The Crisis In Physics: Are We Missing 17 Layers of Reality?

June 12th, 2025

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Big things are made of smaller things, and those smaller things are made of smaller things still. That’s reductionism in a nutshell, and digging our way to the smallest layer has been one of the primary goals of physics for ever. But what if, just before we reach the bottom, we find out that reductionism fails?

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Hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Written by Matt O’Dowd
Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria
Directed by Andrew Kornhaber
Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour
Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell

Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios.
This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2025 PBS. All rights reserved.

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka

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Posted in Physics |

The Biggest Misconception in Football (ft. Tom Brady)

June 1st, 2025

Even the GOAT Tom Brady can’t throw a perfect spiral. Here’s why. 🌏 Get exclusive NordVPN deal here ➵ https://NordVPN.com/veritasium It’s risk free with Nord’s 30 day money-back guarantee!✌

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▀▀▀
A huge thank you to Tom Brady for coming and throwing some footballs with us and letting us analyse his throw. You can check out his channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@tombrady

Also thank you to Kevin Bonner and the team at Shadow Lion for helping make this happen!

A big thanks to Daniel Hare and Wilson for all their help collecting and analyzing the data.

A massive thank you to Prof. Philip Ansell, David Attig, Matt Brotnow, Sam Hince and Derrick Wiberg at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign for all their work testing out footballs in their wind tunnel (more of that to come in our second video).

We’d also like to shout out Stewart Bible, Ryan Sayko and the rest of the team at Resolved Analytics for all their work on the CFD models – https://www.resolvedanalytics.com/

Thank you to Mike Lopez and Tom Bliss from the Football Data and Analytics at the NFL for sharing data and insights from across NFL history.

We’re incredibly grateful to Prof. Richard Price and Major Brett Gibbons for their invaluable contributions to this video.

Thank you to Prof. Chad Orzel, Prof. John Eric Goff, Dr Ainissa Ramirez, Prof. Tony Schmitz & Jonathan Ferguson for all their help on the project.

Also thanks to Chris Anstis for his help as a stand-in QB!

▀▀▀
0:00 How Tom Brady Throws a Football
2:51 Why do you spin a football to throw it?
5:36 How does rifling affect a projectile?
9:09 The Turnover Paradox
11:15 How fast can Tom Brady throw?
14:31 Analysing Brady’s Throw
16:38 Gyroscopic Procession
19:47 It’s impossible to throw straight
23:17 Outdoor vs Dome Stadiums
24:31 Why Tom Brady is the GOAT

▀▀▀

References:
References can be found here – https://ve42.co/BradyReferences

Images & Video:
Image and video references can be found here – https://ve42.co/BradyVisuals

▀▀▀
Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, armedtoe, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Charles Ian Norman Venn, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, iRick, Jeromy Johnson, Jon Jamison, JT, Juan Benet, Keith England, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Robert Oliveira, Sam Lutfi, Tj Steyn, TTST, Ubiquity Ventures, wolfee

▀▀▀

Producer & Director: Henry van Dyck
Writing: Henry van Dyck & Derek Muller
Editor: Trenton Oliver
Animators: Mike Radjabov & Fabio Albetelli
Illustrator: Jakub Misiek
Researchers: Emilia Gyles & Gabe Strong
Field Producer: Katy Savage
Camera Operators: John Nicholls, Trenton Oliver, Melkwych Pierre-Louis & Scott Wellington
Drone Operators: Nathan Taupez Scinto, Angelo Fiorini
Sound Recordist: Vlady Garcia
Production Assistant: Leah Jiji
Media Manager: Gabriel C. Rodriguez
Assistant Editor: James Stuart
Thumbnail Designers: Ren Hurley & Ben Powell
Production Team: Josh Pitt, Rob Beasley Spence, Tori Brittain & Barbara Abraul
Executive Producers: Derek Muller & Zoe Heron

Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images
Music from Epidemic Sound

Posted in Uncategorized |

Is Our Model of Dark Energy WRONG? | New 4.2σ Results

May 29th, 2025

Learn More About Anydesk: https://anydesk.com/spacetime

The biggest news in cosmology in recent years is that the mysterious universe-accelerating entity we call dark energy may be fading away. The evidence for this is now strong enough that enormous effort is going into confirming this result. So what’s it going to take, and when are we going to know?

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Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios.
This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2025 PBS. All rights reserved.

