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The Very Weird Reason Hot Water Freezes Faster

Season 14 Episode 9 | 14m 50s

Why can hot water sometimes freeze faster than cold water? In 1963, Erasto Mpemba noticed this while making ice cream, sparking a scientific mystery that still puzzles physicists. The Mpemba effect now appears in materials, magnets and quantum systems, revealing surprising connections between energy, equilibrium and the strange ways nature finds shortcuts.

Aired: 08/17/26
Extras
How science unraveled one of the biggest myths in modern medicine...HIV's true origins.
I pushed my body in a climate & sports research lab to discover what extreme heat really does to us.
What exactly is the evolutionary purpose of love?
If everything around us is made of atoms, why can’t we actually see them?
This video explores the bizarre mathematics that show how infinity is far stranger than a number.
How Gerardus Mercator later created a map that transformed navigation forever.
DNA solves crimes, but what happens when it sends innocent people to prison?
Why are stop lights red? The real story is more complicated than you think.
How thousands of tiny brains, obeying simple rules, solve problems no individual can understand.
Joe visits a flavor lab to uncover how our senses shape our taste.
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How science unraveled one of the biggest myths in modern medicine...HIV's true origins.
I pushed my body in a climate & sports research lab to discover what extreme heat really does to us.
What exactly is the evolutionary purpose of love?
If everything around us is made of atoms, why can’t we actually see them?
This video explores the bizarre mathematics that show how infinity is far stranger than a number.
How Gerardus Mercator later created a map that transformed navigation forever.
DNA solves crimes, but what happens when it sends innocent people to prison?
Why are stop lights red? The real story is more complicated than you think.
How thousands of tiny brains, obeying simple rules, solve problems no individual can understand.
Joe visits a flavor lab to uncover how our senses shape our taste.