Tom Scott
Season 6
A series of educational web videos across a range of topics.
Where to Watch Tom Scott • Season 6
64 Episodes
- Why Britain Sucks At Product Placement
E1Why Britain Sucks At Product PlacementBritain has some of the strongest product placement rules in the world - and it means YouTube vloggers have to declare their advertising before you click on the video. Why? And what did it mean for our version of The Price is Right? - Calling The Police Doesn't Charge Your Phone Battery
E3Calling The Police Doesn't Charge Your Phone BatteryIn Slough, outside the headquarters of Blackberry, I talk about an urban legend that's almost true: the idea that calling 999, the British emergency number, could actually charge your phone battery. It's not quite right, but it's close. - Why Wuppertal's Suspended Monorail Wasn't The Future Of Travel
E4Why Wuppertal's Suspended Monorail Wasn't The Future Of TravelIn Wuppertal, Germany, there's the Schwebebahn: a suspended monorail that carries 80,000 people a day above the streets of the city, and above the river Wupper. It's a wonderful thing: but it wasn't the future of travel, and here's why - Power, Politics and Pragmatism: The British National Grid
E11Power, Politics and Pragmatism: The British National GridBack in the 1920s, electricity was generated by hundreds of small companies in towns and cities across the country. They were all different and mostly incompatible: London alone had 24 voltages and 10 frequencies. How did we get from there to the billion-pound tunnel projects of today? - Unexploded Bombs off the British Coast: the SS Richard Montgomery
E13Unexploded Bombs off the British Coast: the SS Richard MontgomeryIn the Thames Estuary, near a town called Sheerness, a few dozen miles east of London, lies a World War 2 shipwreck that contains over 1,000 tonnes of unexploded bombs. Is it a risk to the area? Or is it just an interesting historical artifact? The trouble is, no-one's quite sure. - Will YouTube Ever Run Out Of Video IDs?
E15Will YouTube Ever Run Out Of Video IDs?In the URL of each YouTube video is the 11-character video ID, unique for each video. Can they ever run out? Just how many videos can YouTube handle? To work it out, we need to talk about counting systems, and about something called Base 64. - Accidental Emoji Expert: Tom Scott at An Evening of Unnecessary Detail
E17Accidental Emoji Expert: Tom Scott at An Evening of Unnecessary DetailOn stage at An Evening of Unnecessary Detail. I tell a dramatised and extremely shortened history of emoji, run through what's coming up in 2016, and have a look at what might be coming up for them soon. Also, I use the word "dysentry". - In Norway, Everyone Can Know How Much You Earn
E18In Norway, Everyone Can Know How Much You EarnWage transparency is a strange concept for most of us: not so in some of the Nordic countries. And while Norway, Sweden and Finland differ in exactly the amount of access they give the public, fundamentally your tax return would be public knowledge there. So how does it affect the world? And is it a good idea? Let's look at the science and find out. - Help, My Fusion Reactor's Making A Weird Noise
E19Help, My Fusion Reactor's Making A Weird NoiseAt the JET reactor at Culham Centre for Fusion Energy -- I talk to the engineers about fusion power, being the hottest place in the solar system, deliberate disruptions, and about the surround-sound speakers that give a diagnostic test you might not expect. - The Most Dangerous Stretch of Water in the World: The Strid at Bolton Abbey, Yorkshire
E21The Most Dangerous Stretch of Water in the World: The Strid at Bolton Abbey, YorkshireI know, I know, it's a clickbait title. But I stand by it, because the water is so deceptive, and so pretty, and there's a path that leads straight down to it and that jump looks very, very possible. - The Strangest Elevator In Italy: the Ascensore Castello d'Albertis-Montegalletto, Genoa
E22The Strangest Elevator In Italy: the Ascensore Castello d'Albertis-Montegalletto, GenoaContinuing the occasional Weird European Infrastructure Tour: an Italian lift that switches direction from horizontal to vertical. And honestly, until someone pointed it out to me, I could not figure out how this could possibly be done safely. In hindsight, it was kind of obvious. - The Bus Replacement Rail Service (yes, that's the right way round)
E30The Bus Replacement Rail Service (yes, that's the right way round)This may be the most British video I've done in a while. But I saw the news story and immediately wanted to film it: the volunteer-run, narrow-gauge Leadhills and Wanlockhead Railway, in the south of Scotland, has stepped in to replace buses while a road is being resurfaced -- avoiding a 45-mile diversion and meaning that local residents can still get to their neighbouring village. This isn't the first bus replacement train in British history, but it's pretty rare. - The Scientifically Inaccurate Dinosaurs That Must Stay That Way
E31The Scientifically Inaccurate Dinosaurs That Must Stay That WayIn Crystal Palace Park, in South London, are 150-year-old dinosaur models: the first ever full-size replicas of extinct animals. But they're - well, they're a bit wrong, and they likely always will be. Here's why. - The Fake Vinegar In British Fish and Chip Shops
E33The Fake Vinegar In British Fish and Chip Shops"Non-brewed condiment" is what they call it: it's chemically very similar to proper vinegar, a mixture of ethanoic acid, colourings and flavourings, but it's put together by just combining simple chemicals rather than brewing. Hardly anyone knows, and those that do know don't generally care; so here's my question. Does it matter? - Hebocon UK: Deliberately Terrible Robot Fighting
E35Hebocon UK: Deliberately Terrible Robot FightingIf your robot-building skills aren't quite up to Battlebots or Robot Wars, then Hebocon might be for you. Described "as a robot sumo-wrestling competition for those who are not technically gifted", the emphasis is on having fun, entertaining the crowd, and "heboiness". At Electromagnetic Field 2016, a maker festival in the UK, I hosted one of the UK's first Hebocon contests. - The Problem With Renewable Energy (and how we're fixing it)
E36The Problem With Renewable Energy (and how we're fixing it)As the world switches to renewable energy - and we are switching - there's a problem you might not expect: balancing the grid. Rotational mass and system inertia are the things that keep your lights from flickering: and they only appear in big, old, traditional power stations. Here's why that's a problem, and how we're likely going to fix it. - Why Mountain Dew Rots Your Teeth More Than Coca-Cola
E38Why Mountain Dew Rots Your Teeth More Than Coca-Cola"Hi Tom, I've got two of my sister's teeth dissolving in cola." That was the best pitch I got for guest videos - and so please welcome Chase from ScienceC, to talk about pH, TA, and show off some really disgusting close-ups of rotten teeth. - The Fake-British Ghost Town In China: Thames Town
E39The Fake-British Ghost Town In China: Thames TownWelcome to Thames Town, the fake-British ghost town in China. Why did they build it? Who lives there? And why is it all so quiet? Today, Collin from the Collin Sphere Travel Vlog is guesting on this channel to investigate. - Seeing Things: Visual Disturbances We All Experience
E40Seeing Things: Visual Disturbances We All ExperienceThere's a variety of visual problems and disturbances we all experience on a daily basis. Floaters. Blue entoptic phenomenon. Visual snow. Phosphenes. With simulations, Inés will run through all of them. - Listening for Nuclear Tests at the Top of the World
E41Listening for Nuclear Tests at the Top of the WorldAt Qaanaaq, in Greenland, there's IS18: an infrasound station that's quietly listening for nuclear tests - or any other large bang. Here's what, why, and a few words the man who, for years, has been quietly keeping it running. - Internet to the Arctic: A Greenlandic Relay Station
E44Internet to the Arctic: A Greenlandic Relay StationJakob emailed me when I said I was headed to the Arctic, offering to help out with a video. I don't think he knew what he was signing up for. Thank you so much to both Jakob Schytz and John Davidsen: we had only a few minutes to film this before I had to be on the last Zodiac boat out of town, so I'm really happy with the result. - Cold Wars, Cruise Ships, and the Northwest Passage
E46Cold Wars, Cruise Ships, and the Northwest PassageThere are a few communities, up in northern Canada, with a dark history and a worrying future. Resolute is one of them, sat at the east of the once-legendary Northwest Passage. In a few years, it might be a tourist destination. Here's why. - The Town Where Wi-Fi Is Banned: The Green Bank Telescope and the Quiet Zone
E47The Town Where Wi-Fi Is Banned: The Green Bank Telescope and the Quiet ZoneTucked away in a valley in the Allegheny Mountains in West Virginia, is this: the Green Bank Radio Telescope, the largest steerable radio telescope in the world. And there are some rather special rules for the area around it. - Pod Cars of the Past and Future: The Morgantown PRT
E48Pod Cars of the Past and Future: The Morgantown PRTThe Morgantown Personal Rapid Transit system threads its way through West Virginia University, taking thousands of people a day around the campus, non-stop. It's a system that was meant to be the future: so why isn't it? - The world's most dangerous path... isn't.
