In Crawfordsville, Indiana, there's a rotary jail: an invention that, with hindsight, should probably never have been built. But it was, here and in other towns across the United States. It might have... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 7 months 3 weeks ago • 753 views • 3:17

Computers store text (or, at least, English text) as eight bits per character. There are plenty of more efficient ways that could work: so why don't we use them? And how can we fit more text into less... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 7 months 4 weeks ago • 64 views • 6:31

YT: The National Institute of Standards and Technology, NIST, sells Standard Reference Materials, or SRMs for short. They're analysed, quantified, and certified substances: everything from metals, to elements,... continue reading

posted by Fantomas 6 years 8 months 1 week ago • 474 views • 4:13

Welcome to the US National Ice Core Laboratory in Denver, Colorado, where there's a giant freezer filled with 20km of ice cores from Greenland and the Antarctic. Here's why.

posted by Mekanikal 6 years 8 months 2 weeks ago • 1,213 views • 3:33

I'm at the top of Mount Evans, more than 14,000 feet - 4.3km - above sea level. This is definitely a mountain: but why doesn't the smaller summit next to it also count? Let's talk about prominence. (Just... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 8 months 3 weeks ago • 152 views • 2:46

There's an MRI scanner in Cardiff that can look at how the brain's wired up: your connectome. It's nowhere close to science fiction singularity brain-uploading, but it might well be part of unlocking new... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 9 months 2 weeks ago • 312 views • 3:29

I can show a brighter pink. I can show a more saturated pink. But I can't show you this pink. Not quite.

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 9 months 3 weeks ago • 799 views • 3:52

I've filmed a paternoster lift; I've filmed the strange Genoa elevator that sort-of goes sideways. So when I got an email from Thyssenkrupp, an elevator company, saying "come and see our Multi elevator... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 10 months 2 weeks ago • 1,308 views • 4:21

In Helsingborg, Sweden, the Museum of Failure has just opened. It's just one room, but inside, curator Samuel West has assembled some of the world's greatest commercial disasters - and also a few things... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 10 months 4 weeks ago • 1,040 views • 2:18

YT: Inside the beautiful Alnwick Garden, behind a locked gate, there's the Poison Garden: it contains only poisonous plants. Trevor Jones, head gardener, was kind enough to give a guided tour!

posted by Fantomas 6 years 11 months 1 week ago • 187 views • 4:34

Near Bodø in Norway, there's the strongest tidal current in the world: Saltstraumen Maelstrom, a constantly-changing rush of whirlpools, boils and vortices. It might not be quite the whirlpools of myth... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 11 months 2 weeks ago • 241 views • 2:32

The mysterious YouTube algorithm. It's confused people for years, and will continue to do so. So why isn't YouTube more transparent? It used to be that they wouldn't tell anyone how it works - but now,... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 11 months 3 weeks ago • 160 views

Also, James Bond in Goldeneye

posted by Mordhaus 6 years 12 months ago • 531 views • 4:36

I did not know that! Thanks @eric3579 YouTube: There's a reason that a lot of planets in American science fiction look the same: they're all filmed in the same places. But why those particular locations?... continue reading

posted by PlayhousePals 7 years ago • 1,694 views • 2:08

The Voyager 1 space probe is the furthest man-made object from Earth, and the fastest. But right now, it's moving towards us. Relatively speaking. At Mission Control for the Deep Space Network, inside... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 7 years 2 weeks ago • 656 views • 3:26

YouTube description: At the University of Manchester's High Voltage Laboratory, we see what happens when a DJI Phantom 3 drone gets hit with an electrical impulse of 1.4MV - basically, a lightning strike.... continue reading

posted by Aard Vark (oritteropo) 7 years 3 weeks ago • 339 views • 5:31

Splenda is a "zero-calorie sweetener", at least in the US. Or at least, that's what it says on the packet. With the help of some Benedict's Solution, and his chemistry teacher, Alex is going to do some... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 7 years 1 month ago • 797 views • 4:18

It's been a long time since I did a linguistics video, but today Alex has stepped in and done a brilliant job. Song translations usually suck: and it's because you either have to lose the meaning or the... continue reading

posted by Mordhaus 7 years 1 month 1 week ago • 328 views • 4:25