Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others (155 videos)

Weekly ask-me-anything about science & technology

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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and others) [Episode 149] »

1 hour 26 minutes

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​​​​Can machine learning find a pattern in all animal languages? ​​Cat: "Meow." Translation: "What a glorious day to be alive. I think I will frolic in the fields and catch myself some field mice for my tea. Then I shall sit down and ponder the nature of the universe." What is time? ​​If the rules repeat a state, does that mean time has gone backwards? ​​So less computation allowed for the progression of time? Time slows down the faster you go? ​​Communication speed between Mars and Earth is not instantaneous. So wouldn't both the sender and the receiver never have real-time data of what was happening on both planets? We on Earth may only find out that something terrible happened on Mars after it's too late, correct? ​​​​Is there an "objective" time in Wolfram physics? Is the "frame rate" the same everywhere? How do I prove that matter is made of atoms? How would you solve 100/4(2+3)? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 148] »

1 hour 14 minutes

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What is machine learning in layman's terms? What do you think about opossums? Mine is getting big, it is over 3 pounds now! What do you think about thermodynamic computing? As pursued by companies like Extropic AI and Normal Computing. How does water vapor work? When the sun shines on the ocean it doesn't get to 100 degrees, so how does the water escape being a liquid and rise up to the clouds? What's your intuition for the future of ML after your most recent blog post? What is the simplest form of machine learning? The hardest? What's the difference between volume, weight and mass? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 147] »

1 hour 28 minutes

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How do galaxies form? Is it true that animals can sense earthquakes? How? Why can't humans? I always found it fascinating how birds pick up those fields to "get directions" on where to fly. People with joint pain can often sense air pressure and humidity changes, and some develop a sense for when the weather will change as a result ("My knee hurts; the weather will change soon."). What is the difference between speed and acceleration? If energy is conserved, how we do we run out of it? How do mutations or radiation effects affect biological evolution? How size dependant is the universe? Could it be possible to create a mini-galaxy within a controlled environment here on Earth? Is there fusion going on in a black hole? Closet-sized black holes would explain all the missing socks... View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 146] »

1 hour 35 minutes

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What is muography? How are elements created? Are they finite? I wonder if graphene might be useful in neutrino detection, but maybe I'm underestimating how small a neutrino is. So if a chunk of a neutron star fell off, then all the neutrinos fell off? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 145] »

1 hour 20 minutes

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If you had to explain your "Why Does Biological Evolution Work? A Minimal Model for Biological Evolution and Other Adaptive Processes" blog to middle-school students, how would you begin that discussion? What is convergent evolution? Different genotypes come to the same phenotype—did I remember that right? Regarding your blog, ​​I think it might be interesting to run rules toward each other from opposite sides and adaptively evolve them for length. Cells that both rules would affect are won by the rule with more width. ​​Do you think life existed before it did on Earth? What is the importance of biodiversity and ecosystems in biological evolution? ​​About life: follow the water. ​​​​Did microorganisms have teachers? Who was the Einstein of microorganisms? If you put A LOT of laser in ONE spot, would that create matter? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 144] »

1 hour 8 minutes

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How rare was the recent New Jersey earthquake? How can we predict future earthquakes? The Indian Plate is moving very fast. It's increasing the height of Mt. Everest by six centimeters every year. I wonder if digging for oil and fracking, etc., have any effect on the plates? How do earthquakes cause tsunamis? It seems like studying underwater earthquakes vs. those on land might be a good way to investigate the "lubrication effect." Solitary waves were discovered by the naval architect John Scott Russell in 1834. Anything particularly interesting or surprising from the solar eclipse? It appeared that leading up to it, between the book and website, it was better understood than any previous solar eclipse before it happened. Now that it has happened, what interesting findings have there been, if any? What causes Earth to have different biomes? Why is there only one species of human? What happened to Neanderthals? How do astronomers determine the composition of planets and stars that are light years away from us? View Less »
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