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka

Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By:

Big Bang
Tj Steyn
Bryce Fort
Peter Barrett
Alexander Tamas
Morgan Hough
Juan Benet
Vinnie Falco
Mark Rosenthal

Supernova
Grace Biaelcki
Glenn Sugden
Ethan Cohen
Stephen Wilcox
Robert Ilardi
Mark Heising

Posted in Physics |

Tesla’s Robotaxi Is About To Change Everything

May 22nd, 2025

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I worked at Tesla starting from 2017 thru 2021. I spent most of my time in the distribution and supply chain organizations in leadership positions.

Before Tesla, I was a Director of Business Intelligence and Pricing at the largest Pet Food & Supply distributor in the US, Phillips Pet Food & Supplies. My wife and I also owned a small business in Bethlehem, PA between 2016 and 2019.

I have been a shareholder of Tesla since 2012 and currently own Tesla stock. Nothing I say constitutes as investment or financial advice.

My thoughts are my own and are not representative of everyone who currently works, or has worked at Tesla, Phillips, or any other company or organization I discuss on this channel.

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Uber’s Future in the Age of Autonomous Vehicles: An Insightful Discussion with The Rideshare Guy

In this episode, we dive into the future of the ride-hailing industry with Harry Campo, also known as The Rideshare Guy. We discuss the impact of autonomous vehicles on companies like Uber and Lyft, and evaluate the potential roles of Waymo and Tesla in this rapidly evolving market. Harry shares his extensive experience from starting as an Uber driver to becoming a significant voice in the rideshare and gig economy. Topics covered include the practical challenges of fleet operations, the importance of driverless technology, and the potential for Tesla’s Robotaxi network to disrupt the current landscape. Tune in for a deep dive into the intersection of rideshare services and autonomous vehicle technology.

00:00 Introduction: The Future of Ride-Sharing
00:39 Meet Harry Campbell: The Ride-Share Expert
01:25 Harry’s Journey: From Aerospace Engineer to Ride-Share Guru
02:43 The Evolution of Ride-Sharing and Autonomy
03:30 Waymo vs. Uber: The Current Landscape
05:01 Tesla’s Role in the Ride-Share Revolution
06:21 Challenges and Opportunities in Autonomous Ride-Sharing
17:51 Insurance and Liability in the Age of Robo-Taxis
33:18 Understanding Peak Demand in Ride-Sharing
34:02 Customizing Fleets for High-Earning Trips
34:58 Nighttime Deliveries and New Market Opportunities
36:33 Tesla’s Advantage in Scaling Robo-Taxis
37:27 Fleet Ownership Models and Their Challenges
39:04 The Role of Tele-Operators in Autonomous Vehicles
41:32 Tesla’s Potential Impact on Uber’s Fleet
47:43 Fragmentation in the Autonomous Vehicle Market
57:04 Uber’s Strategy and Future in the AV Market
01:04:07 Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Posted in Uncategorized |

Why do planes fly so high?

May 21st, 2025

Now, it’s true that one of the benefits of flying at 30,000 ft is a smoother ride. This is high in the troposphere, the layer in which most weather occurs. So, there’s less turbulence and fewer storms to navigate around.

But this is not the main reason that planes fly so high.

Posted in Uncategorized |

The US Is About To Experience Massive Change

May 18th, 2025

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I worked at Tesla starting from 2017 thru 2021. I spent most of my time in the distribution and supply chain organizations in leadership positions.

I have been a shareholder of Tesla since 2012 and currently own Tesla stock. Nothing I say constitutes as investment or financial advice.

My thoughts are my own and are not representative of everyone who currently works, or has worked at Tesla, Phillips, or any other company or organization I discuss on this channel.

If you like this content I would greatly appreciate your likes and shares!

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Posted in Artificial Intelligence |

Is There A Simple Solution To The Fermi Paradox?

May 15th, 2025

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Around 2 billion years ago, life had plateaued in complexity, ruined the atmosphere, and was on the verge of self-annihilation. But then something strange and potentially extremely lucky happened that enabled endless new evolutionary paths. The first eukaryote cell was born. This may also explain why there are no aliens.

Patreon Interview with Dr. Matt Caplan
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Spacetime is a production of Kornhaber Brown for PBS Digital Studios.
This program is produced by Kornhaber Brown, which is solely responsible for its content.
© 2025 PBS. All rights reserved.

