Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

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

Weekly ask-me-anything about science & technology

icon

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 58] »

1 hour 21 minutes

✕ close
Why does an electron fall or lower its orbit to the "normal" state after having being in an excited state? ​​What does an infinite amount of integers and decimals between two integers say about the nature of the world? ​What is a time crystal? ​What is your opinion on the technological and economic feasibility of asteroid mining? ​How does sophisticated philosophy relate to sophisticated math in both the thinking processes underlying them and the intellectual firepower in effect? ​How did your mother and father encourage your own pursuits in science? ​​​If knowing absolutely nothing is represented with 0 and knowing everything is represented with 1, where do you think the human race is at this moment and what are its limits of knowledge? ​What could knowing the machine code of the universe unlock in technology? View Less »
View More »
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 57] »

1 hour 14 minutes

✕ close
Is there a reason why math has an order of operations, or is it just "because we decided on that"? What does a day in the life of a scientist look like? ​ ​What is your opinion about reproducible research? ​Stephen, I loved your conversation with Greg Chaitin! You asked questions that reminded me of the questions that we ask you. Please make some podcast episodes where you have guests to whom you ask questions! ​Will teleportation ever be possible, even if only for, say, a photon stream? If so, could a probe sent into a black hole be able to transmit back images across the event horizon using this technique? View Less »
View More »
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 56] »

1 hour 17 minutes

✕ close
Is programming essential for the next breakthroughs in neuroscience, both theoretical and practical? If yes, how, and is Wolfram Language enough to fulfill that purpose? Any opinions on "smart drugs" like custom-made neuropeptides that increase NGF (Dihexa, etc.)? Is the Crick–Mitchison theory of REM sleep essential for understanding how mammalian brains work? Can you comment on the history of plant breeding and computation? Or agriculture as a technology? It seems that old plant breeders think new molecular breeding techniques are a waste of time and money. Modern breeders are using genomic selection with SNPs and gBLUP models. The history of most of our crops is very complicated, usually involving strange hybrids. Will the future bring surveillance and all-knowing government or deep fakes and other things that could be used to fake identity, both physical and digital, in order to get rid of government presence? View Less »
View More »
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 55] »

1 hour 4 minutes

✕ close
Is doing science something intrinsic to the human species, so that if humanity were to be restarted, would science emerge afresh? Can Wolfram talk about pseudo-linear congruential random number generators? Stephen, do you think that we as parents should control how much time our kids spend on computers and smartphones? ​Is it possible to have "many internets"—internet outside of this current internet? Will nations be able enforce firewalls if someone is connecting to Starlink? What's your vision for the future and how do your current students fit into that vision? View Less »
View More »
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 54] »

1 hour 29 minutes

✕ close
Is it possible for there to be a different world or civilization deep in the oceans that we do not know about? ​​What do you think about civilization going to Mars? Why do the planets orbit in the same plane? Are Phobos and Deimos also on the same plane, considering they're asteroids that were grabbed by Mars and now orbit it? What makes a planet a planet? Why do most planets, stars and galaxies seem to spin the same way? What did NASA do to avoid astronauts getting great amounts of cosmic rays? How exactly do you detect muons? I'm going to be taking a class next year that has a big, fun project at the end of the semester that includes potentially making something that detects muons. Why is water a good radiation shield if it has low atomic numbers inside? Why does an iron core result in a supernova? How do nuclear blasts affect computers? View Less »
View More »
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 53] »

51 minutes

✕ close
​Hi, Stephen. Why does the universe exist? In a recent interview, you said that you have been considering this over the past month. When was the last time you weren't the smartest person in the room? If all knowledge about physics was to be lost, which theory would be most difficult to rediscover in your opinion and why? Wolfram|Alpha uses a curated knowledge graph rather than some Wikipedia crowdsourced approach. You had a bunch of people in an office authoring a lot of data for it, correct? Or does it draw from other databases? Kids and teenagers are less and less interested by mathematics. What do you think is the reason for this? How would you change it? View Less »
View More »