The Rest Is Science cover art
Podcast · 93 episodes

The Rest Is Science, page 2

by Goalhanger · English

Join mathematician Professor Hannah Fry and science creator Michael Stevens (Vsauce) as they dig into the weird scientific questions that often go unexplored. 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.

All episodes, page 2

An Honest Dad Ranking (Out Of All 2 Billion)A “dad ranking” mug story (math from a 6-year-old’s line-drawing), plus science Q&A: using fans to power sails, future “Manhattan Hinge” eclipse totality, and why people fear running up dark stairs.8 Jul 2026 · 42 min · 15 chapters
Your Brain Invents Pain. Here's Why.Pain is constructed by the brain, not a direct readout of tissue damage; it can be altered by context, stress, and perception.5 Jul 2026 · 51 min · 25 chapters
The Most Dangerous Rock In Hannah's CollectionA mailbag episode covering (1) whether humans could detect gravitational waves from black hole collisions, (2) why “space junk” is hard to see in photos from the ISS, and (3) whether walking up an…1 Jul 2026 · 56 min · 14 chapters
The Audio Illusion That Proves We Don't Experience RealityThe episode explores how perception turns physical signals into experiences—arguing that “reality” is constructed by the brain.28 Jun 2026 · 58 min · 25 chapters
Will A 25 Year Old Space Pen Still Write?This episode of The Rest is Science (Field Notes) centers on whether a Fisher “space pen” can still write after decades, and what that reveals about writing in microgravity.24 Jun 2026 · 48 min · 16 chapters
A Paleontology Of The Future“Space archaeology” and the legal/ethical limits of preserving human-made sites off Earth, using Apollo 11’s Tranquility Base as the centerpiece.21 Jun 2026 · 55 min · 20 chapters
What Are The Odds You'll Become A Fossil?The hosts examine a suspected fossil “reindeer” bone found in the Dordogne, France, and explain how fossils form (rarely: ~1 in a billion bones), including rapid burial, decay, mineral-rich…17 Jun 2026 · 39 min · 9 chapters
Why Feet Are Weirder Than You ThinkWhy human feet are “weird,” focusing on evolutionary differences (between hooves/paws/monkey-like grasping feet), shoe-wearing, and the biomechanics of foot arches and stiffness; plus a detour into…14 Jun 2026 · 46 min · 13 chapters
How Many Words Do You ACTUALLY Know?The episode (Field Notes) is about estimating how many English words you know using a website called Vocab Owl (inspired by a prior discussion on vocabulary size).10 Jun 2026 · 52 min · 13 chapters
Why You Should Stop Using Face IDWhether police can compel or use information from your mind/phone, and how that changes with biometrics and brain-scanning tech; includes Fifth Amendment “no self-incrimination,” biometrics vs…7 Jun 2026 · 44 min · 17 chapters
Nikola Tesla Fell In Love with a PigeonThe hosts examine a tabletop Tesla coil (a resonant transformer) that produces high-voltage, miniature lightning by ionizing air into plasma; they connect this to electricity’s historical excitement…3 Jun 2026 · 36 min · 12 chapters
Michael Discovered A New Way To Make TwinsThe episode argues that “doppelzygotic” twins could theoretically arise without a zygote splitting: two separate conceptions from the same parents could, by chance, produce embryos with extremely…31 May 2026 · 48 min · 21 chapters
Why Michael Abandoned Ink For Mechanical PencilsThe hosts debate and compare mechanical pencils vs pens as tools for preserving ideas, focusing on how writing “sticks” in memory and survives mishaps (notably an energy-drink ink disaster).27 May 2026 · 47 min · 16 chapters
Do Our Bodies Really Belong To Us?Who has rights to body parts once they leave the body or after death—teeth, amputated limbs, organs, skeletons, and even brains—plus legal/ethical limits on selling, keeping, donating, or destroying…24 May 2026 · 51 min · 17 chapters
Hannah Predicted a PandemicQ&A episode on selfhood and perception (the “hard problem”), plus quantum spin and atomic “empty space,” ending with Hannah Fry’s near-pandemic prediction story and COVID vaccine-skeptic interviews.20 May 2026 · 1 h 3 min · 17 chapters
DARK vs LIGHTA listener’s question—“which would win in a fight between black and white?”—drives a debate across science, culture, games, and stories.17 May 2026 · 55 min · 23 chapters
Polymetalic Nodules Are WeirdPolymetallic nodules from the seafloor—how they form (hydrogenous precipitation), why they’re so old, what metals they contain, and what their “battery” properties could mean for oxygenating oceans…13 May 2026 · 32 min · 15 chapters
"A Grim Enemy For Reasons We Do Not Yet Comprehend"The episode argues that Fritz Haber’s nitrogen-fixing chemistry (Haber-Bosch) was both a lifesaving “hero” breakthrough and a “grim enemy” enabling mass death.11 May 2026 · 44 min · 15 chapters
When 0 = 1000Why “0 calories” drinks can list “no calories” yet contain about 1 kcal per can; how dietary calories/kilocalories are defined and estimated (Atwater’s bomb calorimetry and human digestion…6 May 2026 · 39 min · 13 chapters
How To Use a Black Hole To See Your PastUsing light-bending “celestial mirrors” (black holes, the Sun, and Earth’s atmosphere) to view Earth’s past and potentially image exoplanets.4 May 2026 · 52 min · 20 chapters
The Barf Bag EpisodeThe hosts discuss airplane sick bags (“barf bags”): why they’re needed, their design variations across airlines, and the physics behind motion sickness, cabin pressurization, and turbulence.29 Apr 2026 · 50 min · 22 chapters
Alan Turing’s Final Theory Was About LeopardsThe episode asks how embryos and other systems generate order from an initially uniform, symmetric state.27 Apr 2026 · 1 h 1 min · 24 chapters
How To Prove You're A Time TravellerThe “credibility problem” of time travel—how a person could prove they’re from the future (or past) without prep—plus related science Q&A (Jurassic-era human diet, communication lag to the…22 Apr 2026 · 50 min · 18 chapters
The Reasoning Test Psychologists Still Can't ExplainThe Wasson Selection Task (a conditional reasoning test) and why most people fail it—especially when the rule is abstract (letters/numbers) versus concrete/social (bar-age drinking).20 Apr 2026 · 1 h 2 min · 20 chapters