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka

Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By:

Big Bang
Tj Steyn
Bryce Fort
Peter Barrett
Alexander Tamas
Morgan Hough
Juan Benet
Vinnie Falco
Mark Rosenthal
Gavin Rowland

Supernova
Grace Biaelcki
Glenn Sugden
Ethan Cohen
Stephen Wilcox
Robert Ilardi
The Tyacke boys
Mark Heising

Hypernova
Spencer Jones
Dean Galvin
Mike Purvis
Michael Tidwell
Stephen Saslow
Stephen Spidle
Massimiliano Pala
Justin Lloyd
David Giltinan
Kenneth See
Gregory Forfa
Alex Kern
Scott Gorlick
Paul Stehr-Green
Ben Delo
Scott Gray
Антон Кочков
John R. Slavik
Donal Botkin
chuck zegar
Daniel Muzquiz

Gamma Ray Burst
Collin Dutrow
Marion Lang
Kurt Gottselig
Rick Magnun
Bryan White
Eric Raschke
aaron pinto
Kacper Cieśla
Satwik Pani
John De Witt
Nathaniel Bennett
Sandhya Devi
Michael Oulvey
Arko Provo Mukherjee
Christopher Wade
Anthony Crossland
Robert DeChellis
Tomaz Lovsin
Anthony Leon
Nick Hoffenstoffer III
Lori Ferris
Koen Wilde
Nicolas Katsantonis
Richard Steenbergen
Joe Pavlovic
Chuck Lukaszewski
Cole B Combs
Jerry Thomas
John Anderson
Bradley Ulis
Craig Falls
Kane Holbrook
Ross Story
Harsh Khandhadia
Matt Quinn
Michael Lev
Rad Antonov
Terje Vold
James Trimmier
Jeremy Soller
Paul Wood
Kent Durham
jim bartosh
John H. Austin, Jr.
Diana S Polijar
Faraz Khan
Almog Cohen
Daniel Jennings
Ben McIntosh
David Johnston
Michael Barton
Isaac Suttell
Bleys Goodson
Mark Delagasse
Mark Daniel Cohen
Shane Calimlim
Tybie Fitzhugh
Eric Kiebler
Craig Stonaha
Frederic Simon
Tonyface
Matthew Johnson
Michael Purcell
John Funai
Adrien Molyneux
Bradley Jenkins
Vlad Shipulin
Justin Waters
Thomas Dougherty
Zac Sweers
Dan Warren
Joseph Salomone
Param Saxena

Posted in Physics |

How One Company Secretly Poisoned The Planet

May 14th, 2025

The biggest chemical cover up in history. PFAS has polluted the entire global water system. Now, potentially dangerous forever chemicals are being found in the entire US population. Go to https://groundnews.com/Ve to get all sides of every story. Subscribe to save 40% off the unlimited Vantage Plan through our link.

If you’re looking for a molecular modelling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically – https://ve42.co/SnatomsV

We have a tabletop game launching! Pledge your support now – https://ve42.co/KickStarterD

▀▀▀
0:00 Killed by Fridges
5:27 Teflon and The Manhattan Project
7:59 Teflon is Tricky
11:37 The Teflon Revolution
13:27 Earl Tennant’s Farm
17:34 Inside DuPont
20:28 Fluoride In Drinking Water
25:00 It’s bigger than that
29:23 What is PFAS?
35:56 How much PFAS is in Derek’s blood?
37:56 How forever chemicals get into your blood
46:18 Removing PFAS from drinking water
49:30 Can you lower your PFAS levels?

▀▀▀
A huge thank you to Rob Bilott for his time and expertise. Check out his fantastic book: Bilott, R. (2019). Exposure. Simon and Schuster – https://ve42.co/7R

Rob’s story also inspired the 2019 film: Dark Waters.

Thank you to Doctor Mike for giving us a medical perspective on PFAS! Check him out at @DoctorMike

Thank you to Henrik Haggeman and the Puraffinity team, as well as Andrew Patterson and Eurofins, for doing the PFAS testing.

Thank you to Leslie Hamilton, Johns Hopkins APL, Alex Conrad, Imperial College London, Jana Avgustini, and Matija Krvavica for their help on the project.

