The Rest Is Science

How does a perfectly symmetrical ball of cells become an animal, with a head, a tail, and complex zebra or leopard like patterns? In this episode, we dive into the mind bending science of how order emerges from chaos, guided by an unexpected genius: Alan Turing. From leopard spots and human embryos to crime hotbeds, Hannah and Michael discover the hidden mathematical rules shaping life itself…and...

How do you convince people you aren't a witch if you travel back in time, and where can you actually find something decent to eat when you're there? Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce, Michael Stevens, tackle the most practical and delicious logistics of surviving a trip through history. Check out one of Hannah's favourite chemistry YouTube channels - https://www.youtube.com/@cnliziqi ---------------...

Why do almost all of us struggle with a simple reasoning test, yet get it right the moment it’s about a pint in a pub? This week, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens take on the Wason Selection Task, one of the most intensely studied problems in the history of psychology. They unpack why a rule involving letters and numbers can feel strangely difficult, while the exact same logic becomes imme...

Does a teapot secretly hold the laws of physics? And what do soap, sugar and mint have to do with the perfect cup of tea? Whilst in Morocco, Professor Hannah Fry takes Michael Stevens (VSauce) into the surprising science of mint tea, from foamy bubbles that trap desert sand to the elegant S-shaped spout that appears to solve some of the hardest problems in fluid dynamics. Plus, your questions, inc...

Is the kitchen home to some of the most extraordinary technology humans have ever invented? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the science of everyday appliances, from the strange physics of coldness to the wartime origins of the microwave. They explore how humanity learned to trap 'coolth', beam heat into leftovers, and turn the most ordinary room in the house into a high performanc...

Does "the cloud" hold more data than a clouds hold raindrops? Can a new organ literally rewrite your personality? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens, VSauce, weigh our massive digital servers against a standard downpour, before unpicking the biology of transplant patients suddenly waking up with entirely new cravings. Michael also has a new Curiosity Box coming featuring an altertative perio...

What happens when you finally reach the end of forever? And what exactly is the difference between Omega and Aleph-null? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) return for the final (possibly not) chapter of our infinity series, unpicking the frankly absurd mechanics of multiple infinities. They reveal how mathematicians don't just measure the endless void, but actively organise it, expl...

Why would a zip line be the best form of transport on the Moon? Why exactly can your feet still feel other textures right through your socks? Hannah and Michael tackle the spectacular physics of extreme commutes and everyday biomechanics. They unpick the orbital chaos and terrifying vacuum of space, proving why a lunar theme park ride is essentially a brilliant, fiery death trap. Back down on Eart...

Why were the ancient Greeks absolutely terrified of the infinite? How did a boundless mathematical concept start bitter historical feuds? And what happens to reality when you realise that some infinities are actually bigger than others? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) plunge back into the mind-bending history of infinity, tracking the spectacular panic it caused across the centur...

In this very special episode Michael and Hannah look at some of the groundbreaking, jaw-dropping and hope inspiring projects that Cancer Research UK are supporting right now. From identifying tiny "flags" cancer cells show to using cancer's own evolution against it, they show why current research today will hopefully mean a better tomorrow for many. Cancer Research UK are the world's leading cance...

Is infinity actually a real number, or just a brilliant mathematical hallucination? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) tumble down the numerical rabbit hole to explore the mind-bending origins of infinity. They unpick exactly how humanity managed to trap the endless void. From ancient paradoxes to endless hotel rooms, they dive into the bizarre history of our universe's most impossi...

What do Bill Bryson, Daniel Wegner and J.R.R. Tolkien have in common? They are all part of Michael's reading recommendations. On this episode of Field Notes we answer one of our most frequent inbox questions... "What do you both read?" Alongside that Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens delve into whether some numbers give off "vibes" and the optimal way to use airflow to rid your car of dog h...

