About The Rest Is Science
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...
The Rest Is Science episodeslatest 50
#85What Is Collagen All About?
· 41:50
Do collagen pills live up to their promises for skin and joints and healthy ageing? In this episode, Hannah and Michael examine what collagen actually is and how the body makes and uses it, before looking closely at...
#84The Threshold of Human Sensation
· 55:09
What is the smallest thing you can possibly feel? Michael Stevens and Professor Hannah Fry journey through varying levels of perception, from the faintest touch on skin to the faintest trace of flavour and odour...
#83The Scale of the Universe
· 49:01
The scale of the universe stretches from the Planck length, the smallest scale physics can describe, to the observable universe, the largest thing we can see. Travel inward from one and outward from the other by powers...
#82Why Loud Chewing Makes You Angry
· 49:35
The mukbang phenomenon is comfort viewing for millions, yet for others the sound of chewing, slurping and everyday mouth noises is enough to trigger instant anger, disgust and distress. Why do the sounds soothe one...
#81How Does Language Change What You Smell?
· 46:11
In this episode of Field Notes, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) begin with a Persian word for a smell Hannah cannot detect on a freshly washed plate. From the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis and Russian words...
#80Space Elevators, Skyhooks, and Space Fountains
· 1:05:46
What is the fastest, cheapest and possibly worst way to get into space? Could a nuclear explosion launch a manhole cover beyond the Earth’s atmosphere? And could space elevators, skyhooks or launch loops one day replace...
#79Hannah Ranks Michael's Bizarre Watches
· 54:12
Michael Stevens keeps a small museum of unusual timepieces on his desk: a clock that runs backwards, a watch built to be read in complete darkness, and one whose entire face simply says "now." Each is a miniature...
#78Why Your Brain Thinks You're Full (Even When You're Not)
· 46:38
How did the Gila monster, a desert lizard that eats just five times a year, help unlock the science behind Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro?In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens...
#77The Lake At The North Pole That Stops Europe From Freezing
· 47:03
When you picture the North Pole, you probably imagine a vast, frozen expanse of floating sea ice. But hidden deep beneath the surface of the Arctic lies something incredible: a massive, churning reservoir of nearly...
#76The Science of Putting Sunglasses on The Sun
· 1:00:02
Why does the cartoon Sun always wear sunglasses? And how big would a real pair need to be? Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens investigate space mirrors, Reflect Orbital and solar eclipses to find out. Starting with a pencil...
#75Why Is It A Colour Wheel & Not A Line?
· 47:09
Colour wheel or colour line? Light itself runs in a straight line from red to violet, yet every colour theory chart bends that spectrum into a circle and the reason has nothing to do with physics. Professor Hannah Fry...
#74Why Lithium Batteries SUCK
· 54:29
Can Hannah convince Michael that the lithium-ion battery is one of our most overrated inventions to ever happen? Hannah makes her case using a surprising energy source hidden in your fridge, a bell in Oxford that's been...
#73What Happens Inside Earth's Forbidden Zones?
· 45:35
What grows in the spaces humans are forced to abandon?Hannah brings Michael an actual piece of barbed wire from the Korean Demilitarised Zone, one of the most heavily fortified and forbidden borders on Earth, and it...
#72It Wasn't A Hoax After All
· 59:35
Did the world really end in 2012? Not with fire, meteors or an ancient Mayan prophecy, but Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens ask whether something just as profound took place instead. Together they unravel how...
#73The Evolution of Colour Vision & Tetrachromacy
· 45:41
Can you hide your skeleton from a dog? Would you want to know the day you’ll die? Has evolution ever come close to producing a real fire breather? Michael and Hannah test a T-shirt with a secret only humans can see...
#70The Hole In Your Brain That Makes You Doomscroll
· 49:20
Why can't you leave a sealed envelope unopened? Professor Hannah Fry begins by refusing to allow Michael Stevens to open a mystery envelope addressed to him. A small act of torture that turns out to be the perfect way...
#69Forensic Science And The Champawat Tiger
· 41:16
It begins with a discovery in a loft: a full man eating tiger skin, brought back from a village in northern India where Professor Hannah Fry's ex-mother in law grew up. That find sends Hannah and Michael Stevens into...
#68All The People You Don't Know
· 56:28
Do your friends actually like you? Does an acquaintance think you’re closer than you are? This week, Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the surprising psychology of friendship, from familiar strangers and...
#67An Honest Dad Ranking (Out Of All 2 Billion)
· 41:54
The statistical reality of "The World's #1 Dad Mug" is nothing but a well meaning lie. In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Michael brings another treasured artifact into the studio: a mug gifted by his daughter...
#66Your Brain Invents Pain. Here's Why.
· 51:03
Stubbing your toe feels like the pain is entirely in your foot. But the reality is far stranger... the agonising sensation you experience is actually a highly complex, constructed illusion, invented in real-time by your...
#65The Most Dangerous Rock In Hannah's Collection
· 56:26
When you think of dangerous geological specimens, does your mind jump straight to radioactive uranium, toxic heavy metals, or even asbestos? What if one of the most dangerous items sitting on a shelf is actually a...
#66The Audio Illusion That Proves We Don't Experience Reality
· 57:32
Your ears are lying to you right now. In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) dive into the bizarre world of audio illusions where your brain hears sounds that don't...
#64The Engineering Of A NASA Space Pen
· 48:23
A pen designed to write in space sits unopened for 25 years. Does it still work?In this episode of Field Notes, Michael Stevens finally opens a treasured souvenir from his time at Space Camp: a genuine Fisher Space Pen...
#62A Paleontology Of The Future: What We Will Leave Behind
· 55:25
What will humanity leave behind? In this episode, Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens explore the traces humans leave behind and what those traces reveal about how we think. From Tranquility Base, where...
#61What Are The Odds You'll Become A Fossil?
· 39:21
Most living things vanish without a trace. A select few become fossils. But how? In this episode of Field Notes Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens dig into the unlikely process that turns bone into stone...
#60Why Feet Are Weirder Than You Think
· 45:53
Compared with almost every other animal on Earth, our feet seem strangely specialised. They can't grip branches, they're full of arches and joints, and for some reason we're the only species that regularly puts shoes on...
#59How Many Words Do You ACTUALLY Know?
· 51:54
Most people use just a fraction of the words they understand. But how big is your vocabulary, really? When a listener builds a tool that claims to measure it, Hannah and Michael put themselves to the test. If you'd like...
#58Why You Should Stop Using Face ID
· 44:15
Do you think your thoughts belong to you? How would feel if you found out they don't? In this episode Hannah and Michael discuss a tangible future where the last bastion of privacy is breached and the thoughts that run...
#57Nikola Tesla Fell In Love with a Pigeon
· 35:46
What do lightning, wireless electricity, Cambridge dining etiquette, hypnosis, and a lovestruck pigeon have in common? The answer is (of course) Nikola Tesla. In this episode of The Rest Is Science: Field Notes, Michael...
#56Michael Discovered A New Way To Make Twins
· 47:55
Is there a new way to make twins? If there is, Michael's might just have discovered it. And hint: it's going to hard work. From Hannah’s twin-like sister to the most famous cells in human history, in this episode Hannah...
#55Why Michael Abandoned Ink For Mechanical Pencils
· 47:17
What can be revealed about a person by their choice of…lead? In this gloriously nerdy episode of Field Notes, Michael Stevens arrives armed with an entire collection of mechanical pencils, sparking a series of...
#54Do Our Bodies Really Belong To Us?
· 50:38
What happens to a body part once it’s been removed from your body? Can you take it home? Cremate it? Bury it? Even give it a funeral? In the first episode of a new mini-series on ownership, Hannah and Michael explore a...
#53Hannah Predicted a Pandemic
· 1:03:14
What if the next pandemic could be predicted before it even begins? Hannah and Michael step into the unsettling world of outbreak simulations, where scientists map invisible infections, model human behaviour, and try to...
#52DARK vs LIGHT
· 54:31
Why are black cars more dangerous, white chess pieces more successful, and pandas apparently incapable of coping with minor inconvenience? Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (VSauce) unpack one deceptively simple...
#51Polymetalic Nodules Are Weird
· 31:50
What if one of the most valuable objects on Earth has been sitting untouched at the bottom of the ocean for 100 million years? In this Field Notes episode, Professor Hannah Fry brings Michael Stevens (VSauce) a strange...
#50"A Grim Enemy For Reasons We Do Not Yet Comprehend"
· 43:53
* This episode contains descriptions of warfare and use of chemical weapons * How do you feed a world that’s running out of food? In this episode of The Rest Is Science, Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens uncover one of the...
#49When 0 = 1000
· 39:29
Why does one of the most familiar numbers on a nutrition label turn out to be far more complicated than it looks? What can a can of fizzy drink teach us about thermodynamics, human metabolism, and the strange ways...
#48How To Use a Black Hole To See Your Past
· 52:06
What if the universe is recording everything you’ve ever seen and done? In this episode, Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the idea that light itself might carry a record of the past. And if it did, how could we...
#47The Science Of Motion Sickness
· 50:00
What can a humble airplane sick bag teach us about physics, engineering, and the limits of the human stomach; And why are there people out there collecting thousands of them? Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce’s Michael...
#46Alan Turing’s Final Theory Was About Leopards
· 1:00:48
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...
#45How To Prove You're A Time Traveller
· 50:29
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...
#44The Reasoning Test Psychologists Still Can't Explain
· 1:02:00
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...
#43The Elegant Laminar Flow Of Moroccan Tea
· 40:55
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...
#42The Physics Of Thermodynamics
· 46:24
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...
#41Are There More Raindrops In Clouds Or Data In THE Cloud?
· 47:06
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...
#40Data & The Universe (Understanding Infinity Part 3)
· 51:27
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...
#39Why We Need Zip Lines On The Moon
· 57:27
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...
#36Multiple Infinities (Understanding Infinity Part 2)
· 48:46
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...
#37How Evolution Is Shaping Cancer Research
· 56:44
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...
#36Mathematical Paradoxes (Understanding Infinity Part 1)
· 1:00:18
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...
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Frequently asked questions about The Rest Is Science
How can I listen to The Rest Is Science online for free?+
You can play The Rest Is Science straight from this page: pick the episode you want and press play. There is no sign-up, no app to download and nothing to install.
How many episodes does The Rest Is Science have?+
The Rest Is Science has published 87 episodes so far. This page carries the 50 most recent, newest first.
Who presents The Rest Is Science?+
The Rest Is Science is presented by Goalhanger.
What is the latest episode of The Rest Is Science?+
The most recent episode is "What Is Collagen All About?", published on 9 Sep 2026. New episodes appear here as soon as they go out on the programme's feed.
Can I listen to The Rest Is Science from outside the UK?+
Yes. The Rest Is Science plays over the internet, so it works from any country with no location restrictions.