The Rest Is Science

⁠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 on to the remarkable question of whether the eye can register a single particle of light. ⁠

⁠

This is an exploration of human senses at their most sensitive, blending physics and neuroscience with everyday experience to reveal where our biology draws the line between nothing and something, and what about emotion... how do we feel those?⁠

⁠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 on to the remarkable question of whether the eye can register a single particle of light. ⁠

This is an exploration of human senses at their most sensitive, blending physics and neuroscience with everyday experience to reveal where our biology draws the line between nothing and something, and what about emotion... how do we feel those?⁠

Darwin's The Expression Of The Emotions In Man And Animals.

Lisa Feldman Barrett - How Emotions Are Made: The Secret Life of the Brain.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterChief Digital Officer: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 powers of ten and they meet at something astonishingly familiar: the size of a human egg cell.

Michael Stevens (VSauce) takes Professor Hannah Fry on a journey through powers of ten, from quarks and protons and DNA to bananas and pyramids and on to planets and galaxies, to explore where we sit in the scale of the universe.

Along the way they ask whether the Planck length could be the universe's smallest pixel, whether reality might be a computer simulation and just how empty space really is.

Plus, your questions: why our best ideas arrive in the shower, Wikipedia's strangest rabbit holes and Hannah corrects the record on whether Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas believed curiosity was a sin.

-------------------

You can find the Reddit thread for scale of the universe here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRestIsScience/comments/1uycf3l/i_visualized_michael_scale_comparison_from_the

And The Power Of 10 documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

See some of Hannah & Michael's favourite Wikipedia pages here:

- Osama Bin Laden The Elephant - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden_(elephant)

- Death From Laughter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter

- Order Of Magnitude - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_magnitude

- Amedeo Avogadro - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Avogadro

- Guy Standing (Economist) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Standing_(economist)

-Guy Standing (Actor) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Standing_(actor)

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 person and enrage another?

In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) explore misophonia, the misunderstood sound sensitivity that can turn everyday mouth sounds into powerful emotional triggers.

1 in 5 people in a UK study have reported a hatred of mouth sounds, but where does the problem lie, and can you train your brain to stop hating a sound, or is the person chewing next to you simply beyond forgiveness?

Are the sounds themselves the trigger? Or is the structure of the human ear to blame? Perhaps, instead, the answer lies in a surprising connection between our brains and our jaws.

To find out, Hannah and Michael trial a surprising trick that could offer genuine relief, and discover how changing what you see can completely transform your response to what you hear.

Along the way, they investigate nails on blackboards, the frequencies used in acoustic weapons, the device designed to drive teenagers out of public spaces and the curious connection between misophonia, ASMR and the mukbang world itself.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 for blue to emotions and identity, Hannah and Michael investigate how language may shape our experience of the world.

Then, your questions. How fast would you need to throw a rock for it to escape Earth? What is the planet's escape velocity? Could it survive the atmosphere, or would it take something the size of the Chicxulub asteroid to make it out?

How does soap kill germs? Why does bleach feel slippery on your hands?

And can a scientific theory be completely wrong but still appear to work?

Join them, as they explore linguistics, psychology, colour perception, space travel, bacteria, viruses and, of course, the scientific method.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 replace rockets?

In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) explore where space really begins, why orbit means falling forever, and how Newton’s cannon explains the motion of the International Space Station.

They also interrogate the physics of the Kármán line, orbital velocity and geostationary orbit, before asking whether humans could ever climb a staircase to space, or catch a rotating skyhook into orbit.

Plus, the far future fate of Earth, firing a bullet around the Moon, the true value of the Apollo Moon landing, the ethics of colonising Mars and whether the future of space exploration should belong to private companies or the public!

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 experiment in the psychology of time, and each reveals something surprising about how our perception of time shapes the way we understand uncertainty and the world around us.

The conversation then turns to logic and reasoning: how we make judgements, why we get things wrong, and whether thinking more carefully can help us make better sense of reality.

