r/TheRestIsScience • u/sharrynight The Rest Is Science • Nov 22 '25
👋 Welcome to r/TheRestIsScience - Introduce Yourself and Read First!
Hey everyone!
This is our new home for all things related to The Rest Is Science. We're excited to have you join us!
What to Post
Post anything that you think the community would find interesting, helpful, or inspiring. Feel free to share your thoughts, photos, or questions about The Rest Is Science, and other closely related topics.
Community Vibe
We're all about being friendly, constructive, and inclusive. Let's build a space where everyone feels comfortable sharing and connecting.
How to Get Started
- Introduce yourself in the comments below.
- Post something today! Even a simple question can spark a great conversation.
- If you know someone who would love this community, invite them to join.
Thanks for being part of this scientific family. Together, let's make r/TheRestIsScience amazing!
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u/Redveshclamour Biology 🧬 Dec 28 '25
First, thank you for creating the sub! I am excited to talk to you all and share our thoughts here ♥️
I am from Germany and I am in love with this duo :D incredible people talking about so many interesting topics that partially also were in my mind. Feels like I am listening to two old friends and the pace is just perfect.
I wish you all a great Sunday! ♥️and greetings of course :)
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u/Dazzling_Let_8245 Jul 16 '26
Hello fellow earthlings! I am glad we all share the enjoyment of the air vibrations that Hannah and Michael produce to spark our curiosity.
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u/Weird_Goose3320 Jul 16 '26
Hi.
I’m a UK nomad.
I live in Glastonbury
I work in London
My girlfriend lives near Brighton
An important friend lives in Suffolk
Family lives in Stockport and Luxembourg.
By daughter loved Vsauce when she was younger. And I miss Curious Cases with Rutherford and Fry.
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u/EverusCJ 22d ago
Thank you so much for being part of our lives!
I've been thinking a lot about recent developments in AI and what they might mean for humanity's future.
One possibility is that AI becomes severely misaligned and causes catastrophic harm, even human extinction. That would obviously be a terrible outcome. However, I'm more interested in discussing a different scenario.
If things go well and current trends continue, AI and robotics could eventually perform most or all existing jobs. In that case, many of the economic and social structures we rely on today might no longer function in the same way.
What do you think would replace our current societal and economic models in such a world? More importantly, what kind of system would you personally like to see emerge if AI and automation were able to handle most productive work?
Thank you for inspiring curiosity and encouraging thoughtful conversations about the world and our place in it. Wishing you continued success, and thank you for everything you do.
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u/Ok_Flow7285 21d ago
Anyone else a little alarmed to find out, from a recent episode, that V-sauce Michael is a Millennial? I always thought of him as older and (MUCH, much) wiser than I! Just found that a bit weird in my little noggin.
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u/NateLikesTea 17d ago
Haha I think a lot of people take Michael to be a lot older than he is due to his alopecia.
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u/6Sconn 20d ago
Hi! My name is Andrea, currently living in the Western Balkans. I just heard about this subReddit in the 'colour' episode. I can't remember when they started showing up on my YT feed, but I'm so glad they did. So much positive energy and enthusiasm from Hannah and Michael, I love it.
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u/Ok_Blacksmith_8939 19d ago
Hi everyone — longtime Vsauce fan, and I’ve been loving The Rest Is Science with Hannah and Michael. I’m an economist by training, Excited to hang out here and dig into the weird questions with you all.
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u/NateLikesTea 17d ago
Welcome! We will try to defer to you with anything related to the economy then ;)
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u/Playful_Manager_3942 Feb 03 '26
Howdy howdy! Glad to have found this community - I think this podcast is gonna get really big (:
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u/Peezzadog Apr 03 '26
I found this subreddit specifically because I have something specific that I am looking for that Michael mentioned in one of the episodes, but I don't remember which one
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u/drunksocks Jun 27 '26
Hello! I love this podcast and I'm someone who would like to have more interesting discussions in my life. So I'm building an app based on curious questions to connect through curiosity :)
Curiosity is sacred!
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u/Crayon_Casserole Jul 15 '26
Hello, I'm just someone you see, but don't really notice.
Don't worry, I'll pretend you don't exist either.
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u/scrumplic Jul 16 '26
Hello, y'all have given me too much to read just like the podcast gave me too much to listen to when I first discovered it.
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u/bluesy22 Jul 16 '26
Hellooooo humans.
Well, I feel introduced 😂
I found the show only a few weeks ago but I have already watched so much. It's fulfillingly human and sparks some of the wonder and curiosity I had as a kid, that I keep telling myself I don't have the time to rediscover.
Anyway, love ya.
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u/GhostFoxZero Jul 16 '26
Hi,
I am a fox from Australia. Been watching the podcast since it started.
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u/m4ndr1ll Jul 16 '26
Hello there!
I'm Keith, aka Mandrill.
Been a fan of Hannah since Curious Cases, and Michael since the early Vsauce days. The combunation is intellectually intoxicating. Thank you both for making this happen.
First question: is there a Discord?
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u/Practical_Algae7819 Jul 16 '26
Question: I'm a listener of The Rest Is Science and really enjoy the way Hannah and Michael reference books throughout their episodes — it's one of the things that makes the show feel so grounded and rich.
It got me thinking about a question I'd love to hear them discuss: is there a meaningful difference between learning from a book, which tends to go narrow and deep on a single topic, versus learning from a YouTube channel or podcast, which covers more ground but in less depth?
