Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others (156 videos)

Weekly ask-me-anything about science & technology

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New episode streaming Friday, March 21, 2025 at 3:30pm ET. Submit your questions

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 72] »

1 hour 9 minutes

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What's the physical limitation of the growth speed of humans? Can you get from 10 kg to 90 kg in a month, theoretically? What is the function of the human heart? Is it best understood as a pump, or as something else? Humans exposed to prolonged microgravity conditions suffer from well-known health issues. Short of 1g gravity, do we know the minimum gravity required to prevent such issues, e.g. 0.1g, 0.3g, 0.5g, etc.? ​How can quantum computers solve the protein folding problem? Is being able to get to the lowest energy state a statement that there is a "continuous" series of energy states that the molecule has? That the transformation from one state to another is "smooth" enough? That there is no energy state that is "isolated" from all others? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 71] »

1 hour 1 minute

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Do you think will we get anti-gravity cars? How much memory does a rock have? Do protons or photons have memory? Do orbits have memory? When is someone considered dead? How do we define the line between alive and dead? How do sparrows in a flock know how to all change directions simultaneously? Do you think it's more important for humanity to look to colonize another planet or try to look after the Earth and make it habitable for the future? Can we push the jet streams? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 70] »

1 hour 14 minutes

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How do induction cooktops work—specifically, without burning your hand if you touch them? How does a shortwave radio signal go completely around the world? Will new logic or mathematics operators be invented or discovered? Why do we have two different things—such as numbers + operators, data + algorithms—and we represent many things with those two things? Why not three? Why not four? Why not one? What's the difference between CPUs, GPUs, TPUs and ASICs? How viable is a big numerical reverse database to identify closed forms of real numbers, such as Plouffe's inverter? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 69] »

59 minutes

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What is 1/3 of a century? Why do mathematicians create models if machine learning can create more complex and better models? Hello. Can you create gold from lead by putting some lead next to a big pile of plutonium? How proportionate is public opinion of a person to actual achievement of that person generally? ​How would one go about building a UFO? What technology do we need for that? What mathematical achievements/solutions do we need? Thanks. View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 68] »

1 hour 21 minutes

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​Are there any models that predict how society behaves? What knowledge helps weather prediction and how (like pressure, temperature, wind, distances, etc.)? When you (Stephen Wolfram) count in your head, do you count verbally or visually (or another way)? Feynman wrote an interesting story about this in one of his books. If you write enough errors that cancel each other out perfectly, your code is perfect. How do we improve our inductions toward producing creative results for science? Which side of the quarter has better aerodynamics? If a quarter were flipped by a human hand 100,000 times on a windy day and another 100,000 times on a non-windy day, would the overall outcome still be 50/50 heads or tails in both instances? How can you end up with a different set of rules while describing a system with definite and observable behavior? No matter whether there is alien consciousness or not, the rules will remain the same. How do you spell that? "Ooogleriffousness"? Why can't logic be easier to understand? What I mean is, all this academic stuff that teaches logic... it seems all Greek to me. When I try to learn more, I get bored fast because they explain it too complicatedly. View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 67] »

1 hour 16 minutes

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​​How closely are computer clocks synchronized in different parts of the world? How do they synchronize? ​How does the body know when to create scar tissue? Does the body make different scar tissue based on the tissue it's repairing? ​​​What is the meaning of light years? ​​Could you say something about this year's Nobel Prize on complex systems? Is there any relation to your Wolfram model? ​​​​How do messenger pigeons find their destinations? How can I fix dizziness on a boat (new Navy sailor here)? ​​​​​Were you bitten by a pigeon as a child? #spiderman #pigeonman I wonder if there is a difference in accuracy in the sensing of the magnetic field depending on whether it is just one bird, or a few or many flying together. View Less »
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