Category Archives: Veritasium

In 2015 astronomers successfully predicted the appearance of a supernova within a couple weeks. How did they do it? Win your Ultimate Tech Bundle by entering Fasthosts’ Techie Test here: https://fasthosts.com/veritasium This video was sponsored by Fasthosts. Special thanks to Geraint Lewis for consulting on gravitational lensing. Check out his YouTube channel: https://ve42.co/gfl and books: […]

The General Theory of Relativity tells us gravity is not a force, gravitational fields don’t exist. Objects tend to move on straight paths through curved spacetime. Thanks to Caséta by Lutron for sponsoring this video. Find out more at: https://www.lutron.com/veritasium Huge thanks to Prof. Geraint Lewis for hours of consulting on this video so I […]

Simples rules of geometry meant that 5-fold symmetry was impossible as were crystals without a periodic structure. This turns out to be wrong. Thanks to LastPass for sponsoring a portion of this video. Click here to start using LastPass: https://ve42.co/LPs Huge thanks to Prof. Paul Steinhardt for the interview on this topic. Check out his […]

Kodak detected the first atomic bomb before anyone else figured it out. Then they made a deal not to tell anyone. Thanks to HBO Max, and their new show raised by Wolves for sponsoring this video! https://rb.gy/alghwn References: Albuquerque Tribune Bulletin, July 16, 1945 – https://www.marshallfoundation.org/library/documents/albuquerque-tribune-bulletin-16-july-1945/ Webb, J. H. (1949). The fogging of photographic film […]

In a competitive world, tiny advantages can make all the difference. Get 10% off Snatoms with code ‘giveluck’ in the US: https://ve42.co/USA or International: https://snatoms.com If you would like to receive Snatoms, submit the form here: https://ve42.co/getluck Snatoms are also available on Amazon Prime in the US but with no discount code: https://ve42.co/Asnatoms Huge thanks […]

People claim that 70-80% of household dust is dead skin, but is it true? Thanks to Google for sponsoring this video! Learn more about Search here: https://www.google.com/search/howsearchworks/ Special thanks to J.M.E.H van Bronswijk, author of ‘House Dust Biology’. We exchanged emails to make sure I got my facts straight for this video. Below is an […]

Half of the ordinary baryonic matter has been tough to find but Fast Radio Bursts made it possible to detect the WHIM. Thanks to Kiwico for sponsoring this video! For 20% off go to https://kiwico.com/veritasium or use code VERITASIUM at checkout. Special thanks to Prof. Geraint Lewis https://ve42.co/gfl Nature paper: A census of baryons in […]

This was a pretty extraordinary experience – thanks to NASA for inviting me! The Atlas V 541 rocket took off carrying the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity the Mars helicopter at 7:50 am July 30, 2020. They should arrive in about seven months on February 18, 2021

Everyone loves laminar flow but turbulent flow is the real MVP. A portion of this video was sponsored by Cottonelle. Purchase Cottonelle Flushable Wipes and try them for yourself: https://bit.ly/2WJm9Hq Special thanks to: Prof. Beverley McKeon and team https://www.mckeon.caltech.edu Destin from Smarter Every Day https://www.youtube.com/smartereveryday I got into turbulent flow via chaos. The transition to […]

The most elegant interpretation of quantum mechanics is the universe is constantly splitting A portion of this video was sponsored by Norton. Get up to 60% off the first year (annually billed) here: https://bit.ly/32SM0yd or use promo code VERITASIUM Special thanks to: Prof. Sean Carroll https://www.preposterousuniverse.com His book, a major source for this video is […]

The logistic map connects fluid convection, neuron firing, the Mandelbrot set and so much more. Fasthosts are giving UK viewers the chance to win tickets, flight, and accommodation to SXSW 2020 by answering my Techie Test question: https://www.fasthosts.co.uk/veritasium Animations, coding, interactives in this video by Jonny Hyman 🙌 Try the code yourself: https://github.com/jonnyhyman/Chaos References: James […]

Common pitfalls of New Year’s resolutions and how I plan to avoid them. Thanks Audible! Start listening with a 30-day trial and your first audiobook plus two Audible Originals free when you go to https://audible.com/veritasium or text veritasium to 500500. Thanks to Simone Giertz for sending me and Every Day Calendar! Get notified when they’re […]

Scientists like Prof Sinclair have evidence of speeding up, slowing, and even reversing aging. Thanks to LastPass for sponsoring this video. Click here to start using LastPass: https://ve42.co/VeLP What causes aging? According to Professor David Sinclair, it is a loss of information in our epigenome, the system of proteins like histones and chemical markers like […]

Chaos theory means deterministic systems can be unpredictable. Thanks to LastPass for sponsoring this video. Click here to start using LastPass: https://ve42.co/VeLP Animations by Prof. Robert Ghrist: https://ve42.co/Ghrist Want to know more about chaos theory and non-linear dynamical systems? Check out: https://ve42.co/chaos-math Butterfly footage courtesy of Phil Torres and The Jungle Diaries: https://ve42.co/monarch Solar system, […]