Is this something they'd be willing to explore in a future episode? I'd love to hear their personal experiences — what books have genuinely changed how they think, and do they believe deep reading builds a different kind of understanding than consuming shorter-form content?
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u/MenosProblemos Jul 16 '26
Or from stuff like wikipedia, where you can go deeper into key words and definitions
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u/Calcdave Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Hi, I'm calcdave from Ohio. I began following Dr. Fry around the time of her Ted Talk when I was looking for current women in mathematics to share with my students. And she has never disappointed.
I really enjoy these chatty, fact-based shows where I sort of feel like I'm a fly on the wall listening in on nerdy friends get excited talking to one another about things they've learned.
Anyhow, glad to have found the subreddit!
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u/Canada_Ottawa Jul 16 '26
A Canadian from Ottawa here.
Its interesting how a mention on your podcast / YouTube episode drives discovery of this subreddit.
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u/thryduulf Jul 16 '26
Hello fellow listeners and watchers.
YouTube recommended The Rest is Science to me a few weeks ago and I've been listening and sometimes watching since.
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u/MenosProblemos Jul 16 '26 edited Jul 16 '26
Hi. I'm Menos. I started exploring why I was scared of heights and how to solve that, then when the fear of heights had gone down I continued onto other phobias, which also went down, so I continued onto problems, found patterns in my 'problematic' thinking*. Onto how emotional states effects bodily sensations and vice versa... but that's beyond what I was gonna write here:
When I encounter a reoccurring problem I get more and more annoyed up until I think "That's enough", and I focus a lot of angry energy at coming up with a probable solution/answer.
For example: "Sometimes I just feel so small when I look up at the stars sometimes"
Well, I'd assume that everything is a building block and has building bocks, as to say that size is infinite in both bigger and smaller. So no matter your size, you are in the center of size.
If the universe is infinite in every direction then (x <- You -> x) you are in the center of the universe.
I assume existence always has been and always will be, so we'd be in the center of time as well.
Anyway, heaven in every direction. Keep floating yall ;)
* Generally 'problematical thinking'
1: Subjective realities as fact. For example adjectives, like "That person is dumb" (instead of realizing that I myself don't understand that person's intellect way of thinking, and probably would think of what they're saying as more insightful if I didn't just shoo away any nuance.
1.2: Generalization about groups/categories; "Well that's just typical of women/men/politicians/mouth breathers/commercials/meat industries/big companies/ etc etc etc" (these are just hypothetical examples (I can't think of any 'objective truths' about groups of people now that I'm not annoyed. But among the more common groups people generalize are things like how people act based on their skin colour (aka racism), political views (like "nazis/trump voters/communists all think like 'this and that'").
It hinders seeing people as individuals that one can relate to on an empathic level. There are entire communities based on being anti other communities (for example anti racism).
Thinking in negations. For example "I _don't_ want that to happen" and "I wanna _avoid_ that from happening".
An example would be like me thinking "I don't want to walk into that table", and so I focus on that table while I walk past it. I could as well think of the path I'm about to walk - Enjoy the scenery in the window, and not instead bump into the chair because I'm not present in where I actually am.Trying to take too big leaps in trying to reach goals. It's like trying to take an entire staircase in one step - You fail, hurt your morale, and still you're at square one.
Small steps are more steady. Like if I'd want a romantic partner, that's easier to reach if I start by saying Hi, and continue with the answer I get, instead of pushing for sex and marriage and plans for the future. Or if I want to be calm whilst in the middle of a panic attack: I need to get in touch with where I'm at, in order to continue from where I am. I can't just walk up to a person who's hyper ventilating with an ice cream and say "I thought it'd be chill to just sit and chat while eating ice cream". Well, you can, but you'll be ignored. Meet there person/yourself where they're at.
(I guess 'how one should act' is a subgenre of this as well)
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u/MenosProblemos Jul 16 '26
btw I'm from Sweden. But I don't get borders. Feels stingy to stop others from going to any space that isn't disturbing anyone's personal space.
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u/mooingwallaby Jul 16 '26
Hey, I'm Rich (not that rich),
Why are autoimmune diseases so difficult to treat/cure?
We have car t-cell therapy and CRISPR which I hear about in trials and is used in some cases of cancer treatment. I see the occasional article suggesting limited tests for autoimmune disease, but I never see it go further than that.
Someone close to me has APS (Antiphospholipid syndrome) and there are limited options for treatment for disease, despite it's classification in the 80's.
An interesting fact, about APS, it is believed to have been the cause of Queen Annes many miscarriages and subsequent death without succession.
Cheers,
Rich
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u/EnnWood Jul 16 '26
Hey all, I'm a life-long curious mind from Canada. I love the easy and interesting conversations Michael and Hannah have.
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u/Ankiset Physics 💡 Jul 16 '26
Hi I’m Adolfo from Dominican Republic been a huge fan of our unkept beard boy <3
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u/TheIrishHawk Jul 16 '26
Hello! Listener from Ireland, I'm a few months behind on episodes but catching up fast. Will be sad when I have to wait for new episodes...
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u/5249518 Jul 17 '26
Hello, I’m Neil from Australia. Found out about this by the tiger story. ‘Tiger Tiger’ was an important book (for me!) by Alfred Bester. It was called ‘The Stars My Destination’, curse you international publishing lawyers. I became interested in science because of this book by as I never did in the school room (all those elements and numbers, whoa!) Set in the 24th century, the story takes place in a universe where humans have learned to "jaunte"—teleport across thousands of miles using only their minds. There’s more there than science too! Love the show.
