A viral meme raises an interesting question that just might make you a better estimator...
What is happening in a speedrunner's brain when they complete a video game as quickly as possible? Kyle travelled to the most recent Games Done Quick to investigate!
On July 19th, 1957, a 2-kiloton nuclear warhead exploded above the heads of five volunteers during “Shot John” of the Operation Plumbbob series of US nuclear tests. Why would anyone volunteer to be at ground zero for such a blast, and what happened to them?
Just a few years after the Internet discovered the tale of the deadly Demon Core, the cursed criticality experiment became a meme…with anime girls. Why? Well, it's partially my fault…
The new One-Punch Man chapters 166, 167, 168 are the most thrilling yet -- cosmic Garou, space farts, time travel -- and they actually have some SERIOUS science to break down! Come Genos!
Kyle gives masters of dungeons and dragons everywhere some science to add to the latest D&D adventure from realistic fireballs to accurate ways to walk a space plank.
How does deep learning work? What is a neural network? What happens if I let an A.I. write a science video and say whatever it spits out?
In 1985, a state-of-the-art radiation therapy device called the THERAC-25 started blasting holes through patients' bodies, leading to the world’s first death by radiation treatment overdose. It killed two more people before anyone knew what was going wrong. Why?
The heroic, falling catch of a life-saving ledge is now a staple of modern platforming and action video games like Nathan Drake and Uncharted, but could a human ever really climb like this? Video game biophysics time!
Though thousands of people have toured the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone, almost no one has been allowed inside the New Safe Confinement to document what I’m about to show you.
Why didn’t the Eagles just fly the Fellowship to Mordor in Lord of the Rings? It’s one of the biggest and most annoyingly articulated “plot holes” in film. I think this question can finally be answered…by biology!
Roko’s Basilisk – the “most dangerous thought experiment” – is a chilling existential threat…if you take it seriously. But should you? Can we stop the Basilisk with logic before it’s ever built?
One of the most important ideas anyone has ever had - relativity - challenges our assumptions about the universe, and leads to paradoxes. Can you solve this one?
God of War Ragnarök sees the return of Kratos’ Leviathan Axe, one of gaming's best weapons. But can the frigid blade actually freeze flesh in real life? Let’s summon a real axe and find out!
Jupiter’s moon Callisto is one of the most exciting places in the solar system – with a possible ocean of liquid water, it may be a perfect place for humans to one day science. But would humans be the first to live there…
NUCLEAR PASTA is the strongest stuff in the universe, created by the most energetic event you could possibly think of. But just how strong is it?
Thirty six years ago, the cities surrounding the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant were forced to abandon their pets during the world’s worst nuclear disaster. Today, a population of incredible, radioactive dogs needs your help.
Almost half of the people who worked on John Wayne’s “worst” film – The Conqueror – eventually died of cancer. Was it because the movie was shot downwind of an infamous nuclear test site? Or is there something more to the statistics?
You’ve seen this trope in every form of media, but is there any way radiation could actually give you superpowers?
When the world runs out of resources, how will we sustain humanity's expansion across the cosmos? DEAD SPACE has an answer: we crack planets. But how viable is it to mine space?
HBO’s THE LAST OF US is a critically acclaimed adaptation of a beloved video game, but it does make some big changes. Is there real science behind fungus that can…talk?
ATOMIC HEART’s alternative Soviet past relies on a number of incredible scientific advancements, including the most important: “Cold Fusion.” This is the history of the most infamous experiments in all of science.
On a snowy day in 2001, three men from Lia, Georgia stumbled across two metal cylinders. The ground was steaming beneath them. It would take the work of over 50 people and two years of intensive hospital treatment before the radiological incident was finally over.
In a universe with more than a hundred billion billion planets, why have we only found life on one? DEAD SPACE offers a terrifying reason why: gigantic “Brethren Moons” made of meat with an unrelenting hunger for biomass.
Can a real bulletproof suit straight out of the John Wick-iverse actually stop bullets before they get to your body? Kyle heads to where they trained Keanu Reeves himself to find out.
In 2019, HBO’s “Chernobyl” mini-series exploded in popularity, directly causing a huge increase in tourism in and around the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. But this wasn’t just another social media gold rush. It was dangerous. This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] is the story from the inside.
If a nuke goes off and you make it past the first few milliseconds, is there anything you can do? Where is the “safest” place to be? A new study answers that question.
Free-to-use, exceptionally powerful artificial intelligences are available to more people than ever, seemingly making some kind of news every day. The problem is, the public doesn’t realize the problem in ascribing so much power to systems we don’t actually understand.
In late 2022, a video of an apparent nuclear accident spread rapidly on Twitter and Tumblr. Was it modern history’s first “viral” nuclear accident? Or was it faked for the lolz? This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] attempts an investigation.
There’s a tsunami of science spam on YouTube. Why does it all look the same? How much harm does it do? Do not watch these low-effort, AI-generated, cash grabs.
ChatGPT is now the fastest-growing consumer app in human history. Problem is, almost no one knows how it actually works. This is everything you need to know.
Can DEAD SPACE’s intrepid engineer really smash his way through hordes of necromorphs with just his boots?
On August 6th, 1945, the people of Hiroshima, Japan became some of the only humans to ever witness firsthand the awesome and terrible power of an atom split for offensive purposes. Today, the city is a thriving metropolis. Why isn’t it radioactive? Why isn’t it abandoned like Chernobyl? This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] travels to Japan to explain why.
On June 18th, 2023, OceanGate’s Titan submersible imploded near the wreck of the Titanic. Why? This simple experiment that you can do at home demonstrates the terrifying power of the ocean that ultimately ended Titan’s expedition.
We can’t ignore it any longer. Generative A.I. like ChatGPT is going to change everything. It already is. Here’s what the future looks like from my vantage point.
Fifteen seconds before 5:30 a.m. on Monday, July 16, 1945, J. Robert Oppenhemier and his team of Manhattan Project scientists ushered in the nuclear age. And thankfully, after the Trinity test, the Earth was still there. This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] is the true story of the day we almost set the world on fire.
Modern roped rock climbing, one of the nerdiest sports, relies almost entirely on a single type of knot for safety: the figure eight knot. It’s been said that the knot has never failed, and is taught to every beginning climber on the planet. But what makes this knot so strong? Kyle once again explores the physics of his favorite sport.
In 2011, a tsunami engulfed the Japanese coastline and precipitated the second worst nuclear accident in history. This year, Japan is planning on releasing some of this catastrophe – water contaminated with tritium – back into the ocean. Is it safe? Does it make sense? This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] traveled to Fukushima Daiichi to find out.
Thirty seven years after the world’s worst nuclear disaster, an incredible population of dogs remains in Chernobyl. The descendants of pets left behind, these animals represent a unique opportunity to study how mammals are affected by low-level radiation. YOU can help this effort RIGHT NOW.
Are we alone? Have aliens visited Earth? An age-old question that has been reignited by recent declassified UFO/UAP footage and intriguing ‘whistleblower’ congressional hearings. Before jumping to interstellar conclusions, join us as we examine the latest 'evidence' and evaluate the credibility of these claims, seeking a grounded perspective on whether aliens have truly touched down on our planet.
Original Title: Why Sci-Fi Space Combat is WRONG George Lucas and the release of Star Wars in the 1970s unintentionally set a precedent for how almost every single piece of sci-fi media would depict space combat. Small spaceships fighting each other above in the atmosphere is synonymous with the genre, but does the science support this World War II style of dog-fighting in SPACE?
Original Title: One-Punch Man Breaks Physics AGAIN! Saitama, one-punch man, and or baldy has shown some truly ridiculous feats of strength, from sneezing away half of Jupiter to punching backwards through time. But the relatively simple cover of Issue 192 has to be near the top. How strong do you have to be to bench press a black hole!?
Earlier this year, I highlighted what I saw as a growing crisis: a glut of “science” spam and scam channels on YouTube that use the veneer of science – and copyrighted footage – for views and ad revenue. It got a tremendous response. What's next? Actually suing content thieves.
I explored the Fukushima Exclusion Zone for 10 days in the April of 2023. When I was there, I was honestly shocked by the amount of contamination. But when I got home, I was challenged by a concerning question: was the evacuation of Fukushima worth it? This is Part 3 of [EXPEDITION FUKUSHIMA].
By 2011, Japanese anesthesiologist Yoshitaka Fujii had over 200 scientific papers to his name. But for more than a decade, his colleagues doubted his output. His data was too “nice.” Noted Science Zaddy Kyle Hill explains how simple statistics made Dr. Fujii the face of scientific misconduct.
Why is rubber so “sticky”? Why does rubber consistently have one of the highest coefficients of friction? What allows rock climbers to literally let their lives depend on the friction provided by climbing shoes? Like the conundrum of why water is wet, it turns out this question is more complicated than you think. Noted Science Zaddy Kyle Hill explains.
On November 17th, 1992 a scientist accidentally stuck his hand in an extremely powerful beam of x-rays at a particle accelerator accelerator facility in Hanoi, Vietnam. This [HALF-LIFE HISTORY] explains what happened next.
If there’s any “upside” to nuclear war in the FALLOUT universe, it’s that you might get such a high dose of radiation that you turn into a “ghoul” – a radiation-eating, skin-not-having, nigh-immortal zombie. Is any part of “ghoulification” actually possible? Noted nuclear zaddy Kyle Hill explains.
New generative A.I breakthroughs are happening almost every week, it seems. The big question is; Are we ready for it? Noted Science Zaddy Kyle Hill explains what’s coming, the “dark forest” theory of the internet, and the steps we humans can take to pass the “Reverse Turing Test.”
There have always been hints that the brain wasn’t evolved to track objective reality, but a new, incredibly popular theory in neuroscience takes everything one step further. Not only is your brain not built for reality, you’ve never even experienced it. Noted Science Zaddy Kyle Hill explains “predictive processing.”
Is fallout's famous Vault Boy actually hiding some accurate nuclear blast survival tactics? Is your thumb a vital piece of equipment in the event of nuclear war? Can it be used as a legitimate way to know if you’ll survive? Noted Nuclear Zaddy Kyle Hill determines whether or not an iconic Fallout image is fact or internet fiction.
Super Earth needs you, Helldiver! But of course, you wouldn’t just willingly jump into a hellpod and drop straight into the heart of battle without asking some important questions about the science and theory behind your new career, right? So sit down, grab a nice hot cup of Liber-tea and let Science Daddy Kyle Hill give you the rundown of Helldivers 2 science. FOR DEMOCRACY!
What is the THREE-BODY PROBLEM? What does it have to do with the award-winning book of the same name? And how can it help us understand problems that are practically… unsolvable? Noted Space Zaddy Kyle Hill explains.
Movie making nerds may have noticed that today’s motion capture suits look… different. They went from dots to intricate geometric patterns, but why? How does geometry help CGI the Hulk into The Avengers? What are fractals? Noted Cinema Zaddy Kyle Hill explains.
This is a nuclear reactor. And it’s made… out of glass. What makes this one special is that it's not producing power. This amazing simulator model is made primarily out of glass so that nuclear engineers can train, teach, and better understand how something that seems as complex as generating nuclear power is actually a lot more simple than it looks. Jetsetting science Zaddy Kyle Hill travels to Essen, Germany to see this magnificent model himself, before it most likely ends up in a junkyard.
There are thousands of visualizations of the “4th dimension” online, the most famous being pictures of so-called “hypercubes” and “tesseracts.” Unfortunately, most of these images also imply that you are in fact seeing a 4-D object. But that’s not true. That’s impossible. Three-dimensional math Zaddy Kyle Hill coming to you from a two-dimensional YouTube video is here to help.
Where are ELDEN RING’s “Lands Between”? Does having a location that is neither here nor there even make sense from a physics perspective? Is there a place in spacetime where you can get one-shotted by bosses that clearly read your controller inputs? Noted gamer zaddy Kyle Hill once again explains the science of EldenRing.
Generative A.I is the nuclear bomb of the Information Age. If the Internet doesn’t feel as creative or fun or interesting as you remember it, you’re not alone. The so-called ‘Dead Internet Theory’ explains why. The rise of artificially generated content killed the internet. How did this happen? Why? And… Is it still possible to stop it?
The Curve of Binding Energy has been called “the most important graph in physics” and while it took nuclear science zaddy Kyle Hill two hours to understand it on stream, he’s here to quite literally flip it on its head, and explain how it can help explain everything from the mass defect, to E=MC^2, to nuclear weapons.
It is generally accepted that we are now at the beginning of a sixth mass extinction. It's caused by humans, and it might be the first that affects the six-legged arthropods among us. Noted Bug Zaddy Kyle Hill explains what’s happening to the insects, and what will happen to us if we let them disappear forever.
The best argument against nuclear power, maybe the only real argument, is that nuclear power is “too slow” to build and is “too expensive” to finance. Is this true? Or is it another myth, like glowing green goo, that needs debunking? Noted Nuclear Zaddy Kyle Hill finally digs into the economics of nuclear power.
RadAway is arguably the most important chemical in the whole FALLOUT universe. But can you really remove radiation like you do in the games? What chemicals would it be made from? Noted Nuclear Zaddy Kyle Hill explains how to make RadAway in the real world.
Plastic pollution has been called “one of the greatest environmental challenges of the 21st century.” Billions of tons of it has entered the ecosystem, and entered YOU, in the form of so-called “microplastics.” But are microplastics actually bad? How would we even figure that out? Noted pollution Zaddy Kyle Hill explains why even when something seems obvious, the science of proving that obviousness can be difficult.
In Nazi Germany in 1939, the Uranverein, or “uranium club,” was trying to beat Oppenheimer to the bomb. The scientist believed all Germany needed was enough of a single, incredibly rare substance critical to advancing nuclear physics: heavy water. This [HALF-LIFE HISTORIES] explains what happened next.
Let's be honest, modern radiation shielding solutions are pretty primitive. What if shielding could be more than just dense rectangles? What if you could make shields of any shape? Yes, I'm talking about 3d-printing radiation protection.