Ever wanted to squish a puppy just because it’s impossibly cute? Or felt absolutely certain you’ve lived this exact moment before? Hannah and Michael explore the bizarre, everyday glitches of the human mind, unpacking why our brains occasionally seem to short-circuit. They dive into the weird neurology of "cute aggression", or urges like thinking of throwing your phone off a bridge, to the jarring...

What inspired Kazuo Ishiguro’s timeless story about mortality, growing up, and the human condition? How are its characters so relatable, and yet entirely unique? And, why does the dark secret at its heart challenge scientific innovation?  Dominic Sanbrook joins Hannah and Michael to discuss all this and Dominic's new show, The Book Club, available now.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podc...

Have you stubbed your toe and shouted an unrepeatable word? Isaac Newton and Robert Boyle were two of the greatest minds in humanity. Did their egos and competition with one another hold them back or drive them onto huge breakthroughs? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the bizarre neurology of vocalised pain, revealing how a good yelp actually acts as a biological off-switch for suf...

Botanically speaking, there is no such thing as a vegetable, so what exactly is sitting on your dinner plate? And if our culinary world is built on biological lies, which plant is actually the most vegetable like? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens tackle a chaotic intersection of linguistics, plant taxonomy, and nutrition, dismantling the arbitrary categories we use to organise our food, re...

Does your native language physically sculpt your face? And could a swarm of bees be trained to run computer code? Two of your questions answer in this Field Notes with Professor Hannah Fry and YouTube's Michael Stevens, plus Michael’s object of the week is a visualization of the Holocene Calendar. By simply adding ten thousand years to our current year, it transforms our perception of history from...

Humans have split the atom, we can stream movies from space and are working towards everlasting life. 
 So why in the world are we still spending a third of our lives unconscious? In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens ask a deceptively simple question: Can human beings cure sleep? Why do evolutionary forces cause us to lie helpless for eight hours a night when pred...

Rockets are built to slice cleanly through the atmosphere on the way up. Coming home, it turns out, requires... not turning into a fireball before a bellyflop When Space Shuttles reenter Earth’s atmosphere at 17,000 miles per hour, they don’t dive nose first. Instead they turn broadside to the atmosphere, deliberately creating more drag, more friction, more heat. At those speeds, oncoming air comp...

If someone asked you to point to yourself, where would you point? Your chest? Your head? Somewhere just behind your eyes? Where are you? In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce’s Michael Stevens explore how the brain maps and understands out location, from the inner ear fluid that tells us which way is up, to the grid and place cells that build a kind of internal GPS. But how do London ta...

At what exact chemical ratio does our beloved chocolate devolve into a mere structure of fats and sugars? How far can you dilute chocolate before its fundamental identity vanishes? And what could a comically tiny novelty stool possibly reveal about Michael Stevens? Unlike a block of pure iron or a vial of chlorine, chocolate is not one single substance but a complex and heterogeneous mixture we al...

Is deception a uniquely human trait, or is the natural world built on a foundation of fraud? When a cuttlefish shifts its skin to mimic a female and sneak past a rival male, this may be deceptive but is it telling a lie? Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens explore the evolutionary biology of dishonesty across the animal kingdom. What is the neurological difference between a biologica...

Topologically speaking, a human is just a donut with seven holes. It sounds like a joke, but it is a fundamental biological reality. Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the strange geometry of the human body, tracing how we evolved from simple tubes into complex toruses. They investigate the "design flaw" at the boundary of our existence, the fragile transition where skin meets intern...

It starts as a friendly challenge: who can name the biggest number? The only rule? Infinity doesn’t count. What follows is a journey through the biggest finite numbers ever imagined. From Archimedes’ grains of sand to Graham’s Number, a sequence so vast it stretches the limits of human comprehension, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens tumble through this strange landscape of scale, tracing h...

Can mathematics ever truly be proven? And can Michael's poetry help you remember some tricky equations? In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens answer your questions and take a look at what it means for something to be true in mathematics. Starting with a grand attempt to prove that one plus one equals two, and into Gödel’s theorem that no system of maths can ever fully prove its...