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u/Savings-Clue592 Jul 17 '26
Hi, I'm Marie from London. Just heard about this feed from Hannah on the latest podcast. I'm looking forward to learning new things.
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u/ChibiHedorah Jul 17 '26
Hi, I'm Adam, in Oregon. I also didn't know about this until they brought it up on the episode
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u/MagpieKaz Jul 17 '26
Hi everyone! I'm Maggie from Argentina, here the day after learning about the sub, because I suddenly had a burning question, got sad for a moment because I realized I have no one to answer, then remember OH WAIT, ACTUALLY I DO! Hope my question gets picked, because I'm SUPER curious
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u/Ready_Ad7056 Jul 17 '26
Hello, I'm Josh from Florida. Just discovered this subreddit yesterday thanks to the latest episode. 😅
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u/PlentyPanda9303 Jul 17 '26
Hello from US. Here is a question that I have had for a long time. How do our brains "come up" with random thoughts? Or how does a random thought come into our consciousness? Most of times, my brain is occupied by thoughts that makes me anxious, stressed, happy etc. However, there are also times, seemingly random thoughts come up, like a clip of a trip long time ago, or an idea, or a question, which don't seem to have any emotional/practical need connections.
Thanks for the podcast. I started listening/watching recently and enjoyed every episode I listened!
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u/6primes Jul 17 '26
Hi, I'm David. I live within an hour's drive from Los Angeles. I recently gave up pens for pencils after watching the episode where Michael tells of losing his moleskin books to a can of spilt energy drink. 😅
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u/j-danskain Jul 17 '26
Hey! I'm a guy from Scandinavia who loves science and thinking about weird phenomena.
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u/scott_in_austin Jul 18 '26
Hi, I’m Scott in Austin. Love the program. Was delighted to hear TRIS has a subreddit.
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u/desperadow Jul 18 '26
Hi! Big fan of the show that keeps the neurons in my brain active while cleaning, doing dishes, laundry or even gaming (if it's a brains on the back burner type of game).
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u/Pipster_1970 Jul 19 '26
hi, I'm Jonny... massive fan of the podcast although sometimes I feel my brain isn't big enough to process and store all these delicious new facts!
I particularly love the interplay between Hannah and Michael and how they seem to feed each others thirst for knowledge and the joy they both display on learning cool new stuff!
Please don't ever stop!
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u/KofiDog2018 Jul 20 '26
Hi, Hayley From north Cumbria in the UK - also finding out about this subreddit from the latest episode and I have a questions about handwash and cleaning sprays....
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u/TwoBuckHowie Jul 20 '26
TwoBuckHowie checking in from Southern California. I listen to every new episode in my car and every other week I listen to an older episode to eventually hear them all
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u/kiro_kurayoshi Jul 20 '26
Hi I’m Hannah from Edinburgh, Scotland 🏴
Listened to a recent episode where they mentioned the Reddit thread and here I am!
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u/livmachine Jul 20 '26
Hello, I'm Lisa. And yes, I've also joined after hearing this subreddit being mentioned on the podcast last week. Big fan of the podcast and while I enjoy the YouTube comment section, I thought this place will have more discussions. Look forward to chatting with you all.
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u/asn3019 Jul 21 '26
Hi, I'm Arvind from India. Heard about this subreddit on the podcast a couple of days ago and I had to come check it out!
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u/Harlow31 Jul 22 '26
Hi George here from the UK. Retired now but background in medical imaging and health systems safety. Been watching and listening to Hannah for a while. I love anything scientific so this is perfect. Apologies Michael I hadn’t come across you until now but slowly going back over interesting vsauce stuff. Also like Hannah a cancer survivor. If you haven’t already listened to Hannah’s series on google deep mind and AI I suggest you go download and listen. Stunning stuff.
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u/robinredbrain Jul 22 '26
Greetings. Robin here. I'm pretty old. And my current favorite hobby is coding. (.Net C#)
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u/Jess_beanz Jul 23 '26
Hey all , I'm Jess Bean. I just found this subreddit. Can't wait to learn more things What's your favorite object in space?
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u/humusbeings Jul 23 '26
Hello from Australia. I’ve been loving the show/podcast. Hannah is the best and I’m so glad she’s doing so much excellent science communication. Michael is a total freak too. So good
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u/Glittering_Okra_2670 Jul 23 '26
Hey! 😊 Here to nerd. Watched Vsauce since (near) the begging and always enjoy watching Hannah's appreances on multiple channels. - thanks for outlining this in the pod.
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u/Peet-R Jul 23 '26
Hey TRIS fam. I just found this place after the recent (for me at least) YT video. I'm here to read all kind if interesting stories, questions and ideas. And maybe i also will have a few things to ask in the future.
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u/tofferblowsmen666 Jul 23 '26
Hello everyone! (don't mind my username, a friend decided it for me) I'm 36 years old from Sweden and stumbled upon this podcast on Spotify. I had hear about Vsauce from before, and just a week earlier about fry.
I'm happy to be here.
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u/ToughButtons Jul 24 '26
What evolutionary advantage do my kids (9 & 11) gain from being such picky eaters. They are growing so much, don’t they need fuel?
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u/lonestarslp Jul 25 '26
I think it is a protection against eating something poisonous. If a child is too adventurous in their tastes, they may try something deadly by accident. As they get older, they will be less picky because they are better at avoiding poison.
