Videos to make you think more deeply about science. Explosive short films, full length talks from the world’s leading scientists and writers, and videos to challenge the way you look at the world.
The Royal Institution is a 200 year old independent charity based in London dedicated to connecting people with the world of science through events, education, and the CHRISTMAS LECTURES.
From The Royal Institution. Join theoretical physicist Sabine Hossenfelder as she draws on the latest research in quantum mechanics, black holes, string theory and particle physics to explore what modern physics can tell us about the big questions. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/QiE6P3EcKRk Sabine’s book "Existential Physics: A Scientists Guide to Life’s Biggest Questions", is…
From The Royal Institution. Join Sean M Carroll as he explores deep questions about the cosmos, laying out the framework of classical physics from Euclid and Galileo to Newton and Einstein. Watch the Q&A for this video here: https://youtu.be/mtUG1cRYXvU Sean’s latest book ‘The biggest ideas in the Universe 1: Space, time and motion’ is available…
From The Royal Institution. Join leading theoretical physicist and YouTube star Tony Padilla as he explores the most extraordinary numbers in physics, and how they explain fundamental truths of the universe. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/dhT_vl3epgY Tony’s book "Fantastic Numbers and Where to Find Them: A Cosmic Question from Zero to Infinity" is available to…
From The Royal Institution. Particle physics is at a turning point – until new discoveries are made, some of the biggest questions about life around us remain unanswered. Pauline Gagnon explains why this is the case. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Buy Pauline’s latest book: https://geni.us/lEQB2A Pauline Gagnon first studied at San Francisco State…
From The Royal Institution. Join former consultant neurologist Jules Montague as she explores the troubled state of diagnosis and tells us the stories of the patients who have found themselves stigmatised, shamed or even physically harmed because of a label. Watch the Q&A for this video here: https://youtu.be/uOCiaY9kY8Q Jules’ book "The Imaginary Patient: How Diagnosis…
From The Royal Institution. Join astronomer and book editor David Weintraub, and astronomers Hiranya Peiris and Carole Mundell as they explore an internationally diverse collection of autobiographical essays. Find out about the women who broke down barriers and changed the face of modern astronomy. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/Zd4nKNwOmVA The book "The Sky is for…
From The Royal Institution. In time-honoured Ri tradition, Dan Plane revisits a classic science demo with a spooky twist. You’ve probably seen elephant’s toothpaste, you might have even seen the genie in a bottle demo – say hello to the genie in a pumpkin 🎃 Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe The Ri is on…
From The Royal Institution. How can we all innovate like Faraday? Find out with David Ricketts. You’ll also learn about the history and the future of innovation, including emerging applications of electric motors to replace jet aeroplane motors, self-flying cars and more. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/c__RSMUtcUo Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe On 3…
From The Royal Institution. Are ghosts real? The Victorians certainly thought so – and Michael Faraday wanted to prove otherwise. We’ve recreated his spooky experiment in time for Halloween. Victorian society was fascinated by the possibility of communicating with ghosts. People reported mysterious phenomena, such as moving furniture, when they tried to contact the spirit…
From The Royal Institution. Join acclaimed science journalist Ed Yong as he explores the world as it is truly perceived by other animals, from sniffing dogs to echolocating bats. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/oAutGPYfdsg Ed’s book "An Immense World: A journey through the animal kingdom’s extraordinary senses" is available to purchase now: https://geni.us/y4xvTO Subscribe for…
From The Royal Institution. Over 40% of amphibian species are in population decline, with 200 species already extinct. And now frogs are dealing with their own pandemic. How can science help? Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Many species of frogs and other amphibians have suffered catastrophic declines due to infectious diseases that have spread…
From The Royal Institution. Join cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton as she discusses her ground-breaking theory, and how her path from communist Albania helped her become one of the most courageous thinkers on the world stage of theoretical physics. Watch the Q&A for this video here: https://youtu.be/6xpVP_ITEYE Laura’s book "Before the Big Bang: The Origin of Our…
From The Royal Institution. Journey back 325 million years with our mammalian forebears, who persevered in the shadow of the dinosaurs, survived the worst day in the history of Earth, and then rapidly diversified to claim the world as their own. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/VpiGl8sUSmg Stephen’s book "The Rise and Reign of the Mammals:…
From The Royal Institution. Join David Jamieson as he explores his work in quantum technology and looks at how we plan to build the first quantum machines. Watch the Q&A for this video here: https://youtu.be/gnf9eH4WjQM Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Einstein’s most revolutionary idea, the light quantum, led to the concept for a radical…
