Polio is Back (Polio 2)

Animated Fact

• Circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus cases count for 2025: https://polioeradication.org/circulating-vaccine-derived-poliovirus-count/

• Wild polio cases count for 2025: https://polioeradication.org/wild-poliovirus-count/

• Recommendations for how to tackle the “last mile” of polio eradication: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867422015343  

• Polio cases declared in places previously free of it, particularly conflict zones: https://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/aug/23/baby-in-gaza-partly-paralysed-from-polio-in-territorys-first-case-for-25-years

• Fighting polio in war zones: https://www.who.int/europe/news/item/21-09-2023-polio-outbreak-in-ukraine-closed-a-success-story-for-public-health-despite-extreme-challenges-of-war and https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/66/wr/mm6608a6.htm 

• Going the extra mile to reach remote communities in a bid to vaccinate every zero-dose child: https://www.emro.who.int/polio-eradication/news/going-the-extra-mile-to-stop-poliovirus-spread.html and https://polioeradication.org/news/vaccination-on-wheels-for-nomadic-children/ 

• WHO writeup of Lancet Study showing progress against polio in the last 50 years: https://www.who.int/news/item/24-04-2024-global-immunization-efforts-have-saved-at-least-154-million-lives-over-the-past-50-years and the original study: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)00850-X/fulltext

• What will happen if we lose momentum? https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/ending-polio-still-possible-health-officials-say-funding-cut-by-30-2025-10-21/ and see also https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2025/jun/11/polio-progress-unravelled-millions-vulnerable-how-british-aid-cuts-threaten-british-health-too 

• Variant Polio Reporter Factsheet: https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GPEI-Variant-Polio-Reporter-Factsheet-20251119.pdf

• Also consulted: https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/24th-IMB-Report-20250922.pdf 

The Virus We Almost Beat (Polio 1)

Animated Fact

• About Polio: https://www.cdc.gov/pinkbook/hcp/table-of-contents/

• Why CDC is Working to End Polio Globally: https://www.cdc.gov/global-polio-vaccination/why/index.html

• The history of Polio and the current status: https://ourworldindata.org/polio

• Polio: A defining moment for eradication: https://www.unicef.org/media/175426/file/UNI033_Global_Polio_Advocacy_Brief_WPD_2025.pdf.pdf

• Polio eradication: Addressing the hurdles on the last mile: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0092867422015343

• Polio Eradication Imperiled by $2.3 Billion Funding Gap: https://healthpolicy-watch.news/polio-eradication-imperilled-by-2-3-billion-funding-gap/ 

• The effort to eradicate polio globally faces new challenges: https://www.unicef.org/stories/the-effort-to-eradicate-polio-globally-faces-new-challenges

• Detections in places that have long been polio-free (London): https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(22)01804-9/fulltext and (New York)https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/71/wr/mm7133e2.htm 

• Interview with a WHO Director on future of Polio: https://www.thinkglobalhealth.org/article/who-director-future-polio-eradication 

• Reporters' Guides to covering Polio Eradication and Polio Variants: https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GPEI-Variant-Polio-Reporter-Factsheet-20251119.pdf and https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/GPEI-nOPV2-Factsheet-20251120.pdf

A Country-Wide Blackout

Animated Fact

• How Blackouts Work: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/blackout.htm

• How Power Grids Work: https://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/energy/power1.htm

• Grid frequency collapse and blackouts: https://www.gridcog.com/blog/understanding-grid-frequency-collapse-and-blackouts-in-gb-europe-australia

• Grid Instability and the Energy Transition: https://jouliaproject.eu/grid-instability-and-the-energy-transition-lessons-from-the-recent-frequency-drop-in-southern-europe/

• Electric Car Sales: https://californiaglobe.com/articles/new-report-shows-electric-car-sales-continued-to-fall-in-california-in-2024/