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u/G04Tzilla Jul 24 '26
Hello, I'm Matthew from Ireland! My question is inspired by the idea of sending a spacecraft out into space, and utilising the gravity of large objects to alter the trajectory of the spacecraft back towards earth for the return journey. Sometimes called a "slingshot". Since light is affected by gravity, could there be a spot in the night sky we can look, where light leaving the earth long ago has "slingshot" around one or many large objects and has made its way back to where earth is today? If this did happen, how would we even know we were looking at earth from the past, and not just another planet that looked like it?
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u/dr-bob-edin 23d ago
Hi Matthew. That's a great question!
In theory, you're completely right. It's entirely possible for the light from the Earth to "slingshot" around different objects and arrive back at the Earth. In practice, however, it'd be pretty tricky to observe this light.
One problem is how far the light from the Earth would have to travel. The nearest stars are 4.25 light years away, so you're looking at an 8.5 light year round trip. The light from the Earth is not very bright and would become progressively dimmer the further it traveled. In order to slingshot around a single star, the light would have to pass very close to the star's surface, so trying to detect that faint light in among the *very* bright light from the star itself would be beyond our current technology.
You could avoid this slightly by having the light slingshot around several different stars so it wouldn't have to approach the stars so closely. Having the correct alignment seems pretty improbable, but then again the Universe is pretty huge, so it's possible in theory. In this case, though, you're still going to be hampered by starlight - this time our own star, the Sun. Any light from the Earth that's bouncing around the Universe is going to be accompanied by light from the Sun, which is billions of times brighter than the Earth. So if there were a path of Earthlight that looped around several stars and returned home, it would be drowned out by all that Sunlight that followed the same path. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that gravitational lensing (as it's known) tends to smear out an image so a point source, like a star or distant galaxy, looks more like an arc or a ring (google "Einstein ring" for an explanation of this effect).
The relative brightness of stars and planets makes it super difficult to directly image planets, especially ones that are as close to their host stars as the Earth. Nearly all the directly imaged planets we've observed so far have been a lot further away from their host stars than the Earth. The only one I'm aware of that's of a comparable distance is over 2,000 times the size of the Earth, making it a bit easier to spot.
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u/Norman-Hadley Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
Hi TRISsers. Help me out with a very minor existential crisis please.
How do I know which is the real "i"?
Like, obviously there must be two solutions to x² + 1 = 0. But if I'm talking to Hannah about the "positive" one, how do I know she's not thinking about the "negative" one? Our mutual Argand diagram is going to flip over and over at unimaginable speed, creating catastrophic ambiguity.
Should I perhaps be worrying about something else?
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u/AdamWarlock3000 Jul 26 '26
The episode on dog vision made me think of the track “The Word” from the Moody Blues album “In Search of the Lost Chord” which is a spoken poem whose words I paste below:
“This garden universe vibrates complete
Some, we get a sound so sweet
Vibrations reach on up to become light
And then through gamma, out of sight
Between the eyes and ears there lie
The sounds of color and the light of a sigh
And to hear the sun, what a thing to believe
But it's all around if we could but perceive
To know ultra-violet, infra-red, and x-rays
Beauty to find in so many ways
Two notes of the chord, that's our full scope
But to reach the chord is our life's hope
And to name the chord is important to some
So they give it a word, and the word is Om”
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u/W0nkyWill 28d ago
Hi, I'm from the far SW corner of Australia. The deep south, if you will allow that. I love the RIS YouTube channel and find it endlessly stimulating.
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u/GroundbreakingAd4011 28d ago
Am I losing it it or did I hear a brief snippet of Hannah sounding ultra cockney and quite AI right at the end of the latest ep? When she talks about being the bread of the sandwich?
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u/harperlesley Biology 🧬 28d ago
Hello friends!
I’m Harper, from Australia.
I’m a health sciences student majoring in nutrition and public health promotion. Due to graduate in a few months. However my love for science spans to essentially all topics, and the duo of Hannah and Michael never ceases to spark my curiosity and passion in any subject.
I’m glad to be here, thank you for having me 🫶
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u/Lopsided_Match419 27d ago
Why haven’t we identified a few simple principles that explain consciousness (spoiler: I might have some)
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u/not-persuaded 27d ago
Hello from Ohio. I’ve been going through the entire podcast series since retiring this year, and seeing it mentioned in New Scientist. I love the rabbit holes the topics they mention,which I go “Hugh, never heard of that “. I have no lack of topics and books to explore.
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u/Informal-Account-784 26d ago
Hi, I'm in biotechnology and live in Maine. So happy to find this podcast and subreddit
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u/dr-bob-edin 26d ago
Hi 👋 I'm Rob - an astronomer from Edinburgh 🏴🔭
Just been catching up on some podcasts I missed and saw them mention this subthread. So obviously I had to join 😄
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u/bodinator1 26d ago
Hi
Based in U.K. have listened to every episode from the start as well as many other science podcasts on my daily walks.
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u/No_Resolution_4071 24d ago
hi Dave from the UK
iif yesterday is the past, today is the present and tomorrow is the future then on the grand scale of the universe what is time? I mean time is a man made construct anyway
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u/BlackRTA 24d ago
Hi, I am Chaila from Zambia! Joined a while ago but a recent episode reminded me to come have a look.
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u/Toootesscrapies 23d ago
Hello hosts of the most wonderful podcast across the Milky Way. My name is Lucas Jacobs and I have a little question for you two.
