Tom Scott: Built for Science

S1 · E1 · Nov 19, 2016

Science vs the Weather: Salford's Energy House Episode 1

S1 · E2 · Jan 16, 2017

Zero-G Experiments on Earth: The Bremen Drop Tower Episode 2

S1 · E3 · Apr 10, 2017

Drones vs Lightning Episode 3

S1 · E4 · Apr 24, 2017

How To Not Break A Mars Rover Episode 4

S1 · E5 · May 8, 2017

How The Arecibo Telescope Could Help Save The World Episode 5

S1 · E6 · Jun 24, 2017

Connectome Scanning: Looking at the Brain's Wiring Episode 6

S1 · E7 · Jul 23, 2017

Inside The Giant American Freezer Filled With Polar Ice Episode 7

S1 · E8 · Nov 13, 2017

Is It Dangerous To Talk To A Camera While Driving? Episode 8

S1 · E9 · Dec 11, 2017

How Zero-G Planes Work Episode 9

S1 · E10 · Jan 1, 2018

17 Tonnes of Spinning Glass: Making the World's Largest Telescope Episode 10

This week's guest video comes from Active Galactic Videos: go subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/ActiveGalacticVideos/ They got to walk on the dish of a telescope: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lfXsN45088 At the Richard F. Caris Mirror Lab, under the football stadium of the University of Arizona, there's an enormous rotating furnace, keeping tonnes of glass heated as it forms the mirrors for the Giant Magellan Telescope. Here's a look inside!

S1 · E11 · Feb 12, 2018

Making Artificial Earthquakes with a Four-Tonne Steel Ball Episode 11

In Göttingen, Germany, there's a four-tonne steel ball that can be raised up a 14-metre tower -- and then dropped in less than two seconds, crashing back to earth. It makes tiny, artificial earthquakes: here's why. Thanks to all the team at Wiechert'sche Erdbebenwarte Göttingen! You can find out more about them here: https://www.erdbebenwarte.de/ Three things I had to cut out of this video, because they didn't quite fit into the story or because I couldn't film them: The reason the steel ball

S1 · E12 · Apr 16, 2018

G-Force, Jerk, and Passing Out In A Centrifuge Episode 12

Thanks to the Starrship team for arranging this! I'm also over on their channel, flying with the Blades: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWY3-1gOrxk • At the Royal Air Force training centrifuge in Farnbrough, pilots learn how to avoid G-LOC: g-induced loss of consciousness. Let's talk about g-force, about jerk, and about how to keep circulation flowing to your brain. FAQs: * Isn't 3.6g a really low g-tolerance? * Yep. Turns out I would not qualify to be a fighter pilot. The average range for g

S1 · E13 · Jun 11, 2018

Tilting an Icy Floor Until You Fall Over: WinterLab Episode 13

If you're in Canada, you need good winter boots. But how do you know whether they're actually safe, or whether you'll fall over the first time you step on ice? This is WinterLab, part of the Challenging Environment Assessment Laboratories at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute, where they're testing winter shoes with science. More about the lab and their ratings: http://www.ratemytreads.com/ Thanks to Evan from Rare Earth for being camera op! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGG8ucQgEJPeUPhJ

S1 · E14 · Jul 30, 2018

The Nuclear Reactor Run By Students Episode 14

At Reed College in Portland, Oregon, there's a TRIGA nuclear reactor, used for research. You can stand next to it and watch the blue glow from the bottom of a deep swimming pool. I had to visit. More about the reactor and about Reed College: https://reactor.reed.edu/ Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin) Post audio by Emi Paternostro (http://proximitysound.com) I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tomscott and on Snapchat an

S1 · E15 · Sep 10, 2018

The Collapsible Crash Test Robot Car Episode 15

The Global Vehicle Target is the new standard for testing autonomous driving and crash test systems. To cameras and radar, it looks like a car: but if you hit it, it'll fly apart. So if your emergency braking doesn't quite work... well, this is what happens. Thanks to everyone at Thatcham Research! You can find out more about them at https://www.thatcham.org/ and about the target at https://www.thatcham.org/car-safety/driver-assistance/ Filmed by Tomek: https://youtube.com/tomek Edited by Mich

S1 · E16 · Jan 28, 2019

I Got To See And Hold My Brain Episode 16

Subscribe to Neuro Transmissions! https://www.youtube.com/user/neurotransmissions or start with their video on how to train a cat to high-five: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VfsVw0ndFAQ We're all used to seeing MRI scans of brains. But how do they work? Can you really "see" brain activity, or read someone's mind? Alie and Micah from Neuro Transmissions went to get scanned -- and ended up having some fun with 3D printing, too.