• What is curtailment? https://warrington.ufl.edu/news/what-is-curtailment-an-electricity-market-expert-explains/

• The Danger of Overlooking Electrical Grid Inertia and Frequency Stability in Renewable Transitions: https://foxtechnologies.co.uk/electrical-grid-inertia-and-frequency-stability/

• Quantifying the predictability of renewable energy data for improving power systems decision-making: https://www.cell.com/patterns/fulltext/S2666-3899(23)00045-4

• Impacts of battery energy storage system on power grid smartness: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X24007722

• Are blackouts likely in Germany? https://energiesysteme-zukunft.de/publikationen/stellungnahme/blackouts-in-deutschland

• Dispatchable source of electricity: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Dispatchable_source_of_electricity

• Electric Vehicle Charging Station Locations: https://afdc.energy.gov/fuels/electricity-locations 

• Residential Battery Storage: https://kleinmanenergy.upenn.edu/research/publications/residential-battery-storage-reshaping-the-way-we-do-electricity/

• Grid-Scale BESS (Battery Energy Storage Systems): https://sunlithenergy.com/grid-scale-bess-battery-energy-storage-systems/

Let’s punch a hole in the Earth to harvest power!

Animated Fact

• What is geothermal energy: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/geothermal-energy/

• Earth's heat budget: Clairvoyant geoneutrinos: https://www.nature.com/articles/ngeo1240

• Geothermal Heat Pumps: https://www.energy.gov/energysaver/geothermal-heat-pumps

• Geothermal technologies: https://www.bgs.ac.uk/geology-projects/geothermal-energy/geothermal-technologies/

• Geothermal Power Plants: https://archive.epa.gov/climatechange/kids/solutions/technologies/geothermal.html

• Geoscientific models: https://www.ieg.fraunhofer.de/de/forschungsinfrastruktur/geowissenschaftliche-modelle.html

• Geothermal electricity-generating capacity: https://www.energy.gov/eere/geothermal/electricity-generation

• Perception of the geothermal energy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301421521004171

• Study on Well Control Technology of High Temperature Geothermal Drilling: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/263283325_Study_on_Well_Control_Technology_of_High_Temperature_Geothermal_Drilling 

Can You Store the Sun?

Animated Fact

• General information about Sun: https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/sun/8th-grade/

• A Photon’s Million-Year Journey From the Center of the Sun: https://futurism.com/photons-million-year-journey-center-sun

• Sunshine’s Crazy Sloppy Path to You: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/article/sunshines-crazy-sloppy-path-to-you

• Optimizing Concentrated Solar Power: High-Temperature Molten Salt Thermal Energy Storage for Enhanced Efficiency: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/est2.70059

• How Are Lithium-ion Batteries that Store Solar and Wind Power Made? https://blog.ucs.org/charlie-hoffs/how-are-lithium-ion-batteries-that-store-solar-and-wind-power-made

• Concentrating solar-thermal power (CSP) technologies: https://www.energy.gov/eere/solar/project-profile-solarreserve

• CSP (Concentrated Solar Power) plants: https://insideclimatenews.org/news/16012018/csp-concentrated-solar-molten-salt-storage-24-hour-renewable-energy-crescent-dunes-nevada/ 

• Long-Term Evaluation of a Ternary Mixture of Molten Salts in Solar Thermal Storage Systems: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1944/17/16/4053

• Pareto-optimal power flow control in heterogeneous battery energy storage systems: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X21014730

• Optimization of the battery designs for improved performance: https://www.e-conversion.de/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/ec-magazin-DE-240614-1-pages-web.pdf

• Design approaches for Li-ion battery packs: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X23025951

• Green ammonia imports could supplement long-duration energy storage in the UK: https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/2753-3751/ad785d

• Background on Ammonia Storage: https://www.fraunhofer.de/s/ePaper/Magazin/2024/02/index.html#26

• A quicker route to a hydrogen economy with ammonia: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319924032191

