Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

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

Weekly ask-me-anything about science & technology

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New episode streaming Friday, February 7, at 3:30pm ET. Submit your questions

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 41] »

1 hour 3 minutes

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​What are the biggest differences you notice about how physicists think vs. how mathematicians think? ​A typical text file is a few KB, a typical audio file is a few MB, a typical video file is a few GB. What would a typical file size be for smell, taste and touch? Is there a reason why a quantitative change leads to a qualitative change? ​Do you think there is a market for small rockets in Europe? ​Would those LEO satellites block out sunlight? ​If we keep getting more precision with atomic clocks, can we use a set of well placed atomic clocks to use gravity's effects on time to create a 3D map of some region of space (say to spy in a room, or see into the ground) to make out things with a centimeter feature? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 40] »

1 hour 30 minutes

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​Is there any experiment in computation similar to Miller - Urey experiment? ​Can there be life inside a solid? ​Will it be possible in the future to create an atmosphere on a planetary scale? ​Why can electromagnetic waves transfer in space while sound waves can't? ​Could the physics project predict a phenomenon that can't be observed by humans but would be "faster than light"? ​What about low frequency electromagnetic waves from giant electromagnets ULF could they be sent and detected like from giant coils? ​Do you think AI based government and regulation of economy will be a reality in this century? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 39] »

1 hour 2 minutes

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​When an electron moves from one energy level to another and it releases a photon, is the direction of the photon random? ​Can you please explain inertial and non-inertial reference frames? What are their implications? ​Why do humans have an appendix even though it is unnecessary? ​Why do we have folds in our ears? ​Why do we have folds in our ears? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 38] »

1 hour 14 minutes

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​Why does Occam's razor work? ​Stephen, do you know how to cook? ​How would you explain the goal of your physics project to a 5 year old? ​Yuval recently indicated that the next pandemic (crisis) will be an attack on the internet. What do you think? ​What did you think about that strange shaped asteroid passing the solar system, which caused speculation it was an interstellar voyager? ​Going back to the original thoughts of the "net" but based on new but now almost existing tech/Software? The important part of the attack on the Iranian Uranium system was that it was done through the electric grid and not the "internetgrid". Explaining how that is relevant and possible would be enlightening to many. That can be made a mainly physics answer. ​In the Wikipedia article for Outmuamua they say "it did exhibit non‑gravitational acceleration" - what does that mean? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 37] »

1 hour 30 minutes

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Why is there a size limit for a planetary body in the universe? Is the size of Jupiter the largest that is possible? What happens to the electrons before the sun fusion occurs? Why does it take up to 100,000 years for a photon to go from the core to the surface of the sun while only 8 minutes to reach earth? How does one solve more-than-one electron systems? When an atom absorbs a photon and then the same atom emit a photon... is that the same photon? Is it true that the speed of light as we know it is an accepted assumption and the "one way" speed of light could not be calculated because the time measuring instruments can never be synced due to relativity? so we can only measure the speed of light beaming and returning from an object and assuming that the speed in both ways is the same? So what happen to materials as metals if you cool them down in cooling fluids, for example we have Helium in a container with the metal and we cool it down to a fluid. Dirac talk a lot about the constants of nature and our inability to explain them. Have we come any further in explaining them since his passing? What about the triple/critical point? (i forget the name, but its the temp and pressure where a substance exists as gas & liquid & solid) How would you suggest getting a child interested in diving deep into science and tech? Not just web programming but something real. What if the kid's parents aren't very interested themselves? Can the kid be 'saved' so to speak? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 36] »

1 hour 34 minutes

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Is sociology a real science? Can it predict something? Should we use Inductive reasoning in science? What is a number? Would computer processing speed increase if we had a compendium of mathematical proofs? What's the worst computer bug you have ever had? What was the simplest computer bug that you couldn't figure out? How quickly is technology advancing at the moment? Is science reliable in the grand scheme of things? How is it possible to overcome this sort of self doubt? View Less »
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