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
86 snips
Mar 3, 2026 • 1h 1min
You Don't Exist For One Third Of Your Life
They explore why humans still need a third of life unconscious and whether sleep could ever be cured. Strange sleep strategies across species and historical hacks like WWII amphetamines get dissected. The conversation covers lethal sleep disorders, animal studies on immune and gut damage, and the many biological roles that make a single cure unlikely. Practical nap tips and why rest matters wrap things up.
42 snips
Feb 26, 2026 • 44min
How To Fall To Earth (Without Burning Up)
They explore why returning to Earth is harder than leaving it and how shockwaves and heat form during reentry. The conversation covers blunt-body designs that deflect heating and the fragile silica tiles that saved shuttles. They also touch on historical fear-conditioning experiments and a playful energy breakdown of which superhero powers would fry you.
86 snips
Feb 24, 2026 • 1h 3min
You (Don't) Know Where You Are
A playful tour of how the brain and body figure out where you are in space. They cover inner ear illusions that trick pilots, proprioception and lost-body sensation, and the brain’s place and grid cells acting like an internal GPS. Hear why London taxi training rewires maps, how language reshapes spatial thought, and what makes people point to their chest when asked to find themselves.
36 snips
Feb 19, 2026 • 1h 3min
How Big Is A Piece Of Chocolate?
They debate how little chocolate can still be called chocolate and estimate microscopic size limits. Chemistry of smells and odd flavors gets explored, including the role of butyric acid in American chocolate. Space smells, spectroscopy, and the phosphine-on-Venus controversy come up. They also share quirky collectibles and reflections on science and belief.
56 snips
Feb 17, 2026 • 54min
There Are Four Ways To Lie
They explore whether animal trickery counts as true lying, from cuttlefish that mimic females to penguins faking courtship to steal pebbles. Conversations cover tactical mimicry, learned false alarms in macaques, and experiments probing theory of mind in apes and children. The discussion weighs evolutionary game theory, perception, manipulation and what cognitive processes underlie deliberate deception.
65 snips
Feb 12, 2026 • 49min
The Evolution Of The Butthole
They debate where math fails, from division by zero to singularities and scale limits. They question scientific assumptions like dark matter and shifting constants. They explore why humans crave symmetry and centering. They unpack topology through straws, t-shirts and the first through-gut, culminating in a surprising count of holes in the human body.
65 snips
Feb 10, 2026 • 58min
(Finite) Numbers So Large They'd Destroy You
A playful contest to name the largest finite numbers sparks a tour through Archimedes’ sand reckoner, factorials and arrow notation. They race from combinatorics to Graham’s Number, then push past it with Rayo’s definability trick. Along the way they probe why humans chase mind-bending scales and how huge quantities change our perception and empathy.
27 snips
Feb 5, 2026 • 45min
Michael Wrote Some Math Poetry
They debate whether mathematics is discovered or invented and why proofs can still leave questions. Gödel and the Principia attempt to pin down 1+1=2 get discussed alongside real-world calculations that predicted Neptune and antimatter. There are stories about scientific resistance, atmospheric vortices and airflow in lecture theatres. The show ends with playful mathematical limericks and rhymes.
44 snips
Feb 3, 2026 • 1h 2min
Can We 'Solve' Sports?
They explore how data, prediction, and optimisation are reshaping sports from baseball shifts and launch-angle revolutions to the Tush Push in American football. They talk aerodynamics and dirty air in Formula 1, expected goals and analytics in football, and how body types and physiology push performance limits. They question whether removing obstacles and perfect prediction could make games less entertaining.
82 snips
Jan 29, 2026 • 32min
This Glass Was Made By Lightning
They trace glass forged by lightning and explain how fulgurites trap ancient air. They compare natural lightning glass to human-made radioactive glass. They play with scale, asking how dense a hamster would need to be to become a black hole. They test sensations at planetary scales and challenge our intuition about smoothness and texture.