• Green ammonia production: Process technologies and challenges: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0016236124009566

• Hydrogen: A Targeted Decarbonization Tool but Not a Panacea: https://www.nrdc.org/bio/shruti-shukla/hydrogen-targeted-decarbonization-tool-not-panacea

• Shipping Australian sunshine: Liquid renewable green fuel export: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319922061870

• Ammonia: A versatile candidate for the use in energy storage systems: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0960148122008473

• New technique seamlessly converts ammonia to green hydrogen: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/11/201118141718.htm

• Global Hydrogen Review 2024: https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/89c1e382-dc59-46ca-aa47-9f7d41531ab5/GlobalHydrogenReview2024.pdf

• Review of fuel cells to grid interface: Configurations, technical challenges and trends: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0959652618340083

• Alternating current & Direct current: https://ec.europa.eu/health/scientific_committees/opinions_layman/electromagnetic-fields2015/en/glossary/abc/alternating-current.htm

Can We Run Everything on Renewables?

Animated Fact

• Solar photovoltaic costs have fallen by over 90% in the last 2 decades/Onshore wind by 70%: https://ourworldindata.org/data-insights/solar-panel-prices-have-fallen-by-around-20-every-time-global-capacity-doubled 

• Our energy demands and renewable energy supply go up and down, just not at the same time: https://www.vde.com/resource/blob/2218016/d226d3f4b29282979df0390d345ccec2/v1-hintergrund-ausbau-erneuerbaren-stromerzeugung-data.pdf 

• And while some can rely on a steady base of hydro power, like Paraguay, or thermal energy, like Iceland, many still use fossils to plug the gap 

  • Paraguay = 99%: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/share-electricity-hydro

  • Iceland ~30% from geothermal: https://lowcarbonpower.org/region/Iceland 

  • https://ember-energy.org/latest-insights/global-electricity-review-2025/global-electricity-source-trends/ 

• By 2050, Europe aims to store 10% of its energy in liquid hydrogen: https://energy.ec.europa.eu/topics/eus-energy-system/hydrogen_en 

• Is Nuclear Fusion an Energy Source of the Future?: https://energiesysteme-zukunft.de/publikationen/stellungnahme/kernfusion-einfach-erklaert

• Hydrogen - What role does it play in the energy system of the future: https://energiesysteme-zukunft.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Publikationen/PDFs/ESYS_Kurz_erklaert_Wasserstoff.pdf

• Nuclear Fission, Natural Gas, Geothermal Energy, Nuclear Fusion. The Future Role of Baseload Power Plants: https://energiesysteme-zukunft.de/publikationen/stellungnahme/grundlastkraftwerke 

• Wind turbine production costs have fallen by ~75% ($0.12 dollars/kW hr -> $0.03 dollars / kW hr) = 75%: https://ourworldindata.org/grapher/levelized-cost-of-energy?focus=~Onshore+wind 

• How to Address Over-Generation of Solar Energy: https://www.energy.gov/eere/articles/confronting-duck-curve-how-address-over-generation-solar-energy

• What Is the Future of Fusion Energy? https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/what-is-the-future-of-fusion-energy/

• Pareto-optimal power flow control in heterogeneous battery energy storage systems: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X21014730?via%3Dihub

• Right now, almost all of liquid hydrogen production is fossil fuelled 

  • https://www.nrdc.org/bio/shruti-shukla/hydrogen-targeted-decarbonization-tool-not-panacea

  • https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360319925011991

• We’re even making advances in giant batteries: https://www.vde.com/resource/blob/2292760/d226d3f4b29282979df0390d345ccec2/vde-hintergrund-ee-ausbau-und-residuallast-vde-etg-v1-web-221103-data.pdf

• Europe’s biggest battery is already doing the job of a coal or nuclear plant, battling power and frequency fluctuations in less than a second to keep the grid stable, and has enough capacity to power over 3 million homes for an hour:

  • https://eandt.theiet.org/2025/03/06/europes-largest-battery-site-located-scotland-goes-live-balance-energy-grid#:~:text=Zenob%C4%93%2C%20the%20UK%20grid%2Dscale,live%2C%20comprises%20200MW%2F400MWh. 