It ends with your questions, including why so many of us are convinced we're simply "not maths people”. Is that belief itself, rather than any innate ability, the real source of our mathematical failure?

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 (Vsauce) trace the strange journey from a molecule found in lizard venom to medicines reshaping diabetes and weight-loss treatment, exploring how GLP-1 helps regulate blood sugar, appetite and the hum of ‘food noise’.Early evidence suggests their effects may extend far beyond food, quieting cravings for alcohol and cigarettes, and even the urge to gamble. What might this reveal about the biology of wanting itself, and how much control do any of us really have over what we crave?-------------------For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-scienceCancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.-------------------Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠-------------------Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Teo Ayodeji-Ansell + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterChief Digital Officer: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 freshwater, suspended right in the middle of a saltwater ocean.

In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) explore the hidden hydrodynamics of the Arctic. Fresh off a real-world scientific expedition to the sprawling ice sheets of Greenland, Hannah shares firsthand accounts of the colossal forces currently reshaping our polar regions. Together, they unpack the bizarre physics that allow a gigantic freshwater lake to form beneath the Arctic ice.

Fancy some some of your own glacial water? https://svalbardi.com

Send questions of your own to therestisscience@goalhanger.com or find us at r/TheRestIsScience.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 pencil held at arm’s length, they use the Sun’s angular diameter to calculate how big a pair of solar sunglasses would need to be for one eye, two eyes, everyone in London and eventually the entire planet.

Their hypothetical answer is a strange structure more than a million kilometres wide, positioned deep in space. Entirely practical. They compare its extraordinary scale with NASA’s Parker Solar Probe, the real spacecraft flying closer to the Sun than anything ever built, before using Lagrange points to work out where their creation could possibly go.

But could putting something between Earth and the Sun ever be useful?

Real proposals for space sunshades and climate geo-engineering suggest that blocking a small fraction of sunlight could help cool the planet. Moving from shade to reflection, they revisit Soviet attempts to reflect sunlight onto Earth at night and explore how Reflect Orbital’s Earendil 1 space mirror experiment might one day extend solar energy beyond daylight hours.

That leads them to the strange physics of light itself. Photons can push solar sails despite having no rest mass, revealing why E=mc² is only part of the full energy momentum equation from special relativity.

Finally, there is the optical phenomenon known as the Arago spot to contend with. It helps explain why NASA’s starshade concepts, future technology designed for hunting exoplanets, look like enormous sunflowers.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 and Michael Stevens (VSauce) dig into why human vision refuses to see colour the way light actually behaves, tracing the visible light spectrum from one end to the other and asking where all the "missing" colours, like magenta and purple, actually come from if they don't exist on that spectrum at all.

It turns out the colour wheel is less a description of light and more a diagram of a workaround your brain performs constantly.

Send your questions to therestofscience@goalhanger.com or find us at r/TheRestIsScience on Reddit.

Find the wetter water Michael discusses at - https://winsol.com/products/wetter-water

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 been ringing since 1840, and a metal that is useful… but prone to bursting into flame from the inside out.

Tracing the battery's strange history, from a twitching dead frog to the executed man who helped inspire Frankenstein.

But the real point runs deeper: we don't have an energy problem, we have a storage issue, and until we crack it, the clean energy future stays just out of reach.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterChief Digital Officer: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 sends them somewhere unexpected.

From deserted no man's land and radioactive exclusion zones to remote islands that most of humankind has quietly agreed to leave well alone, they explore the surprising ways life adapts to the damage we leave behind.Plus your questions: the scientific fact that scared Michael most, where tectonic plates actually go when they collide, and a very good would you rather.

Send questions of your own to therestofscience@goalhanger.com or find us at r/TheRestIsScience.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterChief Digital Officer: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 one of the biggest myths in history took hold and why the Maya were unable to accurately predict the apocalypse. But they also delve into why, according to Michael, 2012 was the year an old world was discarded and a new one began to emerge.

