Is Santa Real? (A Scientific Perspective)

...and other Christmas mysteries answered with science! Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/PBSDSDonate Subscribe to It's Okay To Be Smart: http://bit.ly/iotbs_sub Happy Holidays! Ever wonder how Santa could possibly manage to deliver all those presents in a single night? Or what gives red-nosed reindeer the ability to fly? And why do your Christmas lights get tangled in knots no matter how carefully you put the away?! Here's some Christmas-themed science, as our gift to you. See you in 2015! SOURCES: Why Christmas lights tangle: "Spontaneous knotting of an agitated string" http://www.pnas.org/content/104/42/16432 Apollo 8 "Santa sighting" https://archive.org/details/Apollo8Highlights Santa's reindeer are probably female: http://www.livescience.com/32149-are-santas-reindeer-males.html Reindeer hair is hollow and "buoyant" http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6150798 Reindeer really do have red noses: http://www.bmj.com/content/345/bmj.e8311.full.pdf+html Reindeer eyes change color: http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/29/why-are-reindeer-eyes-golden-in-summer-but-blue-in-winter/ Santa's challenge (check my math!): http://bit.ly/1sOW15q Produced for PBS Digital Studios Joe Hanson - Creator/Host/Writer Joe Nicolosi - Director Amanda Fox - Producer, Spotzen Inc Kate Eads - Associate Producer Andrew Matthews - Editing/Motion Graphics Katie Graham - Director of Photography John Knudsen - Gaffer Dalton Allen - Post-Production Intern Theme music: "Ouroboros" by Kevin MacLeod ----------- Join us on Patreon! https://patreon.com/itsokaytobesmart Twitter http://www.twitter.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.twitter.com/okaytobesmart Instagram http://www.instagram.com/DrJoeHanson http://www.instagram.com/okaytobesmart Merch https://store.dftba.com/collections/its-okay-to-be-smart Facebook https://www.facebook.com/itsokaytobesmartpbs/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices