Tom Scott
Season 5
A series of educational web videos across a range of topics.
Where to Watch Tom Scott • Season 5
69 Episodes
- Why The Prime Meridian Isn't At 0º
E1Why The Prime Meridian Isn't At 0ºIf you travel to Greenwich, stand on the famous Prime Meridian Line -- which is marked with a physical line and a sculpture at the Royal Observatory -- and look at your GPS, it won't read 0° longitude. It'll be slightly out. Who's right? And why? - The Moonpig Bug: How 3,000,000 Customers' Details Were Exposed
E2The Moonpig Bug: How 3,000,000 Customers' Details Were ExposedIt's been all over the British news today: developer Paul Price found a bug in photo-crap-maker Moonpig's site, one that might have exposed three million users' personal information. It was a perfect storm of tech incompetence: here's how to avoid doing it yourself. - The Magic Roundabout: Swindon's Terrifying Traffic Circle and Emergent Behaviour
E3The Magic Roundabout: Swindon's Terrifying Traffic Circle and Emergent BehaviourDespite its reputation as being a Traffic Circle of Hell, Swindon's Magic Roundabout -- like the couple of other "ring junctions" in the UK -- is a triumph of road design. Here's why it works so well. - How Green Screen Worked Before Computers
E6How Green Screen Worked Before ComputersFor those of us who grew up in the age of CGI, green screen is just "a thing that computers do". But how did effects like this work before the age of pixels? With the help of some suitably shiny graphics, here's a quick summary. - Standing in a Hurricane in Slow Motion
E7Standing in a Hurricane in Slow MotionComic Relief raises millions every year to fight poverty around the world. This year, they're asking you to make your face funny for money -- so here I am, in the wind tunnels at the University of Southampton, ready to find out what it's like to stand in a hurricane. - Turnpikes and Tolls: What if all major roads were private?
E10Turnpikes and Tolls: What if all major roads were private?The idea of a "public road network" is a relatively modern one. After all, the US Interstate System was only finished in 1991, and UK motorways aren't that much older. What if history had taken a different turn? Let's talk about turnpikes, toll roads, and perhaps even zeppelins. - The 400,000,000-Year Link Between Scotland and Canada
E13The 400,000,000-Year Link Between Scotland and CanadaBack in the Caledonian orogeny, 400 million years ago, two bits of the Earth's crust began to collide. The result, a long time later, was the Central Pangaean Mountains: and now, you can find their remnants all over the globe. - 7 Illegal Things To Do In A British Election
E147 Illegal Things To Do In A British ElectionDon't worry: unlike last time I did a video like this, I'm not actually going to attempt to do any of these. I swore off politics a long time ago. Purdah also applies to civil servants, who basically can't do anything public for weeks. All the government departments' Twitter and Facebook accounts will be going very quiet. - The Human-Powered, Giant Theme Park Playground: Ai Pioppi
E15The Human-Powered, Giant Theme Park Playground: Ai PioppiIn the foothills of the Dolomites, an hour or so north of Venice, lies Ai Pioppi, a restaurant that's home to an astonishing, giant, human-powered, kinetic-art theme park playground. It was designed and made by a man called Bruno over forty years, and it's free for folks who eat at the restaurant. I'll be honest: I sort of thought it was a myth. The idea of unattended, huge kinetic ride-on sculptures was surely false? There was some evidence: a very artfully-shot documentary, and some shaky tourist footage, but I couldn't quite believe that something this potentially dangerous could still exist. So on Easter weekend, when it was quiet, Paul and I took a road trip to try it. And it's real. It's very, very real. Watch as we try and take a somersault on the Bicycle of Death. - Ships, Mines and Magnetism
E16Ships, Mines and MagnetismThis weekend, the Royal Navy was offering public tours of HMS Defender, one of their new-generation Type 45 destroyers. It's an astonishing ship: about 8,000 tonnes of steel and high-tech equipment designed to defend an entire fleet against air and missile attack. There's another type of attack it's more vulnerable against, though: the sea mine. And by luck, there was a good example of mine defence docked a little way upriver. - Risk, Immortality, and the Terrifying Pulpit Rock
E17Risk, Immortality, and the Terrifying Pulpit RockIn a fjord near Stavanger, in southern Norway, is Preikestolen: Pulpit Rock. It's known as one of the world's scariest tourist attractions, for good reason -- but despite the millions that visit it, it's pretty safe. At least, for current human values of safe. Let's talk about risk, immortality, and what it means to be human. - How The Netherlands Stopped The Wind
E18How The Netherlands Stopped The WindThe Delta Works, to the west of the Netherlands, are one of the modern wonders of the world. But there's other, lesser-known infrastructure there too: including the Rozenburg Wind Wall, on the Caland Canal, which turns a dangerous, windy stretch of canal into a much more navigable bit of water. It's a triumph of humanity over nature, and it's astonishing. - The Fictional Bridges That Became Real
E21The Fictional Bridges That Became RealIn Spijkenisse, in the Netherlands, are a set of small bridges that most of Europe should recognise instantly: because they're the fictional ones from their banknotes, made real as a wonderful piece of public art and infrastructure. - The Effective Power Bug: Why Can Weird Text Crash Your iPhone?
E23The Effective Power Bug: Why Can Weird Text Crash Your iPhone?There are all sorts of theories about why a string of weird, mostly-Arabic text can crash your iPhone. I've hunted through them, summarised the ones that seemed plausible, and the first part of this is a run-down of what's going on. The second part: well, I'm going to take a punt at explaining why Arabic, in particular, causes this bug -- and hopefully we'll see if I'm right or wrong soon. - The Most Complex Borders in Europe: Why Do We Have Nations?
E24The Most Complex Borders in Europe: Why Do We Have Nations?Yes, plenty of folks already know about the most complicated borders in Europe, in Baarle-Nassau (the Netherlands) and Baarle-Hertog (Belgium). But why did we end up with this particular system? Why do we have nations in the first place? Most historians would say it goes back to something called the Peace of Westphalia, many years ago. - Paternoster Lifts: Dangerous, Obsolete and Quite Fun (including over the top!)
E26Paternoster Lifts: Dangerous, Obsolete and Quite Fun (including over the top!)There aren't many paternoster lifts left in the world: they're inaccessible, tough to maintain and a bit more dangerous than a regular lift. But some of them still exist: so if you're ever nearby, do stop by the University of Sheffield's Arts Tower and have a ride up and down. Just don't go over the top. - The Toxic Blue Lagoon of Buxton
E28The Toxic Blue Lagoon of BuxtonIn a disused quarry at Harpur Hill, near Buxton, there's a bright blue lagoon. It looks like a perfect place to cool off in summer. And it is, if you enjoy skin irritation and fungal infections. But the strange thing is: I arrived expecting to find it black, not blue. - The Sightlines of London
E30The Sightlines of LondonThere's a strange avenue of trees in Richmond Park, ten miles from St Paul's Cathedral; and an odd, wedge-shaped skyscraper in the city. At the New London Model, at the NLA Galleries at the Building Centre, I explain both of these. London is going vertical: but there are quite a few places where tall buildings aren't allowed, and here's why. - Why Leap Seconds Cause Glitches
E32Why Leap Seconds Cause GlitchesThere's a leap second tonight. And while there's not the Y2K-scale of disaster being predicted for it, there are probably going to be a few problems. Here's why computers have trouble with something that should, in theory, be pretty simple. - The Giant Cranes and Robots That Keep Civilisation Running
E37The Giant Cranes and Robots That Keep Civilisation RunningWith many, many thanks to all the team at DP World London Gateway. This isn't a sponsored video: they just went above and beyond to make sure this looked good, and I'm so grateful to them. - The world's largest indoor waterpark
E38The world's largest indoor waterparkThe biggest uninterrupted indoor space on the planet, Tropical Islands Resort sits on an old airfield in Germany. How on earth could anyone afford to build something that big and then use it as a waterpark? Well, the story's a bit more complicated than that. - Containing the Worst Nuclear Disaster in History: Chernobyl's New Confinement Structure
E39Containing the Worst Nuclear Disaster in History: Chernobyl's New Confinement StructureDeep in rural Ukraine sits what was once the V.I. Lenin Nuclear Power Station. Now, it's the site of the worst nuclear disaster in human history: and one that still needs to be contained, thirty years later. How do you deal with something that'll be this toxic for so long into the future? - The Russian Woodpecker of Chernobyl: How To See Over The Horizon
E42The Russian Woodpecker of Chernobyl: How To See Over The HorizonThis is the Duga-3 array, inside the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone. It's an incredible piece of Soviet engineering, capable of sending radar pulses so powerful they could see over the horizon. Which, when you think about it, is more complicated than it might initially appear. - The Weirdest Bridge in Wales: The Newport Transporter Bridge
E43The Weirdest Bridge in Wales: The Newport Transporter BridgeThere are only a few transporter bridges still working in the world. What are they for? Why weren't there more of them? And why don't we build them any more? Those answers and more, from an unsettlingly high position fifty metres above the River Usk. - Hovercraft, Concorde, and the Dreams of the 1970s
E44Hovercraft, Concorde, and the Dreams of the 1970sHovercraft were the future. So what went wrong? I had a brief stop on the Isle of Wight last week, and had one chance to get this video. Turns out hovercraft are loud, and you shouldn't stand too close behind one. - The Abandoned Village of Imber: How Far Can Emergency Powers Go?