It was, afterall, the year a novel technology became unavoidable and we began to abandon a shared culture for millions of fragmented realities.

Along the way they also explore the science of confirmation bias, why humans are fascinated by the end of the world, and whether technology has made us less connected...or reconnected us in a different way.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science.

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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, leading them into the strange world of colour vision, from colourblindness and tetrachromacy, to the remarkable eyes of the mantis shrimp.

They also ask whether DNA could become the ultimate hard drive, visit a data storage mountain in Pittsburgh and discover just how little space all of humanity’s writing might take up.

Send your questions to therestofscience@goalhanger.com or find us at r/TheRestIsScience.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 way in to today's subject: curiosity. What is it, why does it feel almost physical, and how far will people actually go just to resolve a nagging uncertainty?

From there Hannah and Michael trace curiosity's surprising reputation through history; how for well over a thousand years it was branded a vice, even a sin, before a couple of inventions flipped it into a virtue almost overnight.

Along the way they delve into the psychology and neuroscience of this itch. Why your brain can't stop worrying at a missing answer, why getting something wrong could be the key to remembering it, and which animals share the drive (and one surprising creature that doesn't).

Plus curiosity's darker side, the way the modern world has learned to hijack the very same circuitry, and a rather lovely story about how a Mars rover got its name.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterChief Digital Officer: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 the strange world of man eating big cats: a tigress blamed for a staggering number of deaths, what can turn a tiger toward hunting humans in the first place, and how India now borrows techniques from forensic science…effectively putting a tiger on trial before deciding its fate.

And it raises an uncomfortable question: when a critically endangered animal kills a person, how do you weigh human safety against saving a species? Plus the wonderfully simple trick that stops attacks in their tracks.Then it's over to your questions, taking in some of the universe's most beautiful coincidences, from the sky above us to the clockwork of distant moons, and a mysterious number that once haunted one of the great physicists.

Come and join our sub-Reddit: /r/TheRestIsScience

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterChief Digital Officer: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 para-social relationships to the unsettling discovery that nearly half of friendships may not be mutual.

Why are we so bad at judging who considers us a friend? Why do strangers often have a bigger impact on our lives than we realise? And why do your friends almost certainly have more friends than you do?

Along the way, they uncover the science of social networks, loneliness, influence, popularity, and the famous friendship paradox, revealing how the hidden connections around us shape our health, happiness, and behaviour.

A View From A Bridge - https://www.instagram.com/aview.fromabridge

Letters Anonymous - https://www.lettersanonymous.com

Are You Friends', Friend paper - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0151588&type=printable

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience

⁠⁠Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterHead Of Digital: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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.

Rather than claiming the top spot, the mug features a specific, mathematically defensible ranking of his fatherly abilities.

If he's not the very best...surely he's in the top percentile?

Find out on Field Notes.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterHead Of Digital: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 your brain.In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) explore the weird neuroscience of human pain and why pain is ultimately a brilliant evolutionary survival mechanism, how psychological state and the placebo effect can physically alter how much an injury hurts.-------------------For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.-------------------Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠-------------------Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterHead Of Digital: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 polished, perfectly ordinary-looking piece of black obsidian?

Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens dive into the surprisingly treacherous geology and chemistry of obsidian.

Hannah brings an onyx from her personal rock collection to explain exactly why this specific piece of material holds the title of the most dangerous rock she owns, unpicking the fascinating physical properties of the stone and exploring how its conchoidal fracture pattern can easily create edges sharper than a modern surgical scalpel.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterHead Of Digital: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 exist, fills in frequencies that were never there, and constructs a version of reality that simply isn't real.

From the impossible endless ascending tone to the battle between your eyes and ears, explore how auditory illusions reveal the cracks in human perception. Along the way, we uncover how hearing works at a neurological level, why your brain edits sounds before you consciously register them, and what sensory perception research tells us about whether any of us truly experience reality as it is.

