Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others (160 videos)

Weekly ask-me-anything about science & technology

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New episode streaming Friday, July 25, 2025 at 3:30pm ET. Submit your questions

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 64] »

1 hour 16 minutes

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Since photons do not experience the passing of time, does that mean that all their physical properties, such as wavelength, are fixed throughout their lifespan? Do you think that it's worth investing in and attempting cryonic suspension as a way to continue living? ​​Why does time seem to speed up as we age? How can one learn physics or math at a young age (organizing your life, order of topics, your experience as a young physics enthusiast, etc.)? If the center of the Earth is really hot lava like the Sun, how come it isn't melting everything between us and it? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 63] »

59 minutes

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​Is there really such a thing as infinity, or is it just a concept? ​Does infinity have a magnitude? But is infinity really a mathematical object? It has no finite quantity. ​How can something without a finite quantity be used in a calculation/computation? What's the difference between counting numbers and counting processes? ​Is rulial space likely to be finite or infinite? ​​How is it possible that the infinity of integers is smaller than the infinity of floats? ​Why can't mules and zonkeys reproduce? What are the limits for different species of mammals breeding with one another? Is it five crossovers on average for everyone? Conceptually, are memes on the internet a species? So how is a species determined just by visual features? Or maybe it's defined by breeding? Last question: Can genetic traits lay dormant for centuries or millennia? Can there be recurring changes after X generations? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 62] »

1 hour 9 minutes

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What do you think of psychological personality tests? Which type are you? ENTJ is the CEO personality type. Is replication a necessary criterion for the validation of a scientific experiment? So are personalities clustered or not? ​I wonder if there are datasets available. Can you explain the science behind the iron rod that bored through Phineas Gage's head and, although didn't kill him, hugely impacted his functionality? AI, politics and decisions, please ​How crazy would it be if politics becomes like hedging, where it's all run by algorithms: Vote algo1 for prosperity! Algo3 is tough on crime! Algo 4 is more compassionate, etc. View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 61] »

1 hour 5 minutes

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Why are there no trees in the ocean? Did you read any Kant on the beach this week? (If so... any takeaways?) ​​I'd like to hear the differences and relationship between computing and modeling. ​Why is the thorium nuclear fission reactor not more popular? ​Since DNA is a double helix, shouldn't it work as having something similar to error correcting codes? In theory, if you dilute nuclear waste back to the same concentration as the ore and put it back in the same mine it came from, what would be the problem? What is your altcoin portfolio? Can the world become more valuable even though there isn't more stuff brought in from outer space? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 60] »

1 hour 15 minutes

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Can you talk about turbulence and why it's the greatest unsolved problem of classical mechanics? Is it true turbulence can't be predicted from the underlying physical equations (Navier–Stokes)? How about intelligent fluids that are about to take over the world? Which self-driving technology is better, imaging or LIDAR? What are finite fields and why are they important? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 59] »

1 hour 17 minutes

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​Can you explain neutrino messaging and whether it's feasible to build a neutrino messaging system or neutrino internet? Are the results we see in particle physics valid even outside our gravitational field? The elementary particles we discover in our accelerators—could they be bounded to the physics we see on Earth, or other "things" produced in space? Why should gravity, which is considered to be a very weak force compared to the others, have any significant effect on high energy particle physics experiments? I have a question relating to thermodynamics. How could we detect and remove the impact of refrigeration and air conditioning indoors on outdoor global temperatures? Can we build a giant magnifying glass and put it in orbit to create a death ray? A related question: does a magnifying glass steal energy from its surroundings? Can you name any technologies that were fragile and unreliable 50 to 100 years ago but are extremely reliable and widely used now? Are there any early-stage fragile technologies today that have the potential to be widely used 50 years in the future? ​Is there anything that is the opposite—something that is fragile today that was stable a century ago? Does technology universally always get better? What will be the next advancement in microprocessors? What about 3D lithography? View Less »
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