Why does shaken soda explode? Does ice melt first in fresh or salt water? Thank you Squarespace for sponsoring this video. Go to https://squarespace.com to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code: VERITASIUM This video features experiments that have been shown to me by science teachers over the years. […]

Want to help plant 20M trees by 2020? Go to https://teamtrees.org #teamtrees Huge thanks to all the YouTubers who organized this. My apologies for the repost. These videos are from 2012 so my interest in trees goes back a long ways. I think these videos discuss two of the most interesting and amazing facts about […]

Origami is inspiring a plethora of new engineering designs. Try yourself: https://ve42.co/Origami Thanks Audible! Start listening with a 30-day trial and your first audiobook, plus two Audible Originals free when you go to https://audible.com/veritasium or text veritasium to 500500 Huge thanks to: Dr. Robert Lang https://langorigami.com Prof. Larry Howell https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu/ On first glance it’s surprising […]

Spinning objects have strange instabilities known as The Dzhanibekov Effect or Tennis Racket Theorem – this video offers an intuitive explanation. Part of this video was sponsored by LastPass, click here to find out more: https://ve42.co/LP References: Prof. Terry Tao’s Math Overflow Explanation: https://ve42.co/Tao The Twisting Tennis Racket Ashbaugh, M.S., Chicone, C.C. & Cushman, R.H. […]

A planet has been predicted to orbit the sun with a period of 10,000 years, a mass 5x that of Earth on a highly elliptical and inclined orbit. What evidence supports the existence of such a strange object at the edge of our solar system? Huge thanks to: Prof. Konstantin Batygin, Caltech Prof. David Jewitt, […]

*Technically ‘not-a-flamethrower’ vs aerogel, we applied a huge 2000°C flame to a large fiberglass blanket infused with silica aerogel – formerly the lightest solid (now that title is held by graphene aerogel). Special thanks to: Aerogel Technologies: https://ve42.co/aerogeltech Aspen Aerogels: https://ve42.co/aspen Ben: @BenScho999999 Dr. Stephen Steiner and the Aerogel Technologies team The footage of aerogel […]

I used a nitrogen membrane and Stirling cryocooler to liquefy nitrogen out of the air. For this video I partnered with Starbucks to celebrate their Nitro Cold Brew. Order one here: https://starbucks.app.link/derekmuller Making liquid nitrogen is hard – in fact up until 150 years ago scientists doubted whether it was even possible to liquefy nitrogen. […]

The Mars Helicopter aims to make the first powered flight on another planet when it takes off on Mars as part of the Mars 2020 mission. I learned a lot getting to visit the drone right before it was mounted on the rover. How do you fly in 1% of Earth’s atmosphere: Have large rotors […]

Electric cars are now ready to take over thanks to advances in battery technology and their inherent benefits: torque, handling, maintenance. This video was sponsored by BMW: https://www.bmwusa.com/ Full disclosure: I drive an #electric #car. I think electric cars are the future, not mainly because they’re better for the environment (which they are if you […]

Apollo astronauts trained in nuclear bomb craters at the Nevada National Security Site. But why?Thanks Audible! Start listening with a 30-day trial and your first audiobook plus two Audible Originals free when you go to http://audible.com/veritasium or text veritasium to 500500 I found this story fascinating because in a way a nuclear bomb crater is […]

The Vikings suffered many hardships living in the north of Europe: long, cold winters and importantly a lack of sunlight. Luckily, they had cod. Check out Vitamania: https://ve42.co/cod When making a video about vitamins I thought the story would mainly be about supplement pills, whether we should or shouldn’t take them and how they’re made. […]

Aerogel has extraordinary properties but it can be tough to work with. This video looks at modifying aerogels to take advantage of their unique characteristics. Subscribe to Veritasium: https://ve42.co/sub Huge thanks to Dr. Stephen Steiner and the crew at Aerogel Technologies. To find out more or buy your own aerogel sample, check out: http://www.aerogeltechnologies.com/ Thanks […]

I bought 10,000 shade balls and tried to swim in them. They appear to act like a non-Newtonian fluid: rigid under high shear stress, but they flow like a liquid under low shear. Get a signed shade ball by supporting Veritasium: https://ve42.co/patreon Receiving a shade ball: 1. Support Veritasium on any Patreon tier and enter […]

Aerogels are the world’s lightest (least dense) solids. They are also excellent thermal insulators and have been used in numerous Mars missions and the Stardust comet particle-return mission. The focus of this video is silica aerogels, though graphene aerogels are now technically the lightest. At one point Dr. Steven Jones literally held the Guinness World […]

My hypothesis is that the algorithm, rather than viewer preference, drives views on the site. As the algorithm shifts, various YouTubers experience burnout (as what used to work no longer works) and right now click-through rate is the key metric. So clickable titles and thumbnails are the only way to get a lot of impressions […]

I took a boat through 96 million black plastic balls on the Los Angeles reservoir to find out why they’re there. The first time I heard about shade balls the claim was they reduce evaporation. But it turns out this isn’t the reason they were introduced. Huge thanks to LADWP for arranging this special tour […]

Tiny robots activated by magnetic fields may be used in future biomedical procedures. Start listening to Audible with a 30-day trial and your first audiobook, plus two Audible Originals free when you go to http://audible.com/veritasium or text veritasium to 500500 Huge thanks to: Dr. Eric Diller, Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of […]

The story of three impressive high school science projects. Can you guess which student won $250,000 in the #RegeneronSTS? Applications open June 1: http://bit.ly/2HkLXT1 This video was sponsored by Regeneron. The Science Talent Search was founded and produced by the Society for Science and the Public. Huge thanks to the students: Ronak Roy, Ana Humphrey, […]

The Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration observed the supermassive black holes at the center of M87 and our Milky Way galaxy (SgrA*) finding the dark central shadow in accordance with General Relativity, further demonstrating the power of this 100 year-old theory. To understand more about why the shadows look the way they do, check out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUyH3XhpLTo […]

We are about to see the first image of a black hole, the supermassive black hole Sagittarius A* at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. But what is that image really showing us? This is an awesome paper on the topic by J.P. Luminet: Image of a spherical black hole with thin accretion disk […]

I always wanted to know why film looked better than video. Moving electronic images have as long a history but were invented for a different purpose. This video was sponsored by B&H Photo: https://www.bhphotovideo.com Huge thanks to: Richard Diehl, Video Labguy https://www.youtube.com/user/videolabguy https://www.labguysworld.com Branch Education for awesome animations https://ve42.co/BranchEd Minutephysics for mechanical TV animations https://www.youtube.com/minutephysics […]

Research has found some human brains can pick up on rotations of geomagnetic-strength fields as evidenced by drops in alpha wave power following stimulus. For more, see https://ve42.co/magneto Huge thanks to: Prof. Shinsuke Shimojo, Connie Wang, and Isaac Hilburn, plus Prof. Joe Kirschvink. Their lab: https://ve42.co/maglab Special thanks to Patreon supporters: Donal Botkin, James M […]

Compliant mechanisms have lots of advantages over traditional devices. SimpliSafe is awesome security. It’s really effective, easy to use, and the price is great. Check out SimpliSafe here: https://simplisafe.com/veritasium I visited the Compliant Mechanisms Research group at Brigham Young University and spoke to Professor Larry Howell: https://www.compliantmechanisms.byu.edu At the above link, you can download 3D-print […]

Is it possible to reconstruct sound from high-speed video images? Part of this video was sponsored by LastPass: http://bit.ly/2SmRQkk Special thanks to Dr. Abe Davis for revisiting his research with me: http://abedavis.com This video was based on research by Dr. Abe Davis and colleagues. I found out about this work years ago and was fascinated […]

A bisected grape in the microwave makes plasma. But how does it work? A grape is the right size and refractive index to trap microwaves inside it. When you place two (or two halves) close together the fields interact with each other creating a maximum of electromagnetic energy where they touch. This creates heating, sparks, […]

This is it, an unedited hour of my life, in the dark anechoic chamber at BYU.

Do negative air ions improve mood, anxiety, depression, alertness? Part of this video was sponsored by LastPass, click here to find out more: http://bit.ly/2RZZTZk Special thanks to Prof. Jack Beauchamp and Dr. Nathan Dalleska from Caltech for all their help running these experiments and discussing the research. For more, check out the links below: http://www.cce.caltech.edu/people/jesse-l-jack-beauchamp […]

Droplets levitate on a bath of liquid nitrogen and are spontaneously self-propelled. Thanks Audible! Start a 30-day trial and your first audiobook is free. Go to https://audible.com/VERITASIUM or text VERITASIUM to 500500. Special thanks to Dr. Anaïs Gauthier Physics of Fluids: https://pof.tnw.utwente.nl/ Self-propulsion of inverse Leidenfrost drops on a cryogenic bath Anaïs Gauthier, Christian Diddens, […]

A pulsing black hole in the centre of a distant galaxy sheds light on black hole and galaxy formation. How fast are black holes rotating and how does that rotation change over its life-span? Huge thanks to Prof. Geraint Lewis and study author Dr. Dheeraj Pasham. A loud quasi-periodic oscillation after a star is disrupted […]

A launch mishap led to the best experimental confirmation of gravitational redshift. Get a free audiobook with a 30-day trial of Audible: http://audible.com/VERITASIUM or text VERITASIUM to 500500 Huge thanks to Dr. Pacome Delva: https://ve42.co/pacome Dr. Sven Herrmann: https://ve42.co/sven Gravitational Redshift Test Using Eccentric Galileo Satellites: https://ve42.co/GRtest Disclaimer: It is arguable what is THE best […]

Scientists have combined ultrasound, viruses and synthetic drugs to control regions of the brain. Check out Skillshare: https://skl.sh/veritasium (first 500 get 2 months free) Special thanks to Prof. Mikhail Shapiro and Dr. Jerzy Szablowski: http://shapirolab.caltech.edu Human brains are complicated – the most complicated thing in the known universe, many people say. So far we understand […]