Could the gap between what's real and what you perceive be wider than you think? The answer might change how you listen to the world.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Pen that has been waiting decades for its first scribble. From there, the conversation launches into the challenges of living in space, why astronauts abandoned pencils, and what happens to your sense of direction when gravity disappears.Along the way they investigate whether eight billion people clapping could damage a building, discover why the ISS is constantly falling towards Earth, and ask whether the Kardashev Scale tells us anything meaningful about the future of civilisation.-------------------For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.-------------------Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠-------------------Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack MeekAnimator: Sam BensonVideo & Social: Bex TyrrellAssistant Producer: Lucy LipscombeProducer: Simona RataSenior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-CarterHead Of Digital: Samuel OakleyExec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 humanity's first footprints on another world still sit undisturbed in lunar dust, to a three million year old pebble that may represent one of the earliest signs of symbolic thought, they uncover how ordinary objects can become extraordinary windows into our past.

Why would one of our ancestors carry a rock that looked like a face? Who owns the artefacts we leave beyond Earth? And what might future generations learn from our footprints, tools, jokes, habits, and settlements scattered across the Solar System?

------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Attribution for images used, no chanages have been made.

W. Bulach - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

Jerzy Strzelecki - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0

Rakot13 - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0

Museum of Human Evolution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

Robert G. Bednarik - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 stone.

From prehistoric seas hidden beneath Kansas to fossils mistaken for mythical creatures, they follow the clues that reveal Earth's deep past.

Along the way they uncover the lost landscape of Doggerland, investigate creatures that survive without sunlight, and tackle listener questions about radioactive waste, volcanoes, and some surprisingly persistent scientific myths.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 on them.

Hannah and Michael explore how millions of years of evolution transformed ape like feet into powerful biological springboards, uncovering a surprising connection between human walking, pizza slices, and one of mathematics' most beautiful ideas.

After the break, they ask why feet attract so much attention from WikiFeet ratings to one of the most common fetishes on Earth.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 like to try for yourself, follow the link and tell us what score you get in the comments: https://vocabowl-870366514258.us-west1.run.app/

Along the way they uncover forgotten words, obscure linguistic curiosities, and a surprising question hiding beneath the quiz itself: what does it mean to know a word?

After the break, they tackle your questions and answer a nuclear pizza problem, explain why humans can grow such remarkably long hair, and ask whether everyone has a voice inside their head.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 run through out heads no longer belong to us.

Why is it that in 2026 police can open your phone using face ID any time they want, but they can't do the same with your password? When might a single brain wave called P300 eliminate the need for evidence in court? And how do we protect the contents of our minds now that we're imaging dreams, translating thoughts and installing brain chips?

Find out on The Rest Is Science.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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, Michael and Hannah experience a real Tesla coil, exploring the spectacular physics behind one of Tesla's most famous inventions.

Why do these devices create miniature lightning storms? How did Tesla dream of delivering wireless electricity to the entire planet?

But there was a stranger side to Tesla's life too, from his fear of pearls to the heartfelt story of the white pigeon he claimed to love "as a man loves a woman."

Plus, your questions: the science of hypnosis, the oldest symbols still in use today, why Cambridge professors have personal napkin rings, and whether ‘nothing’ can ever truly exist.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 Hannah and Michael continue to explore whether we truly own of ourselves, this time at a microscopic level.

From our genome, to our cells and even our personalities, what happens in a future where cloning is the norm? Where Zygotes might be used to create mini-Michaels? And where reproduction as we know it now is...optional.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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 passionate debates about graphite, the merits of ink, and whether the perfect pencil will ever really exist.

Plus: what happens to fizzy drink bubbles in zero gravity? Why did early scientists believe sperm contained tiny pre-formed humans? Are gravitational waves the most beautiful thing in the cosmos? And are modern scientific discoveries becoming too complicated for any one person to fully understand?

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

-------------------

Advertise with us: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠partnerships@goalhanger.com⁠
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices