The Rest Is Science
Goalhanger
100 episodes
Join mathematician Professor Hannah Fry and science creator Michael Stevens (Vsauce) as they dig into the weird scientific questions that often go unexplored.
More about the show
Welcome to The Rest Is Science, a show that sits in the fascinating space between what we think we know, and what we actually know. Why do we assume we understand things like time, randomness, or even gravity? Once you start questioning these familiar ideas, reality becomes astonishingly strange and completely fragile.
Whether you're a lifelong science fan or just naturally curious, The Rest Is Science will change your perception of reality, and prove that the biggest questions are always the most fun.
Episodes page 1 of 2
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Earth’s Tilt Makes Time Slippery
A sundial can be almost 16 minutes fast in November and 14 minutes slow in February, yet there's nothing wrong with it. So why does the Sun, our oldest timekeeper, disagree with the clock on your wrist? In this…
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What Happened When We Stopped Squatting?
In many parts of the world, people rest in a deep squat every day. In others, most adults can barely get down there. So what’s going on? Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens dig into the history of squatting and why the…
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Mathematicians Are The Canary Down The AI Coal Mine
OpenAI claims a swarm of AI agents has solved the Navier-Stokes problem, one of the hardest unsolved questions in mathematics, with a $1 million prize attached. Then it released more than 700 more mathematical…
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The Right Way To Open A Shaken Soda Can
A can of fizzy drink has been violently shaken. The pressure is building, the bubbles are ready to erupt, and Michael Stevens is about to open it. But Hannah Fry has a trick up her sleeve. Can a few taps really prevent…
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Something Weird Is Going On With Placebos
For the past few decades, something strange has been happening in clinical trials. Painkillers aren't getting worse, but the placebos they're tested against appear to be getting better. In one landmark study, the…
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What Was A Mammoth Doing At The Bottom Of The Sea?
Hannah surprises Michael with a mammoth bone from Doggerland, the lost Ice Age land that once joined Britain to mainland Europe, and now lies beneath the North Sea. Who lived there, what roamed it, and how did an…
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Why Do We Turn on Innocent People?
Why do we turn on innocent people? A convincing story, a suspicious glance and suddenly everyone’s an armchair detective. But what happens when the crowd gets it completely wrong? Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens…
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Hacking The Kendama With Physics
Michael hands Hannah a kendama, the Japanese cup-and-ball toy, and asks her to land a single catch. Then he brings out one built for him by Adam Savage of MythBusters and explains why a heavier kendama is a completely…
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Why Do We Like Staring Into Fire?
What is fire, and why does watching it hold our attention in a different way from scrolling on your phone? Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens start with the science of a flame: why it glows, what its different colours…
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The Fluid Dynamics of Fountain Pens
The wait is finally over: Hannah Fry introduces Michael Stevens to her beloved fountain pen collection and the beautiful physics behind how fountain pens work. From a £20 Lamy Safari to vintage Waterman and Montblanc…
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Dying In Space, Trapped Water, and What's Hidden In Pi?
Almost every human who has ever lived has one thing in common: they were born and died on Earth. Except for three people. Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens uncover the extraordinary story of Soyuz 11, the Soviet…
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How Codes Were Used To Hack The Telegram Business
What if a single strange word could save you a fortune? In this episode Michael opens up a Victorian telegram code book and explores how users compressed long messages into brief coded words to outwit the per word…
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Why Your Body Needs Gravity
Does space travel make astronauts younger? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore Einstein’s twin paradox, time dilation and NASA’s famous Twins Study with astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly. After Scott Kelly…
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What Is Collagen All About?