▀▀▀
PFAS Tools:
PFAS Blood Test – https://ve42.co/PFASTest
What’s My Exposure? via www-pfas.pfas-exchange.org – https://ve42.co/myexposure
Serum PFAS Calculator via ics.uci.edu – https://ve42.co/pfascalculator
Interactive Map: PFAS Contamination Crisis via http://www.ewg.org – https://ve42.co/pfasmapinteractive
The Map of Forever Pollution via foreverpollution.eu – https://ve42.co/foreverpollutionmap
Australian PFAS Chemicals Map via pfas.australianmap.net – https://ve42.co/australianpfasmap

▀▀▀
References:

References can be found here – https://ve42.co/PFASReferences

Images & Video:

Image and video references can be found here – https://ve42.co/PFASVisuals

3D Models:

“Low Poly Base Mesh-530 Tri” (https://skfb.ly/onsxE) by Huge_Man
“Blood Vessel” (https://skfb.ly/owHJX) by IMU University
“Generic Factory” (https://skfb.ly/onQpR) by assetfactory
“Lowpoly People + Waldo” (https://skfb.ly/6zqCE) by Loïc Norgeot
PFOA Molecule via PubChem – https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/Perfluorooctanoic-acid

▀▀▀
Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
Adam Foreman, Albert Wenger, Alex Porter, Alexander Tamas, Anton Ragin, Balkrishna Heroor, Bertrand Serlet, Blake Byers, Bruce, Dave Kircher, David Johnston, David Tseng, Evgeny Skvortsov, Garrett Mueller, Gnare, gpoly, iRick, Jon Jamison, Juan Benet, Keith England, KeyWestr, Kyi, Lee Redden, Marinus Kuivenhoven, Matthias Wrobel, Meekay, meg noah, Michael Krugman, Orlando Bassotto, Paul Peijzel, Richard Sundvall, Sam Lutfi, Samuel White, TTST, Tj Steyn, Ubiquity Ventures, wolfee

▀▀▀
Writers: Gregor Čavlović & Derek Muller
Producer & Director: Gregor Čavlović
Editors: Peter Nelson & Jack Saxon
Camera Operators: Tas Underwood, Emilia Gyles, Gregor Čavlović & Derek Muller
Animators: Andrew Neet, Emma Wright & Fabio Albertelli
Illustrators: Caine Esperanza, Jakub Misiek & Maria Gusakovich
Assistant Editor: James Stuart
Additional Editor: James Horsley
Researchers: Geeta Thakur, Darius Garewal, Gabe Strong & Emilia Gyles
Thumbnail Designers: Ren Hurley & Ben Powell
Production Team: Rob Beasley Spence, Tori Brittain, Casper Mebius, Sulli Yost & Matthew Cavanagh
Executive Producers: Derek Muller & Zoe Heron

Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5.
Music from Epidemic Sound

Posted in Uncategorized |

Quantum Energy Teleportation is REAL!

May 1st, 2025

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The vacuum of space is a chaotic sea of quantum fluctuations. Some have said that this vacuum energy can be harvested to build our future starship engines, or manipulated to build warp drives. It can’t. But it is technically possible to move real energy through the quantum vacuum without it passing through intervening space. Quantum energy teleportation may be as close as we get to transporter beams. But how close is that?

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Hosted by Matt O’Dowd
Written by Christopher Pollack & Matt O’Dowd
Post Production by Leonardo Scholzer, Yago Ballarini & Stephanie Faria
Directed by Andrew Kornhaber
Associate Producer: Bahar Gholipour
Executive Producer: Andrew Kornhaber
Executive in Charge for PBS: Maribel Lopez
Director of Programming for PBS: Gabrielle Ewing
Assistant Director of Programming for PBS: John Campbell

End Credits Music by J.R.S. Schattenberg: https://www.youtube.com/user/MultiDroideka

Space Time Was Made Possible In Part By:

Big Bang
Tj Steyn
Bryce Fort
Peter Barrett
Alexander Tamas
Morgan Hough
Juan Benet
Vinnie Falco
Mark Rosenthal
Gavin Rowland

Supernova
Grace Biaelcki
Glenn Sugden
Ethan Cohen
Stephen Wilcox
Robert Ilardi
The Tyacke boys
Mark Heising

Posted in Physics |

How a Student’s Question Saved This NYC Skyscraper

April 26th, 2025

How a single phone call from a student helped uncover a flaw that nearly toppled Citicorp. Get an exclusive 15% discount on Saily data plans! Use code veritasium at checkout. Download Saily app or go to https://saily.com/veritasium