From The Royal Institution. How did J. J. Thompson’s experiments lead to the birth of the electronics industry? Find out from Suzie Sheehy as she discusses the story of the electron. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Suzie’s book is out now: https://geni.us/Ki2lr Suzie Sheehy is a physicist, academic and science communicator who divides her…
From The Royal Institution. We’re told we need to master our emotions and think rationally to succeed. But cutting-edge science shows that feelings are every bit as important to our success as thinking. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/IYL3Zc0p3_0 Buy Leonard’s book here: https://geni.us/61HG 0:00 Introduction 0:36 What is emotion? 5:27 Uncertainty in neuroscience 6:50 Plato’s…
From The Royal Institution. Modern physics is split in two. To explain the large-scale Universe, we talk of the curved and expanding spacetime of Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity. For the small-scale, we talk about probabilities and uncertainties and the language of quantum mechanics. Whilst these two pillars of physics are both supremely accurate and…
From The Royal Institution. How did the complexity of life evolve? Was it via finely-tuned natural selection, or a more messy process altogether? Watch the Q&A for this video here: https://youtu.be/TS3uyVtuZGI Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe In this talk, Jonathan Pettitt explains how living systems tend to make simple mechanisms more complicated than they…
From The Royal Institution. Do machines need emotional intelligence? And how can we create technology that behaves in a socio-emotionally intelligent way? Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/_IiyTD0Ogyc Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Join Hatice Gunes as she explains why socio-emotional intelligence for artificial systems is not a luxury but a necessity. In this talk,…
From The Royal Institution. Does your dog really love you? Can dogs understand human emotions? And what’s the history of dogs and scientific research? Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/1fWCiccira4 Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Get Jules’s book ‘Wonderdog’ here: https://geni.us/gBAsA36 Join zoologist Jules Howard as he explores how we gained our current understanding of…
From The Royal Institution. What lies beyond the edge of our own universe? Learn more from cosmologist Laura Mersini-Houghton as she discusses her ground-breaking theory in this short video. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Laura’s book is out now: https://geni.us/GxU3nFB Laura Mersini-Houghton is an internationally renowned cosmologist and theoretical physicist and one of the…
From The Royal Institution. How does AI cope with decision-making in an uncertain world, when compared with the human brain? Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/MpHFcTVZ6eY Gerd’s book ‘How to Stay Smart in a Smart World’ is out now: https://geni.us/twcR Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe In this talk, Gerd discusses how trust in complex algorithms…
From The Royal Institution. Twentieth-century physics has changed the world – and some of the most important discoveries happened right here at the Royal Institution. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/gEHXJEFSftE Suzie’s books ‘The Matter of Everything’ is out now: https://geni.us/Qi5U Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Join Suzie as she brings physics down to earth,…
From The Royal Institution. What process animates cells and gives life to lifeless matter? What brings our own lives to an end? The Krebs cycle is the answer – and it could turn our picture of life on Earth upside down. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/UqsqJM8g604 Nick’s book ‘Transformer: The Deep Chemistry of Life and…
From The Royal Institution. Why will humans always have the advantage over robots? It’s because of a remarkable system of thought developed over the millennia – maths. . Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/8JrLBvrTrp0 Junaid’s book on this topic is out now: https://geni.us/hzX0 Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Computers are brilliant at totting up sums,…
From The Royal Institution. We’ve long been trying to find a cure for depression. From the ancient Greeks to Freud, and from therapy rooms to the Prozac revolution, how far have we come? Join Alex as he takes us on a compelling journey through the new frontiers of psychedelic treatments. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/z0-X99Q_CZ4…
From The Royal Institution. What is the JWST, and what big science questions can it answer? Join NASA scientist Naomi as she discusses the new JWST images, along with her research into the ice giants, Uranus and Neptune, and the many other areas that JWST can help with. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/Q8M6pnTEIKw Subscribe for…
From The Royal Institution. How can we see into the mysterious and inaccessible parts of the universe? How can we connect the infinitely large, and the infinitely small? Multimessenger astronomy is a cutting edge approach that can do this. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/gwosSABChgM. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Read Gianfranco’s book ‘A tale…
From The Royal Institution. Why does the universe look the way it does? The answer could lie in the massive, dusty, and star-producing galaxies that existed billions of years ago, and are invisible to the naked eye. Watch Matthew Bothwell’s full lecture on ‘The Invisible Universe’: https://youtu.be/EDnzgnji9FQ Matthew’s book ‘The Invisible Universe’ is available now:…
From The Royal Institution. What happens when humanity and nature bump up against each other? Find out about laser scarecrows, robo-hawks, human-elephant conflict specialists and monkey impersonators. Mary book ‘Animal Vegetable Criminal: When Nature Breaks the Law’ is available now: https://geni.us/maryroach Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe What’s to be done about a jaywalking moose?…
From The Royal Institution. Do you often find your mind wandering? Did you know that mindwandering can actually stimulate creativity, increase focus and boost your mood? Watch Moshe’s Q&A here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgr7lJOrjWc Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Moshe’s book ‘Mindwandering’ is out now: https://geni.us/pZMDI Our brains are inherently noisy. Certain regions are always grinding away…
From The Royal Institution. Retired nurse Joy realised she could smell her husband’s Parkinson’s disease. Scientists are using her discovery to learn more about the disease and its diagnosis. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Find out how Joy first noticed the smell of Parkinson’s on her husband Les, and realised that she identified the…
From The Royal Institution. Neurosurgeon and stem cell biologist Mark Kotter reveals how he and his colleagues made some of the first major breakthroughs in cell therapy. Watch the Q&A here: https://youtu.be/2hbS9dxYAEY Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Listen to our monthly podcast here: https://anchor.fm/ri-science-podcast Scientists are embarking on a biological version of the digital…
From The Royal Institution. What would happen if you fell into a black hole? Join James Beacham, particle physicist at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, as he explores what happens when the fabric of reality – physical or societal – gets twisted beyond recognition. Watch the Q&A with James here: https://youtu.be/Q37oEB4bNSI Subscribe for regular…
From The Royal Institution. The new astronomy is based on gravitational waves, rather than lights and telescopes, and it enables scientists to observe events in our universe that otherwise would be forever buried in darkness. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Buy Gianfranco’s book ‘A tale of two universes’ here: https://geni.us/bertone Gianfranco Bertone is Professor…
From The Royal Institution. Despite the recent drive to talk more about mental health, we might be more confused about this topic than ever. Watch the Q&A with Lucy on this topic here: https://youtu.be/PgVMYeaKs0A Lucy’s book is available now: https://geni.us/j78KPq8 Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Conversations about mental health are now happening everywhere: in…
From The Royal Institution. By combining medicine and design thinking, we can solve problems faced by both patients and clinicians. Watch the Q&A for this talk here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CSW9j8lMJU Bon and Ellen’s book ‘Health Design Thinking: Creating Products and Services for Better Health’ is out now: https://geni.us/X5GN Health design leads to efficient and easy to use…
From The Royal Institution. Ageing is not a biological inevitability. Scientists are studying every aspect of the body which could lead to treatments that could slow down, or even stop, the ageing process. In this talk by Andrew Steele, discover how understanding the scientific implications of ageing could lead to the greatest revolution in the…
From The Royal Institution. What are the unexplained riddles of the universe? Award-winning physicist Paul Davies talks you through the strange enigmas that have preoccupied cosmologists from ancient Greece to the present day. Paul’s book, ‘What’s Eating the Universe?’ is now available: https://geni.us/pauldavies Watch the Q&A with Paul here: https://youtu.be/IRHIGzWfG0Y Laying bare the audacious research…
From The Royal Institution. We can easily travel back and forth in space, but can we travel back and forth in time? Colin Stuart explains why time travel is real and happening all around us. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Colin Stuart is an award-winning astronomy author and speaker who has talked to over…
From The Royal Institution. Memories make us who we are, but how do we make memories? And what happens when the process goes wrong? Veronica O’Keane and James McConnachie explore the intricacies of the human brain. Veronica’s book is out now: https://geni.us/QXcAkBY Watch the Q&A with Veronica here: https://youtu.be/jByuagV2dUM Psychosis is often a misunderstood medical…
From The Royal Institution. For the last 50 years, new genetic techniques have transformed science – but is this a dream or a nightmare for humanity? Matthew’s new book ‘The Genetic Age: Our Perilous Quest To Edit Life’ is out now: https://geni.us/IooHt Watch the Q&A with Matthew here: https://youtu.be/t9h3IQL5vj4 New genetic techniques have transformed science,…
From The Royal Institution. How different does the invisible Universe look from the home we thought we knew? What does the cosmos have in store for us beyond the phenomena we can see, from black holes to supernovas? Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/t8VUHQneRtc Matthew’s book ‘The Invisible Universe’ is available now: https://geni.us/bothwell Since the dawn of…
From The Royal Institution. From the big crunch or big rip to vacuum decay, Katie Mack explains the different ways in which physicists believe our universe might end. Subscribe for regular science videos: http://bit.ly/RiSubscRibe Katie Mack is a theoretical astrophysicist and one of the most popular scientists on Twitter, with more than 420,000 followers. Throughout…
