Children's toys can help teach kids about colors, shapes, and imagination. But it turns out they've also inspired scientists and engineers for centuries, leading to innovations in medical diagnostics and space travel. So, if you're looking for your next million-dollar idea, consider raiding the nearest toy chest! Hosted by: Hank Green SciShow has a spinoff podcast! It's called SciShow Tangents. Check it out at http://www.scishowtangents.org/ ---------- Support SciShow by becoming a patron on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/scishow ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Alisa Sherbow, Silas Emrys, Drew Hart. Jeffrey Mckishen, James Knight, Christoph Schwanke, Jacob, Matt Curls, Christopher R Boucher, Eric Jensen, Adam Brainard, Nazara, GrowingViolet, Ash, Sam Lutfi, Piya Shedden, KatieMarie Magnone, charles george, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters, Kevin Bealer, Jason A Saslow ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/scishow Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/scishow Tumblr: http://scishow.tumblr.com/ Instagram: http://instagram.com/thescishow ---------- Sources: https://science.sciencemag.org/content/323/5917/1026 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Galileos-Revolutionary-Vision-Helped-Usher-In-Modern-Astronomy-34545274/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pPePaKnYh2I https://www.mountclare.org/education/MakeYourOwnWhirligigToy_PlayLearn.pdf https://druckerdiagnostics.com/knowledge/how-a-centrifuge-works/ https://druckerdiagnostics.com/?product=model-642e-centrifuge https://druckerdiagnostics.com/shop/horizontal-centrifuge/centrifuge-model-dash-apex-24/ https://druckerdiagnostics.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/UserGuide_SampleReview.pdf https://druckerdiagnostics.com/qbc-malaria-test/ https://www.nature.com/articles/s41551-016-0009 https://www.reference.com/world-view/much-single-grain-rice-weigh-c39a20469d3fe660 https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.3000251 https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/the-science-of-shrinky-dinks-36715644/ https://www.cmu.edu/gelfand/lgc-educational-media/polymers/molecular-rearrangement/shrinky-dinks.html https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-019-0083-3 https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41746-019-0083-3/MediaObjects/41746_2019_83_MOESM1_ESM.pdf Fig 6 https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/loftid/index.html https://www.nasa.gov/feature/not-child-s-play-toys-that-inspired-nasa-innovations https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/game_changing_technology/game_changing_development/HIAD/big-picture.html https://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/avs/offices/aam/cami/library/online_libraries/aerospace_medicine/tutorial/media/iii.4.1.7_returning_from_space.pdf https://www.technologyreview.com/2019/06/26/134445/nasa-engineers-build-better-heat-shield/ https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/loftid_fact_sheet_june2019.pdf https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20160011571/downloads/20160011571.pdf?attachment=true https://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2020-05/hjap-ngo052020.php https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/science-blog/how-do-jumping-popper-toys-work https://robotics.sciencemag.org/content/5/42/eabb1967 https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frobt.2018.00084/full https://robotacademy.net.au/lesson/actuators/ https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/7110394 Images: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%D0%A4%D1%83%D1%80%D1%84%D0%B0%D0%BB%D0%BA%D0%B0_%D0%B7_%D2%91%D1%83%D0%B4%D0%B7%D0%B8%D0%BA%D1%83.jpg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:BuzzerAmericanBoy1907.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blood-centrifugation-scheme.png https://news.stanford.edu/2017/01/10/whirligig-toy-bioengineers-develop-20-cent-hand-powered-blood-centrifuge/ https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/201588.php?from=430597 https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/201589.php?from=430597 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Surel%27sPlaceShrinkyDinksButterflies.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Polistirolo.JPG https://static-content.springer.com/esm/art%3A10.1038%2Fs41746-019-0083-3/MediaObjects/41746_2019_83_MOESM1_ESM.pdf https://www.nature.com/articles/s41746-019-0083-3 https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Apollo_cm.jpg https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Discovery%27s_heat_shield.jpg https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/stp/game_changing_development/HIAD/IMG-hiad-stand.html https://www.nasa.gov/offices/oct/game_changing_technology/game_changing_development/HIAD/angle.html https://www.nasa.gov/larc/expert-panel-assesses-inflatable-spacecraft-tech/ https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/tdm/loftid/index.html https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/232521.php?from=464938 https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/167435.php?from=390233 https://www.eurekalert.org/multimedia/pub/232522.php?from=464938