Tom Scott
Season 13
A series of educational web videos across a range of topics.
Where to Watch Tom Scott • Season 13
55 Episodes
- Things are changing at the world's oldest hotel
E11Things are changing at the world's oldest hotelNishiyama Onsen Keiunkan is not just the world's oldest hotel, but the world's oldest still-operating business. Or at least, that's one way of looking at it. But things are changing here, just like they always have. - It's the Matrix, but for locusts.
E16It's the Matrix, but for locusts.At the Department of Collective Behaviour, part of the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, researchers are putting locusts into simulated worlds, both virtual and physical, in the hope that they can figure out how devastating swarms form and move. - The military base where you drive over the runway
E17The military base where you drive over the runwayMeiringen Air Base, in Switzerland, has an unusual feature: two public roads that go straight over the runway. How do they keep it safe? And, as a side note, just how loud is it when you're standing next to a fighter jet? - This is an excuse to show you a really good tunnel
E22This is an excuse to show you a really good tunnelThe Catesby Tunnel, in the UK, is an old Victorian railway tunnel that has a new use: a secretive car testing facility, like a wind tunnel but in reverse. So rather than just show it to the world, I thought I'd answer a question: if you stick a camera on the outside of your car, how much does the drag cost you? - I had to throw out my script about this submarine simulator
E24I had to throw out my script about this submarine simulatorIn an old mill in a remote corner of Italy, sits the Bathysphere Project at Explorandia: a submarine simulator that explores an actual, small pond. It might be the best homemade project I've ever seen. - The first jungle gym was meant to hack kids' brains
E26The first jungle gym was meant to hack kids' brainsWell before the first climbing frame was patented as "jungle gym", mathematician Charles Hinton thought they might be able to teach kids four-dimensional thinking. Filmed at the Winnetka Historical Society. - Storing dead people at -196°C
E33Storing dead people at -196°CIn Switzerland, there's a new cryonics company: and they invited me to have a look around. I had questions: legal, practical, and ethical, and I want to be clear: this is not an endorsement. I just wasn't going to turn down that invitation. - This town throws pennies at people. They hurt.
E35This town throws pennies at people. They hurt.The Honiton Hot Pennies ceremony is the result of 800 years of tradition: from when rich people would entertain themselves by throwing scalding-hot pennies onto the poor people below. These days, it's a bit less dangerous - but only a bit. - I finally rode the weird, curved German elevator.
E43I finally rode the weird, curved German elevator.At the New Town Hall, the Neues Rathaus, in Hanover, there's a strange elevator where the track curves unevenly. For years, people from Germany have been emailing Tom about it: well, he finally visited. - After ten years, it's time to stop weekly videos.
E55After ten years, it's time to stop weekly videos.On January 1st, 2014, I uploaded the first "Things You Might Not Know" video. Once the initial rush of videos settled down, I aimed for one video a week, and while there have sometimes been guest videos and occasional blatant filler: to my own satisfaction, I never missed a week. But now, it's time to stop. I never got to space. I never got to the ocean depths. And I never got to fly off into the sunset, harnessed underneath a helicopter. I couldn't find an excuse for that one.