If you’re looking for a molecular modeling kit, try Snatoms, a kit I invented where the atoms snap together magnetically – https://ve42.co/SnatomsV

Correction: From construction images of Citicorp, sharp-eyed viewers might see that the mid-V columns are still there. Those columns help prevent buckling of the diagonal and the weight of people on the floor above, but do not take the majority of the gravity load. So we left them out of our diagram to clearly explain the load paths. See page 70 of this source for more details – https://drive.google.com/file/d/1ODFo66-_V7Y9vKANbj53mQ0z20RZ2Uai/view

▀▀▀
0:00 Why is the citicorp building on stilts?
4:44 How wind load works
7:49 Tuned Mass Dampers
11:17 The Anonymous Student
14:00 Quartering Winds
18:38 What were the odds of collapse?
20:31 How was the citicorp building fixed?
25:40 Hurricane Ella
27:00 TMDs Take Over The World
28:36 Conspiracies and Cover Ups

▀▀▀
A big thank you for the incredible people without whom we couldn’t have done this! 🖤

To Michael Greenburg, author of The Great Miscalculation, for his insights that really brought the story and its context to life. He gave us a pre-copy of his upcoming book, and it is fantastic: https://ve42.co/Miscalc
To Eric Hines for all his help with the technical details, fact-checking, and making sure we got the engineering right.
To Michael J. Vardaro for helping us uncover the details of the story and the resources he provided.
To Brock Hedegaard for helping us dive deep into the Citicorp structural analysis. Learn the fundamentals of structural analysis on his brilliant channel, @StructuresProfH, and see here for his analysis of the citicorp center; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE_DspFE2ZM
To Michele Barbato from UC Davis for his inputs on the load calculations.
https://faculty.engineering.ucdavis.edu/barbato/
Matt from @mvvvc for talking us through his wind load analysis.
To Prof. Chris Letchford who helped us understand the impact of wind on Citicorp’s structure.
To DongHun Yeo from NIST for discussing his research about wind effects on buildings similar to citicorp: https://ve42.co/WindLoad
Finally, to Team Columbia —who built the epic TMD and ran wind tunnel experiments that made this story come alive.
This includes the folks at the Mechanical Engineering Teaching Laboratory
(Follow all the cool stuff they’re doing: @mechcu, @columbiaengineering or visit https://teachinglab.me/)
Amanda Lombardo, Manager of Instructional Laboratories
Daniela Durón García, Assistant Manager of Instructional Laboratories
Jorge Casas, Machinist
And the amazing seniors from the Columbia Space Initiative:
(Support their awesome work here: columbiaspace.org/support-us/, Follow them: @columbiaspaceinitiative)
Michael Sheehan
Claudio Solano
Jessica Bolar
Kathryn Lampo

▀▀▀
References:
Michael M. Greenburg. The Great Miscalculation via. nyupress.org – https://ve42.co/Miscalc
Joe Morgenstern. The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis via. The New Yorker – https://ve42.co/59Crisis
National Academy of Engineering. William LeMessurier-The Fifty-Nine-Story Crisis: A Lesson in Professional Behavior – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=um-7IlAdAtg
Diane Lee Hartley. Implications of a Major Urban Office Complex: The Scientific, Social and Symbolic Meanings of Citicorp Center via. princeton.edu – https://ve42.co/CitiSymbol
Addition References here: https://ve42.co/citiref

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Special thanks to our Patreon supporters:
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Written and Directed by Sulli Yost
Edited by Trenton Oliver
Additional Editing by Axel Oliver, James Horsley and Peter Nelson
3D Modeling by Maydelis Anaya Romero
Animation by Mike Radjabov, Andrew Neet, Fabio Albertelli, Jakub Misiek, and Emma Wright
Illustration by Jakub Misiek, Maria Gusakovich and Cainejan Esperanza
Filmed by Sulli Yost, Henry van Dyck, Andrew Abballe, Derek Muller
Produced by Sulli Yost, Derek Muller, Casper Mebius, Zoe Heron, Rob Beasley Spence and Tori Brittain
Additional research by Geeta Thakur
Thumbnail contributions by Ren Hurley and Ben Powell
Additional video/photos supplied by Getty Images, Pond5, Axiom Images and Storyblocks
Music from Epidemic Sound

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