The Ancient Stick Maps That Tackle Unsolvable Physics

When particle physicist John Huth was briefly lost at sea, he started to wonder how the people around the world who navigate vast oceans figured their way around. What started as an afternoon activity gone awry led him to a years-long research journey, meeting many Pacific Islanders, expert navigators, and other researchers, hoping to crack the puzzle of open ocean navigation. And the key to all of it lies in these ancient stick charts, a non-writing form of communication passed down for generations. Here's how these charts and the observations of expert navigators are teaching physics researchers all about the motion of the ocean. Hosted by: Madelyn Leembruggen (she/her) ---------- Support us for $8/month on Patreon and keep SciShow going!   / scishow   Or support us directly: https://complexly.com/support Join our SciShow email list to get the latest news and highlights: https://mailchi.mp/scishow/email ---------- Huge thanks go to the following Patreon supporters for helping us keep SciShow free for everyone forever: Eric Jensen, David Johnston, Alan Wong, Cye Stoner, Bethany Matthews, Adam Brainard, Friso, Matt Curls, Chris Mackey, Garrett Galloway, J.V. Rosenbalm, Toyas Dhake, Reed Spilmann, Jeremy Mattern, Jaap Westera, Chris Curry, Blood Doctor Kelly, Lyndsay Brown, Kevin Bealer, Piya Shedden, Joseph Ruf, Steve Gums, Jason A Saslow, Kevin Knupp, Alex Hackman, Chris Peters ---------- Looking for SciShow elsewhere on the internet? SciShow Tangents Podcast: https://scishow-tangents.simplecast.com/ TikTok:   / scishow   Instagram:   / thescishow   Facebook:   / scishow   Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/scishow.bsky... #SciShow #science #education #learning #complexly ---------- Sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/...