E49The world's most dangerous path... isn't.El Caminito del Rey, the King's Little Pathway, is now a tourist attraction near Malaga, in southern Spain. But once, it brought adrenaline junkies here - sometimes fatally. Now it's safe: but the internet doesn't really know that yet. - The Zip Line Across Time Zones
E50The Zip Line Across Time ZonesIn Sanlúcar de Guadiana, in Spain, there's a zip line called Límite Zero: the only cross-border zip wire in the world, landing in Alcoutim, Portugal. You land about an hour before you set off. It seemed like a good time to talk about programming. - The Solar Power Towers of Southern Spain
E51The Solar Power Towers of Southern SpainIn the Aljarafe region of Spain, there's PS10 and PS20: concentrated solar power towers. They're huge towers surrounded by heliostats: movable mirrors that track the sun and reflect its light onto a giant boiler. They are beautiful, but they're also controversial: here's why. - The Bizarre Plan to Drain the Mediterranean: Atlantropa
E52The Bizarre Plan to Drain the Mediterranean: AtlantropaHerman Sörgel wanted to create the largest civil engineering project the world has ever seen: a colossal dam across the Strait of Gibraltar, lowering the Mediterranean sea. There were, of course, a few problems with this. - The Grave of the Man Who Never Was: Operation Mincemeat
E53The Grave of the Man Who Never Was: Operation MincemeatIn a cemetery in Huelva, in Spain, is the grave of Major William Martin, of the British Royal Marines. Or rather, it's the grave of a man called Glyndwr Michael, who served his country during World War 2 in a very unexpected way... after his death. - The Spider Dress That Reacts To Personal Space Invaders
E54The Spider Dress That Reacts To Personal Space InvadersFashion-tech designer Anouk Wipprecht has built a Spider Dress, which reacts based on how close you're standing and how quickly you approached. It's based on 'proxemics': the study of personal space... although how much of that counts as science is an open question. Let's talk about Edward T Hall, about what counts as science, and what happens if you get too close to someone. - 3D Printing Stainless Steel with Giant Robot Arms
E553D Printing Stainless Steel with Giant Robot ArmsAt Autodesk's Pier 9 workshop in San Francisco there are giant robot arms using welders to 3D print with stainless steel. Which seemed like a good place to talk about programming abstractions, high-level languages, training pendants, and just how safe something like a robot arm needs to be. - The World's Most Famous Teapot: The Utah Teapot
E56The World's Most Famous Teapot: The Utah TeapotAt the Computer History Museum, in Mountain View, California, there sits a small teapot. It's the world's most famous teapot, after a computer graphics researcher called Martin Newell digitised it. You've probably seen it: here's its story. - This giant model stopped a terrible plan
E58This giant model stopped a terrible planJohn Reber had a plan: to dam the San Francisco Bay. He convinced some politicians - and it took the US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Bay Model they built in Sausalito, to prove him not just wrong, but dangerously wrong. - Wheels, Bombs, and Perpetual Motion Machines
E60Wheels, Bombs, and Perpetual Motion MachinesPerpetual motion machines are badly named. And impossible. But that hasn't stopped a lot of people trying to build them. Sure, you could try and argue physics: but there's a more common-sense reason why free energy's not coming any time soon. - Science vs the Weather: Salford's Energy House
E62Science vs the Weather: Salford's Energy HouseAt the University of Salford's Energy House, all the energy use is monitored and controlled, allowing researchers to experiment with all sorts of insulation and energy-saving techniques. But how to control for factors like sun, wind and rain? The solution: put the whole house inside an environmental chamber: a building inside a building that means the weather is controlled, repeatable, and part of the science. - Why YouTube Streams Don't Count For Christmas No. 1
E63Why YouTube Streams Don't Count For Christmas No. 1The Christmas Number One is a British tradition: but it's one that's having to go through some changes -- because not many people buy music any more. Here's how the charts are calculated these days, and why listening to "All I Want For Christmas" on repeat isn't going to change who wins. - Fallout Shelters and Zurich's Water: Swiss Resilience
E64Fallout Shelters and Zurich's Water: Swiss ResilienceSwitzerland has a reputation for being - not paranoid, exactly, but certainly careful with their own safety. Zurich exemplifies this: not just with its fallout shelters, but with an entire backup water system. Just in case the world ends.