  • https://cordis.europa.eu/article/id/123780-how-battery-systems-can-integrate-renewable-energy-in-smart-grids#:~:text=A%20smaller%20pioneering%20project%20is,energy%2Din%2Dsmart%2Dgrids 

• A smart grid can modify energy production in real time, adjust the speed of wind turbines, reward you for turning off appliances: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/energy-research/articles/10.3389/fenrg.2020.00022/full 

• Or even turn electric cars into swarm batteries that can store and release energy when we need it: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2352152X21003340 

• There’s a long road ahead, but there’s nothing to stop us from leaving fossil fuels in the dust: https://www.irena.org/news/pressreleases/2021/mar/fast-track-energy-transitions--to-win-the-race-to-zero

Meet the Aliens

This piece is based on our video: "What Actual Aliens Might Look Like" 

The detailed sources can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/sources-meetthealiens/ 

The Missing Nukes

Animated Fact

• The Cold War's Missing Atom Bombs: https://www.spiegel.de/international/world/a-nuclear-needle-in-a-haystack-the-cold-war-s-missing-atom-bombs-a-590513.html

• Nuke-carrying airplanes during Cold War: https://nsarchive.gwu.edu/document/21074-doc-1-thesacalertsystem1956-197

• U.S. and Soviet Naval Encounters During the Cuban Missile Crisis: https://nsarchive2.gwu.edu/NSAEBB/NSAEBB75/

• Russia’s "slow-motion Chernobyl" at sea: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200901-the-radioactive-risk-of-sunken-nuclear-soviet-submarines

• Broken Arrows: Nuclear Weapons Accidents

https://www.atomicarchive.com/almanac/broken-arrows/index.html

• The operations analysis in the underwater search for the remains of the submarine Scorpion: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/nav.3800180202

• Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea — The CIA Mission to Raise a Soviet Sub: https://adst.org/2016/08/voyage-bottom-sea-cia-mission-raise-soviet-sub/

• Norwegian monitoring (1990–2015) of the marine environment around the sunken nuclear submarine Komsomolets: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0265931X17301649?via%3Dihub

• The lost nuclear bombs that no one can find: https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20220804-the-lost-nuclear-bombs-that-no-one-can-find

• Unrecovered Nuclear Weapons and Classified Components: https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/cg-hr-3/appb.pdf

Black and White Hole Plushie

Infomercial

• What is a black hole?

https://spaceplace.nasa.gov/black-holes/en/ 

• What is a white hole?

https://www.space.com/white-holes.html 

Can You Live to 120?

Animated Fact

• What are your chances of living to 100?https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/birthsdeathsandmarriages/lifeexpectancies/articles/whatareyourchancesoflivingto100/2016-01-14

• Average life expectancy: https://www.worlddata.info/life-expectancy.php

• Life expectancy has increased across the world: https://ourworldindata.org/life-expectancy

• Why has Japan become the world’s most long-lived country: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41430-020-0677-5

Natural Nuclear Reactors

Animated Fact

• Natural Nuclear Reactors - The Oklo Phenomenon: https://mragheb.com/NPRE%20402%20ME%20405%20Nuclear%20Power%20Engineering/Natural%20%20Nuclear%20Reactors,%20The%20Oklo%20Phenomenon.pdf

• Energy and electricity consumption of the Philippines: https://ourworldindata.org/energy/country/philippines

• Nuclear Reactors: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/nuclear-power-reactors/nuclear-power-reactors 

• Nuclear Fuel Cycle: https://world-nuclear.org/information-library/nuclear-fuel-cycle/introduction/nuclear-fuel-cycle-overview