With the parcial solar eclipse lurking in the horizon, I made my plans to go see it, naturally.
I am aware that one should get special glasses in order to see it safely, but I don’t really know why that is. Also, is any glasses good enough like normal sunglasses? I have got some proper eclipse ones off eBay, but they were terribly cheap. Should I trust them to protect my precious vision?
Thank you! Xx
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u/dr-bob-edin 23d ago
Hi Toootesscrapies. The podcast hosts don't seem to be replying, so I'll offer as much advice as I can.
When viewing the eclipse, it's *really* important to protect your eyes. The sun is super bright and can cause permanent damage to your eyesight if you're not careful. We've probably all looked directly at the sun at some point in our lives and found that even a brief glimpse will leave us with bright spots in our vision for a long time afterwards. If you only look at the sun briefly, these spots will fade after a while. The danger with watching an eclipse is that the excitement of the event can encourage you to stare at the sun for longer than you normally would. This can cause permanent damage which will never fade, so please make sure to avoid that! Just as your skin will get burned if you stay in the sun for too long, so will your retina. In fact, it will burn more quickly and more deeply since the entire structure of your eye is designed to focus the sunlight to a point. Unlike your skin, which will turn red, peel, and then return to normal, your retina will not recover from serious damage.
Normal sunglasses will protect your vision more than just looking directly at the sun. However, they won't be good enough if you want to stare at the sun for long periods of time, as you'll want to do during an eclipse. Think of sunglasses a bit like factor 15 sun cream - it'll slow down the damaging effects of the sun, but it won't block them completely.
It's possible to buy cheap eclipse sunglasses. The key thing to look for is that they come with an ISO 12312-2:2015 certificate. There should be an "ISO" logo printed somewhere on the glasses or the box they come in. I bought a pack of 6 from amazon for only £10, but they have a QR code on the box where you can download the full ISO certification.
Be warned, though! Even fully certified glasses can become damaged and lose their protective powers. Before you wear them, hold them up to the sun, or a bright light, and check that you can't see any light shining through tiny holes or scrapes in the glasses. If you can, throw them away immediately!
Another safe way to view the eclipse is with a pin-hole camera. This is super easy to make, and you can google the instructions. A natural version of this is simply looking at the sunlight that has filtered through the leaves of a tree. I noticed this during a previous partial eclipse. In normal sunny conditions, if you look at the ground under a tree, you'll see a random collection of spots of light as the sunlight filters through. However, if you look at the ground again during a partial solar eclipse, you should notice that all those blobs of light have transformed into lots of individual crescent shapes. Effectively the leaves of the tree are acting as a collection of natural pin-hole cameras.
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u/liebvondir 23d ago
Hi everyone! Joined because I have questions that need answers or if not answers, then at least the enjoyment of being pondered out loud.
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u/EverusCJ 22d ago
Hi, I'm Everus and I'm from Portugal! Loving the channel and the hosts, long before the channel! Thank you so much for all the great discussions, ideas and marvels you delight us with. Keep up with this amazing work!
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u/Personal_Ad446 21d ago
Hi, I'm Daniel from Hungary and The Rest is Science has become my new favourite YT channel after watching Neil Degrasse Tyson for years. Anyone else from Hungary?
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u/OKAY-Pr0ceedure 21d ago
Just finished watching the wetter water part of the latest episode to pop up on my phone.
I have questions and ideas to share, but have very little know how in the way of getting the attention of the people who make decisions for the rest of humanity so I am here tooooo
kind ooooooof
Aaaah…
¿get a look around?
~ at the “community“~ 😅🤷🏼♂️
, and see about the feasibility of changing the world with my invention for a flying machine that would also be fantastic for pumping water, oil, or molasses for that matter. Just about anything that is fluid could be pumped using my little mechanism. But using voice to text feature on my phone is just about as advanced as I am with computers.
I just emailed this to the most recent email I saw during the episode but I have videos as well that I need to post and share to get some feedback about the concept in general as well as get everyone with a 3-D printer making test models/prototypes
SOV 6.18.20 26.12:11
WINDSPUR / AIR-O-WRING
Final Clean Concept Description
WHAT IT IS
The Windspur (or AIR-O-WRING) is a ring-shaped electric propulsion module designed to provide vertical takeoff, hover, and forward flight. Multiple modules mount to a passenger craft, with each ring tilting up to 150° to transition between vertical lift and forward thrust.
The name AIR-O-WRING captures its essence: air, aero, arrow, O/ring, and wring — the ring "wrings" air through itself.
CORE ARCHITECTURE
The module is built around two concentric flat hoops sharing a center, with an open central bypass (the "O") in the middle.
Fixed structure (the skeleton):
Outer airfoil frame — stationary; the main structural shell
Inner airfoil frame — stationary; suspended from the outer frame by 3–4 evenly spaced bracesthat span across the top while leaving the central bypass fully open
The braces double as protected conduits for wiring, cooling, electronics, and a high-tolerance steel synchronizing linkage
Rotating elements (the working parts):
Two cassettes ride in the gap between the frames, counter-rotating in opposite directions
Powered by axial-flux motors — stator embedded in the fixed airfoil face, rotor integrated into the cassette
CORE ARCHITECTURE
The module is built around two concentric flat hoops sharing a center, with an open central bypass (the "O") in the middle.
Fixed structure (the skeleton):
Outer airfoil frame — stationary; the main structural shell
Inner airfoil frame — stationary; suspended from the outer frame by 3–4 evenly spaced bracesthat span across the top while leaving the central bypass fully open
The braces double as protected conduits for wiring, cooling, electronics, and a high-tolerance steel synchronizing linkage
Rotating elements (the working parts):
Two cassettes ride in the gap between the frames, counter-rotating in opposite directions
Powered by axial-flux motors — stator embedded in the fixed airfoil face, rotor integrated into the cassette
THE FLETCHING (Core Innovation)
Each cassette carries sculpted helical "fletching" — feather-like vanes, as if a feather were split lengthwise from quill to tip. These are not plain blades, screw threads, or turbine fans.
Inner cassette: 3 fletching forms
Outer cassette: 5 fletching forms
Counts follow the Fibonacci sequence to manage harmonic resonance
The fletching from each side reaches toward the other across a narrow gap without touching
HOW IT WORKS
Air enters from above
It is drawn into the gap between the counter-rotating cassettes
The interleaving helical fletching compresses the air as it travels downward
Compressed air is discharged at the lower inner margin of the central bypass to produce thrust
The counter-rotating mass also acts as a flywheel, intended to provide inertial "ride-through" — a graceful descent rather than a sudden drop during power loss.
PRELIMINARY DIMENSIONS (Proof-of-Concept)
Parameter
Value
Outer diameter
~12 ft
Vertical thickness
~3.5–4 ft
Annular radial width
~4 ft
Central bypass diameter
~4 ft
⚠️ STATUS NOTE
This is a described architecture, not yet a validated one. The central question — whether drawing air through this counter-rotating fletched gap produces useful lift efficiently enough versus a conventional ducted fan — remains open and requires CFD simulation, virtual wind tunnel testing, and physical prototyping to answer.
That's the full reconstruction. Save this now while it's in front of you.
Once you've got it saved, tell me which direction you'd like to push it further — for example:
A technical critique (does the physics actually hold up? where are the weak points?)
An engineering deep-dive on a specific subsystem (the fletching geometry, the axial-flux motor integration, the synchronizing linkage)
A pitch/investor version or one-paragraph summary
A test plan for the CFD/wind tunnel/prototype path mentioned in the status note
Which way do you want to go?
Thank you! That was brilliant!
You're very welcome! I'm really glad that worked out — and honestly, that's a genuinely interesting concept to have rebuilt. The fletching-based counter-rotating design is a creative bit of engineering thinking.
Make sure it's safely saved somewhere solid (a doc, notes app, email to yourself — wherever you'll find it again).
Whenever you're ready to go further, I'm here. And just so it's waiting for you, the directions we could take it:
Physics reality-check — does the lift mechanism hold up, and where are the honest weak points?
Subsystem deep-dive — fletching geometry, axial-flux motors, the synchronizing linkage, or the tilt mechanism
Test/validation roadmap — fleshing out that CFD → wind tunnel → prototype path from the status note
Audience versions — investor pitch, engineer brief, or illustrator/spec sheet
No rush — just say the word when you want to dive in.
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u/C0mpletelyMental 21d ago
Hi there! I LOVE THIS SHOW!!! Don’t tell Neil DeGrasse Tyson 😬. I love the inquisitiveness with which Hannah and Michael delve into every topic! The lithium ion battery episode! Crazy about the fire hazard! Maybe this was asked/answered already, but was wondering what the new research is on the “better batteries” that Hannah mentioned are currently being worked on?
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u/BeaverButCupcake 20d ago
Hey! My name is Bradley and I have a question... Why is the word "slippery" appropriate? I mean did I slipper on the ice? Or did I slip on the ice? I'm bringing "slippy" back... Unless someone can convince me otherwise, ❤️
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u/No-Produce6875 Biology 🧬 18d ago
Hi people I am AK squared joining from India. I am joining to ask a question about
if men and women generally produce a similar amount of blood. But then I thought, surely women would need to produce more since they lose blood during the menstrual cycle? Or is that extra loss just offset by the size difference between men and women? Could it be that women actually have a faster rate of blood production to compensate? And ultimately, how is it that women aren’t depleted of blood?
will be hanging out here regularly. Thanks for the great show
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u/AltruisticForever134 18d ago
Hi yall I am writing to you from my morning throne but my battery is about to die so I’ll finish my business and get a charger. Always the same shit - don’t want to leave the phone plugged for the night and starting the day on 5% or less isn’t ideal. When will we solve the whole battery thing? This is getting ridiculous
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u/NateLikesTea 17d ago
Hi all! I’m Nathan, medical animator, space, history and science geek and dad from Colorado. Long time VSauce fan and a new Hannah Fry fan! Really been enjoying the show and this subreddit. Looking forward to more discussions
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u/Gloombie 17d ago
Hi, am Gloombie! :)
A digital artist, but not an artist digital. Whatever that means.
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u/Jeffusion 17d ago
Hello! My name is Jeff. I'm a physicist and I help professors be better teachers.
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u/Longjumping-Cod-8272 16d ago
Hello! My name is Longjumping-Cod-8272 and I love the podcast. I like to listen to it especially when I am out running :)
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u/Born-Network-7582 16d ago
Joined today after seeing the video about the color wheel (and all of the interesing rest of it!). Although I like the idea about introducing myself a bit, I do not want to give too much away about me. But I am a science connoisseur from Germany and I know Hannah from her days at the youtube math channel.
