Stephen Wolfram Livestreams

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others (159 videos)

Weekly ask-me-anything about science & technology

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New episode streaming Friday, May 23, 2025 at 3:30pm ET. Submit your questions

Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 21] »

1 hour 36 minutes

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I was wondering about your thoughts on Claude Shannon, information entropy, and information theory in general. I believe this field is responsible for so much technology and progress around us, but doesn't get its due praise in the mainstream. What books / exercises are best to take me from a high school level physics / mathematics understanding to being able to make sense of the wolfram physics model? Why is the core of the Earth as hot as the surface of the sun? Fusion or fission? Is this true of many planets/moons in our solar system? What good and bad aspects are there to being financially successful? How did your life change when you first became a millionaire? If you got a chance to talk to Richard Feynman, right now in 2020, and ask only one question, what would it be? It is 'easy' to make a bot for every video game? How god ant-bot detection methods can be? What outreach do you do for students in a similar situation as I was in, to help people succeed as I did? Any plans on increasing that outreach? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 20] »

1 hour 29 minutes

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For a math/science career, what is the most useful subject to study in school excluding math/science? What was your favorite non-science class(subject) in school? Does a charged battery weigh more than a discharged battery? How can scientist Measure Atomic number for every element, electron mass and speed? Is there an accessible book about the history of computation that you would recommend? If it's true sound can be transmitted more easily in solids compared to gases, why can we hear better through air compared to through walls or glass? Why are mirrors made with glass? Would a mirror made with a different material have different reflective properties? What was your first computer Dr. Wolfram? How long have you known Donald Knuth? Wow Stephen u went to Caltech and Oxford! Would you recommend them? Golf ball have dimples that allow them to move faster. Why cars and planes don't have dimples? When you say that in philosophy everyone can think about fundamental questions: why is that the case in philosophy but not in physics or maths? Why does philosophy not have a similar rigid corpus of theory as "harder science" have? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 19] »

1 hour 29 minutes

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Do protons decay? Theoretically, If there was a ladder stretching from earth to a distant planet, say a light year away. Could you communicate with people there instantly by push and pulling, Morse code style? And is this related to quantum entanglement? Who do you think was the smartest person to ever live? Do you think that it is possible to make secret some big discovery related to let say AI by government, similar to Project Manhattan? Any stories about Roger Penrose? Would it be possible to have a stream in which we can see the output of the detector? Do you believe that there was an idea of technology before modern civilizations? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 18] »

1 hour 6 minutes

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Do you think that neurons work more as a mechanical system or rather on quantum level? Is computational power done by the neural network or more by the microtubules? It has been argued that the majority of published research findings in science are false (i.e., overfitting). Since you have read 100s of research papers, has this been your experience? Are there fields where the academic research is generally of higher quality? Is it possible to slow climate change by creating like a layer of clouds to lower temperature by a bit? How do birds fly and why is it so hard to completely understand and mimic it? What does it mean when a paper is peer review. Who are the peers? I want to teach science for my 3 years old sister, what subjects do I teach? In Brazil we do not learn Wright Brothers invented the air plane, but Carlos Drummond, a Brazilian. Regarding climate change, if all of the glaciers melt, how will coastal cities keep the water back? Dr. Wolfram, how many hours of sleep you get?? I see you online all the time discussing all sorts of different things. View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 17] »

54 minutes

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Hi Stephen, you have said that you doubt whether quantum computers will ever work. Why do I read so often that another quantum computer was built with so and so many qbits? How do we know there are more than three dimensions? What is quantum tunneling? Why is the 3-body problem so hard to solve? Who is your favourite Manhattan Project Scientist? I was reading about Stanislaw Ulam did you ever meet him? ​Have you ever considered teaching other subjects besides math? What subjects? ​What do you know about Ettore Majorana? ​I'd be curious to hear what your thoughts are on Music Theory and Composition. Are you familiar with Dmitri Tymoczko at Princeton? Some of his work maps Orbifolds to harmonic structures. ​Can you explain Hurwitz's automorphisms theorem? ​Do you think that neurons work more as a mechanical system or rather on quantum level? Is computational power done by the neural network or more by the microtubules? View Less »
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Science & Technology Q&A for Kids & Others:
Science & Technology Q&A for Kids (and Others) [Episode 16] »

1 hour 12 minutes

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​Can data be sent via light wirelessly? ​How can there be different types of twilights and would you observe the same thing on Mars? ​Why is the sky not black? ​How do I become a scientist like you? How did you make it to create a business out of it? ​Is it possible to do a PhD research under your supervision? ​Can photons interact? I heard about light-by-light scattering; but aren't photons just the (independent) quantum activation of an electro-magnetic wave? ​How about post Doc? ​My supervisor says that I should do little progresses and publish lots even if shallow works, but I am more inclined to fewer deeper works. What should I do? ​Is there a hard lesson you learnt that has impacted you deeply? View Less »
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