From The Royal Institution. Explore the physics that makes time something we can set, measure and know with physicist Chad Orzel as he discusses time from orbital motion and axial tilt to the quantum mechanics and relativity theory that gives us our ultra-precise atomic clocks. Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/qIbSiU0arss Buy Chad’s book, ‘A Brief History…
From The Royal Institution. The aptly named IceCube collaboration, a huge telescope buried in the crystal clear ice of Antarctica, has been running for 10 years. It’s there to detect neutrinos, an almost undetectable particle. Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/dWRlMEso_2E Join Jenni Adams as she discusses how these neutrinos could be the key to finding some…
From The Royal Institution. What is virtual reality? Is virtual reality genuine reality? And might we already be living in a virtual reality? David J Chalmers explores how technophilosophy can help us understand virtual worlds and and whether we can live a meaningful life in virtual reality. Watch the Q&A: David’s latest book, ‘Reality+: Virtual…
From The Royal Institution. We have run out of science to talk about, so we’re pivoting the channel to science ASMR. We’re diving into the world of ASMR with dry ice, liquid nitrogen, a Hero’s steam engine and much more. What is the Leidenfrost effect? How does dry ice turn directly into carbon dioxide gas?…
From The Royal Institution. Spinosaurus and baryonyx were large dinosaurs with very big arms and claws. But what exactly do we know about them? What were they up to? How did they live? And what did they eat? Palaeontologist David Hone explores the latest discoveries about spinosaurus and baryonyx dinosaurs. Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/nPEXQXVXMqo The…
From The Royal Institution. Discover how calculus, geometry and probability can help make life a bit easier for us all. Marcus du Sautoy explores how maths helps us solve problems like the Bridges of Königsburg, neural networks and the quickest way to save someone from drowning. Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/8hRPW0m1k2A Marcus’s latest book "Thinking Better:…
From The Royal Institution. When lasers were invented over half a century ago they were dismissed as a “solution looking for a problem”. Since then lasers have come to revolutionise our lives through their practical applications. Today, scientists are using lasers to attempt to recreate fusion, the energy source of the sun, to create a…
From The Royal Institution. From algebra to geometry, maths is often about finding shortcuts to large problems. Marcus du Sautoy is the Charles Simonyi Professor for the Public Understanding of Science at the Oxford University, a chair he holds jointly at the Department of Continuing Education and the Mathematical Institute. He is also a Professor…
From The Royal Institution. Why do things change colour, why do things burn, and most of all why do things explode? Andrew will take us on a journey through the exciting, confusing and sometimes explosive world of chemical changes. Andrew Szydlo is a chemist and secondary school teacher at Highgate School, well-loved by pupils and…
From The Royal Institution. The race to explore space is speeding up, Chris Impey looks at the astronomy and technology to bring people to the last frontier. Chris’ new book "Beyond: Our Future in Space" is available now: https://geni.us/futureinspace Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/cUVXgn3y5sQ From private sector efforts led by SpaceX and Virgin Galactic to a…
From The Royal Institution. The search for a theory of everything spans centuries, from Kepler, Galileo and Newton, to Faraday and Maxwell, to Einstein, Bohr, Dirac, and C.N.Yang, to recent advances in superstring theory. Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/FB7aeEevo3g This event is in collaboration with the London Institute for Mathematical Sciences. To many people, the phrase…
From The Royal Institution. Is there life on other planets? And how would we know if our galaxy had been observed by intelligent extraterrestrial lifeforms? Paul’s new book ‘What’s Eating the Universe’ is out now: https://geni.us/pauldavies Paul Davies is a theoretical physicist, cosmologist, astrobiologist and best-selling science author. He has published about 30 books and…
From The Royal Institution. From your vehicle tyres gripping the road to the Post-it note in your desk drawer to the non-stick pan on your stove the she science of stickiness is all around us. Laurie’s book "Sitcky" is out now: https://geni.us/winkless Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/a3wdXf-tWT0 Laurie Winkless is a writer, physicist and sci-comm consultant…
From The Royal Institution. Viruses, bacteria, fungi and protozoa all want to infect your body and don’t mind if they kill you so long as you pass on the infection. John’s book "Infectious" is out now: https://geni.us/infectious Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/P6x0QseBo_k John Tregoning is reader in respiratory infections at Imperial College London. His research focuses…
From The Royal Institution. From the battery to the electric motor (which celebrates its 200 year anniversary in 2021), breakthroughs made in previous centuries continue to inform our technology today. Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/jJ8lz2PbJN8 This video is generously supported by The Faraday Institution. Today, we take the easy availability of electric power for granted. From…
From The Royal Institution. What is nuclear fusion, and could it really help combat the climate emergency? Arthur’s new book "The Star Builders" is available now: https://geni.us/CskCc Watch the Q&A: https://youtu.be/fDOY0_HoILo Arthur Turrell takes us on a thrilling tour of one of the greatest technological and scientific challenges humanity has ever undertaken: reproducing the power…