Do collagen pills live up to their promises for skin and joints and healthy ageing? In this episode, Hannah and Michael examine what collagen actually is and how the body makes and uses it, before looking closely at…
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The Threshold of Human Sensation
What is the smallest thing you can possibly feel? Michael Stevens and Professor Hannah Fry journey through varying levels of perception, from the faintest touch on skin to the faintest trace of flavour and odour, and…
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The Scale of the Universe
The scale of the universe stretches from the Planck length, the smallest scale physics can describe, to the observable universe, the largest thing we can see. Travel inward from one and outward from the other by…
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Why Loud Chewing Makes You Angry
The mukbang phenomenon is comfort viewing for millions, yet for others the sound of chewing, slurping and everyday mouth noises is enough to trigger instant anger, disgust and distress. Why do the sounds soothe one…
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How Does Language Change What You Smell?
In this episode of Field Notes, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) begin with a Persian word for a smell Hannah cannot detect on a freshly washed plate. From the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and Russian words…
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Space Elevators, Skyhooks, and Space Fountains
What is the fastest, cheapest and possibly worst way to get into space? Could a nuclear explosion launch a manhole cover beyond the Earth’s atmosphere? And could space elevators, skyhooks or launch loops one day…
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Bizarre Watches and How They Work
Michael Stevens keeps a small museum of unusual timepieces on his desk: a clock that runs backwards, a watch built to be read in complete darkness, and one whose entire face simply says "now." Each is a miniature…
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Why Your Brain Thinks You're Full (Even When You're Not)
How did the Gila monster, a desert lizard that eats just five times a year, help unlock the science behind Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro? In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens…
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The Lake At The North Pole That Stops Europe From Freezing
When you picture the North Pole, you probably imagine a vast, frozen expanse of floating sea ice. But hidden deep beneath the surface of the Arctic lies something incredible: a massive, churning reservoir of nearly…
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The Science of Putting Sunglasses on The Sun
Why does the cartoon Sun always wear sunglasses? And how big would a real pair need to be? Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens investigate space mirrors, Reflect Orbital and solar eclipses to find out. Starting with a…
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Why Is It A Colour Wheel & Not A Line?
Colour wheel or colour line? Light itself runs in a straight line from red to violet, yet every colour theory chart bends that spectrum into a circle and the reason has nothing to do with physics. Professor Hannah Fry…
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Why Lithium Batteries SUCK
Can Hannah convince Michael that the lithium-ion battery is one of our most overrated inventions to ever happen? Hannah makes her case using a surprising energy source hidden in your fridge, a bell in Oxford that's…
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What Happens Inside Earth's Forbidden Zones?
What grows in the spaces humans are forced to abandon? Hannah brings Michael an actual piece of barbed wire from the Korean Demilitarised Zone, one of the most heavily fortified and forbidden borders on Earth, and it…
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The 2012 Maya Apocalypse Myth & Confirmation Bias
Did the world really end in 2012? Not with fire, meteors or an ancient Mayan prophecy, but Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens ask whether something just as profound took place instead. Together they unravel how…
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The Evolution of Colour Vision & Tetrachromacy
Can you hide your skeleton from a dog? Would you want to know the day you’ll die? Has evolution ever come close to producing a real fire breather? Michael and Hannah test a T-shirt with a secret only humans can see,…
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The Hole In Your Brain That Makes You Doomscroll
Why can't you leave a sealed envelope unopened? Professor Hannah Fry begins by refusing to allow Michael Stevens to open a mystery envelope addressed to him. A small act of torture that turns out to be the perfect…
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Forensic Science And The Champawat Tiger
It begins with a discovery in a loft: a full man eating tiger skin, brought back from a village in northern India where Professor Hannah Fry's ex-mother in law grew up. That find sends Hannah and Michael Stevens into…
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All The People You Don't Know
Do your friends actually like you? Does an acquaintance think you’re closer than you are? This week, Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the surprising psychology of friendship, from familiar strangers and…
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An Honest Dad Ranking (Out Of All 2 Billion)
The statistical reality of "The World's #1 Dad Mug" is nothing but a well meaning lie. In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Michael brings another treasured artifact into the studio: a mug gifted by his daughter.…
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Your Brain Invents Pain. Here's Why.
