of mortality in people initiated with metformin or sulphonylurea monotherapy and matched, non-diabetic control,” Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism https://dom-pubs.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/dom.12354
- “A Critical Review of the Evidence That Metformin Is a Putative Anti-Aging Drug That Enhances Healthspan and Extends Lifespan,” Frontiers in Endocrinology https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2021.718942/full
- “Metformin, a historical overview,” European Association for the Study of Diabetes https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00125-017-4318-z
- “Metformin improves healthspan and lifespan in mice,” Nature Communications https://www.nature.com/articles/ncomms3192
- “Metformin Retards Aging in C. elegans by Altering Microbial Folate and Methionine Metabolism,” Cell https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(13)00267-5?_returnURL=https%3A%2F%2Flinkinghub.elsevier.com%2Fretrieve%2Fpii%2FS0092867413002675%3Fshowall%3Dtrue
- “Cancer,” Our World In Data https://ourworldindata.org/cancer
- “Forget

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices