The Rest Is Science - Goalhanger

Latest Episodes:

Why Erdős Was The Original Kevin Bacon Jan 15, 2026

Show notes

Some objects feel like they’re from another world. One of these might be the giant structure that makes up a quantum computer. Lifted straight from the TV series Devs, Professor Hannah Fry shows Michael Stevens a prop that was designed to look just like one…now it hangs from the ceiling in her house.

In this episode of Field Notes, Hannah and Michael examine the extraordinary technology behind of quantum computing. They explore how qubits differ from classical bits and consider the ways this technology could reshape our world, from encryption to drug discovery.

Answering your questions, they also look at the eccentric mathematician Paul Erdős and discover what Erdős and Kevin Bacon have in common.

Welcome to The Rest Is Science: Field Notes.

Every Thursday, Hannah and Michael rummage through their personal troves of scientific treasure, sharing discoveries that reveal the hidden forces shaping our universe, the objects that bend our brains, and a few things that are just plain incredible.

They’ll also be tackling your questions, so email The Rest Is Science at therestisscience@goalhanger.com.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠clicking here.⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Oli Oakley

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Smells Humans Are Ridiculously Good At Detecting Jan 13, 2026

Show notes

Right now, you’re breathing in. As you inhale, air rushes past millions of sensory receptors, activating the part of your brain responsible for smell. And yet, there’s one scent you’ll never notice: the very nose you’re breathing through, because humans are smell blind to themselves.

Today, Professor Hannah Fry and VSauce's Michael Stevens explore the mechanics of perinasal chemosensation, otherwise known as smell.
They explore how the Victorians sidelined the sense, why we’ve underestimated it ever since, and whether tuning out most of odours our noses detect is a flaw, or a powerful strategy that's central to survival

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Could Sound Make You Levitate? Jan 08, 2026

Show notes

Imagine: a series of objects floating in midair without magnets, strings or visible supports. With acoustic levitation sound waves alone can suspend droplets, beads and even small solids to seemingly defy gravity!

In this episode of Field Notes, Hannah shows Michael this astonishing device, revealing how precisely tuned sound can manipulate matter. Behind the mesmerising floating objects lies a combination of physics, mathematics, and engineering that turns vibrations into invisible hands.

How do sound waves create stable points in space? What can acoustic levitation teach us about controlling particles, studying delicate chemical reactions, or even exploring new materials? And why does watching something float so effortlessly feel like glimpsing...a little magic?

Welcome to The Rest Is Science: Field Notes.

Every Thursday, Hannah and Michael rummage through their personal troves of scientific treasure and source discoveries that explain our understanding the universe, oddities that scramble our brains, objects that hint at forces we’ll never see...and a few things that are essentially just plain cool.

Expect deep dives into the science behind each pick, the spark that grabbed their attentions, and the sheer delight they get from sharing it all with you.

They’ll also be tackling your questions, so email The Rest Is Science at therestisscience@goalhanger.com.

You can watch the Pitch Feed experiment live, here.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠clicking here.⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton
Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell
Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott
Producer: Becki Hills
Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley
Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are Magnets The Most Familiar Mystery On Earth? Jan 06, 2026

Show notes

Deep beneath our feet, churning molten metals create an invisible shield that holds our atmosphere in place and protects all life from the Sun.

Some animals can sense it directly. Take the quantum effects in a robin’s eye, whales who cross oceans using no landmarks at all, or the bacteria that line themselves up to this unseen force.

Join Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens as they explore magnetism and ponder how a compass knows where to point?

Where did the original source our magnetic field come from? What that field might feel like? And why magnets just be the most familiar mystery on Earth.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience

⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Probability, Statistics, and the Math of Dice Jan 01, 2026

Show notes

From tiny six sided cubes to oversized polyhedrons with dozens of faces, Michael’s collection of dice is more than just a hobby, it’s a window into probability, design, and the strange ways we humans play with chance!

Why might some dice feel luckier than others? How do they shape the games we play, the mathematics we study, and the way we've made decisions throughout history?

Each die has it's uses but they all reveal the patterns, quirks, and surprises that lie in the numbers we trust and the randomness, or chance, that we don’t.

Welcome to The Rest Is Science: Field Notes.

Expect deep dives into the science behind each pick, the spark that grabbed their attentions, and the sheer delight they get from sharing it all with you.

They’ll also be tackling your questions, so email The Rest Is Science at therestisscience@goalhanger.com

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience

⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠clicking here.⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The History of Calendars and Keeping Time Dec 30, 2025

Show notes

What day is it, really? And who decided? What happens to time when we leave the Earth? And when might future humans be counting down to the dawn of a New Year in the middle of the day?

From missing days and meddling popes to atomic clocks and vanishing centuries, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens dive headfirst into one of the slipperiest questions in science and society: what IS the time and date?

On the way they trace a tiny error by Julius Caesar, a correction by Pope Gregory XIII, and how time itself has bent to human will.

In the process, faiths have quarrelled, centuries have blurred or been deleted altogether and yet, we crave precision in a universe that drifts, producing clocks so exact they must pause to let the Earth turn.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠clicking ⁠here⁠.⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Smell Of Christmas Is Tree Screams Dec 25, 2025

Show notes

Each December millions of homes fill with the unmistakable scent of pine. It's sharp, resinous, and strangely comforting, feeling timeless…familiar…safe.

But what if that smell isn’t what we think it is at all?

Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens follow the trail of the molecules that shape this seasonal scent. It turns out it didn’t evolve to delight, but to warn and repel. The smell of Christmas is the smell of fear.

Welcome to The Rest Is Science: Field Notes.

Each Thursday, Hannah and Michael rummage through their personal troves of scientific treasure to source objects and ideas that hope to expand our understanding the universe, scramble our brains, or hint at forces that are invisible to the naked eye.

They’ll also be tackling your questions, so email The Rest Is Science at therestisscience@goalhanger.com.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠clicking here.⁠

-------------------

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Reality of Being Santa Dec 23, 2025

Show notes

Could Santa Clause still exist IF we stripped away the magic? If the ability to bend spacetime was gone? What conditions would Santa need to deliver a present to every human being on Earth in a single night?

Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore the historical, geographical, and logistical realities behind these questions using population data, longitudinal lines, mathematics AND a healthy dose of Christmas curiosity to calculate the impossible routes, speeds, and time spans involved in a 12 hour gift giving bonanza at global scale as a completely average human being.

Wish them luck!

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The Device That Maps The Heavens Dec 18, 2025

Show notes

Tucked away in old engineering kits and museum drawers is a device whose sweeping motion once captivated mathematicians and designers alike.

The ellipsograph: a mechanical tool built from sliding arms and rotating joints that were tracing flawless curves long before computers made such things effortless.

While they have the appearance of an ancient curiosity, the ellipsograph’s power lies in its ability to transform abstract geometry into tangible motion on a page. Its careful movement can physically enacts the strict mathematical conditions that define an ellipsis - a shape that’s central to geometry, but also to the natural order of the cosmos.

So is this object just a relic of the past? Or does it have a place in the present? As a reminder of the deceptive simplicity that rules the world around us, and the ingenuity required to understand it.

Welcome to The Rest Is Science: Field Notes.

Each Thursday, Hannah and Michael rummage through their personal troves of scientific treasure to source objects that expand our understanding the universe, that scramble our brains, that hint at forces we’ll never see...and, that are sometimes, just plain old cool.

Expect deep dives into the science behind each pick, the spark that grabbed their attentions, and the sheer delight they get from sharing it all with you.

They’ll also be tackling your questions, so email The Rest Is Science at therestisscience@goalhanger.com.

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠clicking here.⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Oli Oakley

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott

Producer: Becki Hills

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are You REALLY Made Of Stars? Dec 16, 2025

Show notes

What happens when the universe throws a random curveball at one of the most precise communities on Earth? Cosmic rays high energy particles from deep space are invisible, unpredictable, and capable of interfering with electronics in ways gamers never expect.

Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens explore a surprising story from the speed running community, where split-second timings and frame-perfect precision collide with the chaos of the cosmos. How did a tiny particle from a distant supernova end up altering a world record attempt? And why does this single event highlight the hidden role of chance, physics, and electronics in competitive gaming?

From the science of cosmic rays to their real world impact on gaming hardware, this episode uncovers the strange intersection of the cosmos, human skill, and digital records, revealing how even the universe can play a part in our most meticulously measured achievements.

Join Professor Hannah Fry and YouTube educator Michael Stevens as they uncover the strange, revealing story of the human tear: why we cry, what our tears communicate, and how this uniquely human response shapes the way we connect.
-------------------
For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠⁠https://cancerresearchuk.org/restisscience⁠⁠
Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.
-------------------
Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠
-------------------
Video Editor: Oliver Oakley
Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell
Assistant Producer: Imee Marriott
Producer: Becki Hills
Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter
Head Of Digital: Samuel Oakley
Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Our TOPPODCAST Picks

Follow Us

Stay Connected

The Rest Is Science – Goalhanger

Related Podcasts

Links

Stay Connected