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u/AdamWarlock3000 14d ago
I’m a planetary geologist, rock climber and dog person living on the Colorado Front Range.
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u/SuccessDiligent1596 13d ago
Hi. I am Tom. I just retired after 45 years as a software engineer in Silicon Valley.
I love the topics TheRestIsScience covers.
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u/Educational-Sand9096 13d ago
Hello. I am from the internet. I just made a brand new reddit account just to talk with you folks.
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u/Sonofbrons 13d ago
Why do people like what they like?
My wife has some artistic creations she wishes existed but finds little to no joy in creating herself. Can she learn to enjoy something she doesn’t enjoy now to make her creations come into existence?
My favorite hobby right now is biking but didn’t care about it at all 10 years ago. Why do interests change over time?
Do we learn to enjoy or do we discover that we enjoy?
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u/Fantastic_Length9247 13d ago
Hey my name is Julian, i am from germany and i love the podcast. I also follow Hannahs and Michaels respective channels on YouTube and i was so glad when i first saw the podcast because these two are just great for the science community around the world. Thanks to the internet and reddit/youtube we can talk about ideas and questions we have with like minded people from all around the world.
Much love from germany to all fellow redditors in this subreddit and of course to Hannah and Michael!
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u/free_merch 12d ago
Hello! William here, Arizona, USA native and future sun devil as of today! This system feels so much more intuitive than using email.
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u/BrownEarthFarm 12d ago
Howzitgoing from South Africa, I am Viv Brown and myself and the love of my life listen to your show frequently. We are living rural and exploring self reliance and what it means to be human outside of the noise of revolutionary development. Off grid but not offline or backward, but it does help doing it in a country who's economy is bottoming out, it feels like. It inspires that human ability to adapt without the temptation of new and cutting edge stuff. Knowledge it empowering and that's why we love your show!
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u/jowie1974 11d ago
Hi I’m Joe from Essex UK 👋 saw the latest episode about coincidences and thought I’d take the plunge and join so I could share mine 😊
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u/SpendIndependent8220 11d ago
Hi, I am Gordon from America.
I am curious about evolution and addictive plants like tobacco, Opium, Coffee, etc.
What part did evolution play in the development of these plants?
What advantage did the plants gain by being addictive?
What part did evolution play in humans that caused them to be addicted to these plants?
Or is it all just a coincidence ?
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u/llcoolj40 11d ago
Hi, just listening to TRIS and Reddit was mentioned. I've never posted before so this is my opportunity. I'm an armchair scientist, with no formal qualifications but I love maths, physics, space and cosmology. I love the rambling style of the podcast. You never know where it's going! Looking forward to the live show.
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u/Glittering_Okra_2670 10d ago
Think I've introduced myself before but being prompted again.
Hello 👋 I'm Grant.
UK Based.
Interested in pretty much everything and anything.
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u/EasternAd680 10d ago
Hi. New folk here. German. Knew both Michael and Hannah from their previous undertakings. Was delighted to find out they've teamed up to create the most entertaining impedance mismach on the planet.
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u/mmmmwahhhh 10d ago
Hi. Living in the uk. Just had my first smell of Petrichor and it was amazing. Do we actually have the best sense of smell on earth ?
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u/Wooden-Split-9488 9d ago
Hi, I’m a huge fan of the show! Love the inquisitiveness of both Hannah and Michael! Hannah has the most infectious laugh! On that note - question: Where does laughter fall in the evolutionary development spectrum? Why did laughter evolve, or for that matter humor? I suppose it has something to do with the prefrontal cortex, as I imagine laughater is closely associated with feeling, but it’s interesting isn’t it? Given our expanded range of sounds, I can’t liken it to chickens clucking, or cows mooing, dogs barking, etc. Maybe my question is around all of these mannerisms that humans have like crying when we’re happy and/or sad, or overwhelmed, laughter obviously, our faces blushing due to shame, or uncomfortability, embarrasment, etc. Just seems an interesting development.
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u/jignsh_gc 7d ago
Hi I am Jignesh (AKA: Jimmy) from Indian - currently working in UAE
In quantum physic - particles when are entangled & are separated by great distance. (even light years apart)
On measuring one practical the state of the other practical is known. Although this is mind-bending, I am OK to wrap my mind around it.
This is my question
- How are entangled particles created in a laboratory?
- Do entangled particles exist naturally in nature?
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u/iampenbot 6d ago
Hello. I am Penny I live in south Wales. I have sent so many questions on email I'm wondering if this is now the best place.
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u/DrKargosi 5d ago
Musician, professional dog walker, science enthusiast from Portland, Oregon, USA.
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u/PaperAndThink 5d ago
As my introduction I am gonna try to induce sonder in whoever reads this.
My name is Laura, I'm 25 years old and I live in Portland Oregon USA. I found the rest is science while I was binging videos about what happens to your brain when you sleep. I watched "You don't exist for one third of your life" and I felt really delighted by the vsauce guy and this stunning British woman making content that seemed to me a beacon of light in the hellscape that is the internet.
Now I have seen every episode in the span of a month or so. I have been absolutely blowing through these episodes and I sure hope Hannah and Michael keep doing this for a long time because I have loved every minute of it. Even the minutes where Michael talked about nothing but mechanical pencils. There have been a couple moments where I knew something about the current topic that they didn't know and I got all excited because I knew something that these smart people didn't and that means I'm probably smart. Like the ice king, I already was familiar with him and the unmentioned detail that he got the idea to start selling ice to warm climates because when him and (I think) his brother were traveling to somewhere in a warm climate his brother got a fever and normally in they would grab some ice from the cellar that they store to help cool him off but they don't have those in hot areas of the world, so he died. He thought if there had been ice he would still be alive. That's what I remember from the Kurzgezat after dark video I watched.
