The Rest Is Science Podcast: Turning Scientific Ideas Inside Out

Science podcasts essentially have two sets of DNA. One version of a Science podcast is academic, sometimes pedantic, yet brilliantly informative. Big Brains and Why This Universe are just two examples. Then, there are the Science podcasts that offer hard science with the soft shell of humor, irony, or outright mockery. Examples include ScienceVS, Taboo Science, and even Unexplainable. 

 The Rest Is Science is a science podcast hosted by mathematician Professor Hannah Fry and YouTuber Michael Stevens (Vsauce) that falls into that second, more amorous category. The show, produced by Goalhanger, explores big scientific questions twice a week, with a main episode diving deep into a single topic and a second "Field Notes" episode focusing on a single object's journey through scientific ideas. Yet the superb co-hosts aren't immune to injecting humor into the proceedings.

However, the show's funding source and sponsor are deadly serious. 
One of the most complex topics the show will discuss is cancer – a disease with more than 200 distinct types that present unique challenges.

The folks at Cancer Research UK say: "Over the past 50 years, our pioneering work has helped double cancer survival in the UK. With our help, The Rest Is Science explores some of the breakthroughs that are driving a revolution in our understanding of cancer and our ability to beat it."

 "We fund scientists, doctors, and nurses to help beat cancer sooner. We also provide cancer information to the public. Every step we make towards beating cancer relies on every pound donated. A number of bodies work together to ensure that we make the best use of the funds we receive and continue to carry out world-class research."

At a time when the U.S. has drastically cut back on cancer research -- and any other medical research -- it's uplifting to hear of a cancer research governmental organization that's spreading its wings for the good of its citizens. 

The co-hosts are brilliant, wildly knowledgeable about a unique variety of scientific disciplines, with a wit Einstein would admire, and a chemistry that stronger than a covalent bond in a vacuum. (I scienced you!) 

 Fry is a British mathematician, broadcaster and Professor for the Public Understanding of Mathematics at the University of Cambridge known for her sassy, witty and warm presenting style and ability to explain complex subjects in digestible form. She has fronted shows such as the BBC’s science program The Secret Genius of Modern Life and Bloomberg’s The Future with Hannah Fry. Her latest series, Nat Geo and Bloomberg’s The Infinite Explorer launched this year, and she is developing a doc on AI for the BBC, which will launch next year. 

Stevens, meanwhile, is an American educator, inventor and the creator and host of Vsauce, the YouTube science and education channels that have accumulated 24 million subscribers and over six billion views. He has extensively toured Brain Candy Live, a stage show he created with MythBusters‘ Adam Savage, and is a co-founder of The Curiosity Box, a subscription science and maths toys business.

“We wanted to make a show that takes familiar ideas and turns them inside out – breaking them down and looking so closely that they start to feel almost unrecognizable, said Fry. “Science is full of things we think we understand – time, randomness, beauty, evolution – until you actually start to question them. Then you realize how strange, fragile, and completely astonishing reality really is.”

Stevens added: “With The Rest Is Science, we wanted to go beyond pop science and maths to dig into the kinds of details that usually get skipped over. I’ve always been fascinated by that space between what we know and what we think we know. That’s where curiosity really lives, and that’s the space this show explores.”

 I loved the first episode -- How To Drink Lava, which was released on November 24. Questions asked include: Is lava water, and could we have a delicious hot cup of it? Is ice really a rock, and not water? And, the age-old question, is water wet?

From the minerals that shape the taste of our favorite drinks, to the tiny isotopes that reveal where a person, or whale, has travelled, the co-hosts reveal the hidden life of H₂O.

At one point in the episode, Professor Fry confesses, "We're drinking dinosaur pee." Listen to the show to discover why that statement is accurate.  

During the show, Stevens launches into a math equation to illustrate how little freshwater there really is on Earth, despite Earth being 75% water. I immediately began amassing fresh water jugs in my garage in case of a water Apocalypse.

Along the way, they uncover why pure water can be deadly, how yesterday’s sewage might be fueling the future, and discover that the water in your glass might be older than the Sun.

 Another episode that had gravitas was We're All Being Pulled Together. In the show, the co-hosts ask,"What is gravity, really? Why do objects pull towards each other at all? And if Einstein 'fixed' Newton’s theory, why does gravity remain one of science’s biggest unsolved mysteries?"

A clumsy trip into a lamppost leads the co-hosts into a whirlwind tour of our changing understanding of gravity, from falling apples and making wormholes for ants, to the puzzles we still can’t crack.

Why does time tick faster on a mountaintop than by the sea? Why are galaxies spinning in ways our equations can’t explain? And could an invisible particle finally reveal what gravity is made of?

I'd never had so much fun listening to a discussion on gravity. And this comment is from a person who almost failed physics in college!

The show is produced by Goalhanger, which is a British podcast production and distribution company. In 2024, its podcasts received over 400 million downloads. According to the company, its 13 main shows collectively receive more than 70 million full-episode streams per month. 

This association with Goalhanger should have excluded them from the "indie podcast" designation. However, considering that the show is sponsored by a Cancer Research organization, and GoalHanger isn't Spotify or Amazon, we're calling an audible (American football phrase, sorry), and designating the show an independent podcast.

Anyway, as Science podcasts go, The Rest Is Science is already one of the best. You can learn, snicker, even laugh, and still amaze your friends with what you learned. In fact, I brought up the dinosaur pee comment at a dinner out with friends last week. It didn't go over well. Everybody switched from Chardonnay to a Pinot Noir.