S1 · E17 · Mar 18, 2019

The Library of Rare Colors Episode 17

The Forbes Pigment Collection at the Harvard Art Museums is a collection of pigments, binders, and other art materials for researchers to use as standards: so they can tell originals from restorations from forgeries. It's not open to the public, because it's a working research library -- and because some of the pigments in there are rare, historic, or really shouldn't be handled by anyone untrained.

S1 · E18 · Mar 25, 2019

Blindfold Balancing in the Spinning Space Chair Episode 18

The Multi-Axes Rotation and Tilt Device (MART) is used for spatial orientation experiments: it's a chair balanced on a metaphorical knife-edge, powered by precise and fast motors. And my job was to not fall over.

S1 · E19 · Apr 2, 2019

The Artificial Gravity Lab Episode 19

In the Ashton Graybiel Spatial Orientation Laboratory at Brandeis University, there's the Artificial Gravity Facility: otherwise known as the rotating room. No-one's invented futuristic gravity plating yet, but if you want to test how humans would cope with artificial gravity, this is the best way.

S1 · E20 · May 13, 2019

The First 3D Color X-Rays Episode 20

At the University of Canterbury, in Christchurch, New Zealand, the team at Mars Bioimaging are using detector equipment originally developed for the Large Hadron Collider, and putting it to a very different use: medical imaging that allows 3D, false-color images inside the human body.

S1 · E21 · May 27, 2019

Testing A Zip Line That Goes Round Corners Episode 21

If you invent a new theme park or amusement ride, how do you test it to make sure it's safe? There's no Federal Bureau of Zip Lines. I visited one of the companies that does just that sort of testing - and, now, inventing.

S1 · E22 · Nov 5, 2019

How The Netherlands Simulated The Sea Before Computers: The Waterloopbos Episode 22

"Build some models" seems obvious: but this is a story of ingenuity, of using natural resources well, and of a country that humans dragged from the sea.

S1 · E23 · Jan 11, 2021

Australia's Bushfire-Hunting Satellites Episode 23

Turns out that trying to precisely detect fire from space is more difficult than "point a camera at it".

S1 · E24 · Sep 6, 2021

Why this observatory fires lasers at satellites Episode 24

NERC's Space Geodesy Facility, hidden away in the English countryside, fires lasers at satellites. Because it turns out that knowing a satellite's position exactly is really, really difficult. More about the Facility: http://sgf.rgo.ac.uk/

S1 · E25 · Oct 25, 2021

The highway where trucks work like electric trains Episode 25

In Lübeck, Germany, there's one of several eHighway test projects: overhead catenary wires, where electric trucks with pantographs can pull power directly from the grid. Thanks to everyone who gave so much time to make this video possible!

S1 · E26 · Jan 30, 2023

Why Australia bottles up its air Episode 26

Every few months, when the wind's blowing in the right direction, a bottle of air is taken from Kennaook / Cape Grim, at the northern tip of Tasmania, and saved for science. Here's how and why.

S1 · E27 · Apr 17, 2023

It's the Matrix, but for locusts Episode 27

At the Department of Collective Behaviour, part of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, researchers are putting locusts into simulated worlds, both virtual and physical, in the hope that they can figure out how devastating swarms form and move.

S1 · E28 · Oct 2, 2023

The largest telescope that will ever be built* Episode 28

The asterisk is important. The Extremely Large Telescope, in Paranal, Chile, is probably going to be the largest optical telescope that will ever be constructed. I was invited out there by the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council and the European Southern Observatory, and I wasn't going to turn down a chance like that.