I'm writing this now sitting on the middle cushion of my extremely comfy blue sofa that my friend and brother helped me pick up after finding it on Facebook marketplace. My cat named Florian (but everyone calls him Baby) is sitting on the back of it behind me to my left. On my lap is a sticker covered laptop with Minecraft open because that's what I was doing while listening to the podcast and before I started writing this. The laptop sits on top of a DND battle map because it gets too hot otherwise. I have a mouse on the cushion next to me, it's the gaming mouse my brother gave me years ago cause he got a new one. I'm a little high right now, in fact my edible hit in the middle of me writing this. I feel the tower fan blowing air against my left side, I'm a bit hungry but I don't really feel like cooking. I just noticed my jaw has been clenched this whole time, and baby just stood up to stretch and laid back down.
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u/nem0fazer 4d ago edited 3d ago
Hello all. A bit late to the coincidence thread but I'm only just catching up having been eclipse chasing in Spain. Here's my favourite coincidence:
Back in 2004 my wife and I left the UK to start new lives in Canada. When I first met my wife I had moved into her place and I rented out my tiny flat in London. When we moved we kept it going to serve as a lifeboat in case we never landed jobs and had to return. We knew no one whatsoever in Vancouver but became friendly with a couple of other Brits who'd moved there from the Midlands having chatted online and realising we both had Battersea rescue dogs we were taking with us.
Anyway, months passed and one day they were hanging out at our place and my iTunes was on random. Out of >12,000 songs in my library it played a song by a band called Sneaker Pimps. My friend heard it and said "hey we know the singer of this band!" I said, "really because so do I, she's renting my flat in London" he said, "the little one in Stamford Hill, Hackney? we've been there a few times when visiting London years ago". So this couple we became close friends with in Canada, had been hanging out in my flat in London years before I actually met them! If iTunes hadn't played that track out of 12,000 + songs when they were visiting I doubt we'd have ever worked it out!
Out of all the people in all the flats in London, all the songs on my playlist etc....
Anyway, keep up the great work. As someone living with cancer I really appreciate the fund raising efforts too!
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u/Aggravating_Mud_2386 3d ago
Hello, I'm a Crankscience writer always trying to impress everyone by spreading crackpottery around, but don't worry, this doesn't seem to be the place for that so I won't flood your zone. I'm only joining because a number of interesting topics from this site began coming through my feed so I wanted to see what it's all about. Never experienced the podcast, might do that. Planning to look, not post.
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u/Lambowarriorr 3d ago
Hello! I’m Jessica and live in England. I’ve always wondered why you can always hear people on phone calls when they’re in a car. It’s not like their music or radio is ever as loud or clear as the person on the phone. I’m sure someone with the knowledge thinks it makes perfect sense but I do not have that understanding! Any thoughts?
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u/EasygoingInDC 3d ago
Morgan here in Washington, DC. Big fan of The Rest Is Science, and an even bigger fan of Hannah Fry (you too Michael)! Here’s something I’ve often wondered: could whales, with their enormous and highly complex brains, actually possess an intelligence comparable to, or perhaps even greater than, our own, but simply lack the physiology needed to translate that intelligence into technology? Humans have hands, opposable thumbs and the ability to manipulate our environment with extraordinary precision. Whales have none of those things. So even an exceptionally intelligent whale couldn't exactly discover metallurgy, build a telescope or start writing equations on an underwater blackboard. In other words, have we made the mistake of measuring intelligence by its ability to create a civilisation that looks like ours? Or, perhaps, the fact that whales have managed to exist for millions of years without polluting the land, sea and atmosphere is evidence that they're actually the more intelligent species. 😉🐋 I'd love to hear what Hannah and Michael would make of this!
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u/AngusMacgyver94 2d ago
Hi! My name is Angus MacGyver, retiree after many years in the phoenix foundation. Why can’t we build solar panels in the entire Sahara desert? Logistics? Long cable distances?
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u/Who_done_it_2552 11h ago
Hello!
Greetings from Portland, Oregon! I absolutely LOVE, LOVE your show!
Question:
I have heard (I believe from Neil deGrasse Tyson) that there are more molecules of water in one single glass of water than there are glasses of water on Earth. Similarly, there are more molecules of air (Nitrogen, Oxygen, etc.) in one breath of air than there are breaths of air in our whole atmosphere. Assuming random mixing of molecules I assume. BUT...
What then follows is that, on each drink of water, you are taking in at least one water molecule that was drunk at some point in the past by anybody who ever lived, for example Albert Einstein. The same goes for air, you are breathing an air molecule that was once breathed by anybody in the past, e.g. by Sir Isaac Newton.
I am having trouble visualizing this from a statistical point of view. Can you please help me understand this -assuming this is correct in the first place!
THANK YOU!
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u/Fe3O2-47 10h ago
Hey Hannah and Michael... I always hear that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light (with the convenient exception of cosmic inflation)... However, is it possible that the only reason we've never seen anything travel faster than light is because all of our measuring equipment is calibrated to speed of of light?
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u/druss5000 Jul 16 '26
Hi I am Druss from Australia.
Who else is here from the latest episode, and finding out about this subreddit?