Stubbing your toe feels like the pain is entirely in your foot. But the reality is far stranger... the agonising sensation you experience is actually a highly complex, constructed illusion, invented in real-time by…
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The Most Dangerous Rock In Hannah's Collection
When you think of dangerous geological specimens, does your mind jump straight to radioactive uranium, toxic heavy metals, or even asbestos? What if one of the most dangerous items sitting on a shelf is actually a…
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The Audio Illusion That Proves We Don't Experience Reality
Your ears are lying to you right now. In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) dive into the bizarre world of audio illusions where your brain hears sounds that don't…
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The Engineering Of A NASA Space Pen
A pen designed to write in space sits unopened for 25 years. Does it still work? In this episode of Field Notes, Michael Stevens finally opens a treasured souvenir from his time at Space Camp: a genuine Fisher Space…
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A Paleontology Of The Future: What We Will Leave Behind
What will humanity leave behind? In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens explore the traces humans leave behind and what those traces reveal about how we think. From Tranquility Base, where…
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What Are The Odds You'll Become A Fossil?
Most living things vanish without a trace. A select few become fossils. But how? In this episode of Field Notes Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens dig into the unlikely process that turns bone into…
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Why Feet Are Weirder Than You Think
Compared with almost every other animal on Earth, our feet seem strangely specialised. They can't grip branches, they're full of arches and joints, and for some reason we're the only species that regularly puts shoes…
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How Many Words Do You ACTUALLY Know?
Most people use just a fraction of the words they understand. But how big is your vocabulary, really? When a listener builds a tool that claims to measure it, Hannah and Michael put themselves to the test. If you'd…
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Why You Should Stop Using Face ID
Do you think your thoughts belong to you? How would feel if you found out they don't? In this episode Hannah and Michael discuss a tangible future where the last bastion of privacy is breached and the thoughts that…
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Nikola Tesla Fell In Love with a Pigeon
What do lightning, wireless electricity, Cambridge dining etiquette, hypnosis, and a lovestruck pigeon have in common? The answer is (of course) Nikola Tesla. In this episode of The Rest Is Science: Field Notes,…
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Michael Discovered A New Way To Make Twins
Is there a new way to make twins? If there is, Michael's might just have discovered it. And hint: it's going to hard work. From Hannah’s twin-like sister to the most famous cells in human history, in this episode…
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Why Michael Abandoned Ink For Mechanical Pencils
What can be revealed about a person by their choice of…lead? In this gloriously nerdy episode of Field Notes, Michael Stevens arrives armed with an entire collection of mechanical pencils, sparking a series of…
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Do Our Bodies Really Belong To Us?
What happens to a body part once it’s been removed from your body? Can you take it home? Cremate it? Bury it? Even give it a funeral? In the first episode of a new mini-series on ownership, Hannah and Michael explore…
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Hannah Predicted a Pandemic
What if the next pandemic could be predicted before it even begins? Hannah and Michael step into the unsettling world of outbreak simulations, where scientists map invisible infections, model human behaviour, and try…
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DARK vs LIGHT
Why are black cars more dangerous, white chess pieces more successful, and pandas apparently incapable of coping with minor inconvenience? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) unpack one deceptively…
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Polymetalic Nodules Are Weird
What if one of the most valuable objects on Earth has been sitting untouched at the bottom of the ocean for 100 million years? In this Field Notes episode, Professor Hannah Fry brings Michael Stevens (VSauce) a…
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"A Grim Enemy For Reasons We Do Not Yet Comprehend"
* This episode contains descriptions of warfare and use of chemical weapons * How do you feed a world that’s running out of food? In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens uncover one of…
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When 0 = 1000
Why does one of the most familiar numbers on a nutrition label turn out to be far more complicated than it looks? What can a can of fizzy drink teach us about thermodynamics, human metabolism, and the strange ways…
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