The Rest Is Science
Goalhanger
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.
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
Mentioned books
65 snips
May 11, 2026 • 44min
"A Grim Enemy For Reasons We Do Not Yet Comprehend"
A deep dive into the molecule that remade civilization and battlefields. They trace the scramble for fertilizers from guano wars to making ammonia from air. The story jumps from industrial scale breakthroughs and deadly factory risks to how the same chemistry fueled munitions and chemical warfare. It closes by wrestling with curiosity, responsibility, and the unforeseen costs of scientific progress.
41 snips
May 6, 2026 • 39min
When 0 = 1000
They unpack why calorie counts on labels can be misleading and how legal rounding hides complexity. They trace calorie measurements from bomb calorimeters to modern food labelling. They question myths like negative calorie foods and explain how chewing changes energy absorption. They follow burned fat into CO2, water and heat and even ponder tiny planetary mass changes.
45 snips
May 4, 2026 • 52min
How To Use a Black Hole To See Your Past
They explore how light always shows the past and how mirrors make us see earlier versions of reality. A nanosecond ruler demo reveals how tiny delays shape perception. Black holes and photon spheres could bend ancient light back toward Earth. The Sun as a gravitational lens and using atmospheres as giant telescopes are weighed against practical limits, scale, and ethical questions.
31 snips
Apr 29, 2026 • 50min
The Barf Bag Episode
A quirky dive into why people collect airplane sick bags and the designs that make them memorable. They explore motion sickness biology and the history of the humble sick bag. Physics of pressurised cabins, turbulence, and modern aircraft design get playful explanations. Short detours include snack-bag inflation, seat-choosing tips, and a light debate on whether AI could become conscious.
106 snips
Apr 27, 2026 • 1h 1min
Alan Turing’s Final Theory Was About Leopards
The podcast explores how simple chemical rules can turn a uniform cell ball into heads, tails, stripes and spots. It traces Alan Turing's reaction–diffusion idea through classic simulations and modern biological evidence. The conversation also extends the math to cities and crime maps, and wrestles with the ethical risks of using predictive models in society.
75 snips
Apr 22, 2026 • 50min
How To Prove You're A Time Traveller
They brainstorm clever ways to prove you came from the future using lost tech, relics and quirky verification tricks. They weigh social risks like being branded a witch and the practical limits of demonstrating future skills. They explore whether humans could eat and survive in the Jurassic and the atmospheric hazards involved. They explain light-speed delays across the solar system and the strange physics of wormhole pressure.
60 snips
Apr 20, 2026 • 1h 2min
The Reasoning Test Psychologists Still Can't Explain
A deep dive into the Wason selection task and why abstract logic trips us up while social scenarios make it click. They contrast card puzzles with pub-style rules, explore confirmation bias and why we ignore counterexamples. The conversation considers evolutionary views that reasoning evolved for social coordination and persuasion rather than pure truth-seeking.
28 snips
Apr 15, 2026 • 41min
The Elegant Laminar Flow Of Moroccan Tea
They explore why Moroccan teapots have S-shaped spouts and how that shape yields smooth, splash-free pouring. They investigate foam formation in poured mint tea and how soap-like saponins, sugar and mint oils stabilize bubbles. They connect teapot design to fluid dynamics principles like Reynolds number and explain how sharp spout edges stop drips. They also tackle sea level effects on boiling and how much of Earth humans have actually touched.
81 snips
Apr 13, 2026 • 46min
Science Is (Literally) Cool
They turn the kitchen into a science lab, tracing ice trade, icehouses and early mechanical freezers. They explain refrigeration cycles, rubber-band and magnetic cooling ideas, and the environmental issues of refrigerants. They reveal microwaves’ wartime origins, magnetrons and Percy Spencer’s accidental popcorn moment. They also touch on toasters, nichrome and how war-driven tech reshaped everyday appliances.
27 snips
Apr 8, 2026 • 47min
Are There More Raindrops In Clouds Or Data In THE Cloud?
They compare the number of water droplets in clouds with the bits stored in digital servers. They unpack how to estimate raindrops and cloud droplets versus zettabytes of data. They run a quick statistical test about blue-eyed bricklayers. They explore alternative periodic table layouts and showcase a spiral “periodic snail” pin and quirky Curiosity Box items.