E45The Abandoned Village of Imber: How Far Can Emergency Powers Go?For a few weeks every year, the road through the abandoned village of Imber, in the middle of the military firing range of Salisbury Plain, is open to the public. How can the government seize and evacuate an entire village? And would it be possible now? - The secret underground pipeline across Britain
E49The secret underground pipeline across BritainOn a windy day in Gloucestershire, I find one of the few parts of the once top-secret GPSS aviation fuel pipeline (now called CLH-PS after privatisation) that pokes above ground, and explore the balance between secrecy and safety. - Sinking Ship Simulator: The Royal Navy's Damage Repair Instructional Unit
E50Sinking Ship Simulator: The Royal Navy's Damage Repair Instructional UnitHow do you train sailors to save a sinking ship? Sure, you can teach them the theory, but there's no replacement for having to hammer softwood wedges into deck and bulkhead splits that are spraying cold, high-pressure water in your face. At HMS Excellent in Portsmouth sits Hazard, a Royal Navy Damage Repair Instructional Unit (DRIU). Every Navy recruit who's going out to sea will have to go through something like this -- and on a much harder level than we did. But then, they'll have had months of training and teamwork beforehand. - Archimedes and a Boat Lift: the Falkirk Wheel
E55Archimedes and a Boat Lift: the Falkirk WheelThe Falkirk Wheel sits between Edinburgh and Glasgow, in the southern parts of Scotland, and it's the world's only rotating boat lift. There's some very clever design going on here -- and some physics that goes all the way back to Ancient Greece. - Britain's End-of-the-World Bunkers
E57Britain's End-of-the-World BunkersDeep in the Essex countryside lies Kelvedon Hatch, and the Secret Nuclear Bunker that's now an off-beat tourist attraction. Inside, I met up with Greg Foot from the BBC's Brit Lab, and discovered the rather optimistic 1980s plans for tracking nuclear fallout, and helping the survivors of a nuclear war... if there were any. - The Strange St Pauli Elbtunnel
E58The Strange St Pauli ElbtunnelUnder the Elbe river in Hamburg, Germany, lies the Old Elbe Tunnel in St Pauli. Like early 20th century tunnels around the world, it has lifts or stairs to take you down and under the river. But this is on a whole different scale to those you might have seen elsewhere. - Goalball: Blindfold Paralympic Reverse Dodgeball
E60Goalball: Blindfold Paralympic Reverse DodgeballGoalball was invented after World War 2 to help rehabilitate blinded ex-servicemen. Nearly seventy years later, it's now a Paralympic sport, where every player has a full blindfold and puts themselves deliberately in the way of a very heavy ball going at 25mph -- and in world-class games, anything up to 60mph. Do try this at home - just with the right safety equipment. - The Collapsed Dam That Stopped Los Angeles
E62The Collapsed Dam That Stopped Los AngelesLos Angeles needed water, and lots of it. It still does. And that water comes from the LA Aqueduct, masterplanned by William Mulholland. The end of his career, though, wasn't such a triumph. This is the story of the St Francis Dam, and the collapse that stopped Los Angeles from taking over an entire valley. - How The Rosetta Stone Unlocked Hieroglyphics
E63How The Rosetta Stone Unlocked HieroglyphicsThe Rosetta Stone is one of the most famous archaeological finds in history: and it was the key to cracking Egyptian hieroglyphics. And while it took scholars years to work it out, there was one clue in there that helped unlock everything that followed. After hours in the British Museum, I went to explain. - Automated Weapons and the Battlefield of 2050
E67Automated Weapons and the Battlefield of 2050In Europe, you're legally protected from "automated decisions". The US Army, in a recent report, may have to take issue with that. What's the battlefield of the future going to look like? And why is there a tank painted bright blue in the middle of London? - A Christmas Computer Bug, and the Future of Files
E68A Christmas Computer Bug, and the Future of FilesIn 1987, a German student wrote CHRISTMA EXEC - a virus whose basic mechanisms still work if you port them to today's desktop computers. Why haven't we changed in nearly 30 years? And what could we do instead? - Seeing Other People's Steam Accounts: The Christmas Caching Catastrophe
E69Seeing Other People's Steam Accounts: The Christmas Caching CatastropheOn Christmas Day, someone at Steam changed a setting and brought down their whole games platform. I wasn't expecting to do a video this Christmas, but when enough people tweet me, it turns out I can be convinced.
