Huge If True Podcast

If you dove into the sun, the first layer you’d hit is hot enough to make diamonds BOIL. Right now we’re in a golden age of new solar science. For the first time, we’re getting close-up pictures of the Sun like we’ve never seen. Sending probes into its atmosphere. And revealing secrets about our star we never thought possible… Trust me, after this video, you’ll never look up at the sun the same way. So let me take you on a journey… INTO THE SUN.

What happens when you drop a perfectly balanced stack of balls? And how is the result like a supernova? The classic momentum transfer demonstration, taken to the next level. A big thank you to my nephews and niece Drew, Max and Whitney for creating the trampoline footage! Thank you to the Vlogbrothers for sponsoring this video, to Kyle Kitzmiller for filming, and to Island School on Kauai for providing the balls (ischool.org).

There are only certain parts of the year and certain times of day when you can experience the subsolar point or Lahaina noon. There appears to be no shadow because the sun is directly overhead. This phenomenon happens twice a year for latitudes between the tropic of cancer and the tropic of capricorn at solar noon, when the sun is highest in the sky. But you have to be in the right place at the right time with no clouds! The photos and clips in this video were taken by my mom, Cathy, and friend Noel Liddell in Wailua, Po’ipu and Lawai, HI on July 11th (one day before exact Lahaina noon) and July 12th.

How badly is our planet heating up? I’ve put together an experiment that asks: How much of an olympic-sized swimming pool would be filled with glacial meltwater in the time it takes to ski down a glacier? Helping me - by actually skiing down a glacier - is JT Holmes. And you won’t believe the final answer.

In the press conference heard round the world, they showed the tell-tale waveforms indicating that huge event in which two black holes merged 1.3 billion lightyears away, had created waves that passed by the LIGO detectors and were finally heard. Einstein predicted the existence of these waves in his 1915 theory of general relativity. But it took a long time for us to come up with the technology to detect them. For one, we had to invent lasers! This video discusses why this discovery is important, what it means for astronomy, and what’s next. If you can’t tell, I’m very excited.

How can light be used to cool atoms and molecules ? Lasers are known to burn things, fix eyes, and dance on powerpoint presentations. But they can also be used to cool objects to some of the coldest temperatures in the universe.

Rogue waves - enormous, spontaneous surface waves in the open ocean - were once the tall tales of sailors. They are waves that reach 2-3x taller than the largest average waves in the area, reaching heights of 75 – 100ft. With the help of a ESA satellite survey, the scientific community now accepts they happen frequently. What causes rogue waves?

3D movies and TV are is increasing in popularity, but is any of it truly 3D? How true is the 3D in movie theaters? How do glassess-less 3D TVs work? Try catching a ball with one eye closed. If you find it easy, try having the ball thrown a couple of feet in front of you, or from further away. It becomes increasingly difficult when the throw is off.

A wheel that spins forever; a bird that never quenches its thirst; a clock that never stops ticking, an endless source of free energy. These are but the dreams of inventors striving to make perpetual motion machines, machines that can work forever without any energy input. Are these machines possible without violating the laws of physics? No.

The TRAPPIST-1 exoplanet system has seven earth-like planets and is only 39 lightyears away! I am joined by Professor Adam Burgasser and Dr. Katherine Deck, both astrophysicists on the Nature paper to discuss the discovery of this planetary system.