I'm going to London! And I'm leading a team of YouTubers. For the next few weeks we will all be doing videos themed around the Olympics so I'm tackling the science of sport and science in and around London.

The Team!
HOWRIDICULOUS: http://bit.ly/LtFzpW
APPCHAT: http://bit.ly/NxAMlX
ERIKAANEAR: http://bit.ly/MdyUzQ
MINUTEPHYSICS: http://bit.ly/Muh6CC
EFIT30: http://bit.ly/O4CMme

2VERITASIUM http://youtube.com/2veritasium

Music by Alankeys86 and Kevin McLeod (Incompetech.com)

For the London 2012 Summer Olympics creators from all over the world are taking over YouTube with the most awesome Olympics videos ever. Go to YouTube.com/CreatorHub to see all the amazing gold medal videos.

Innovative research conducted in Lausanne, Switzerland has shown that a combination of neurotransmitters and electrical stimulation can restore movement to the lower limbs of previously paralysed rats. But in order for this motion to be made voluntarily the rats must be motivated to walk. This motivation comes in the form of cheering, visual cues, and of course, chocolate.

Why Trees Are Amazing: http://bit.ly/TFilQ8
Space Junk: http://bit.ly/XlLdjG
Why Astronauts Are Weightless: http://bit.ly/SuF2p1
Higgs Boson Update: http://bit.ly/Vw1Sgu

How should we depict an atom? Like a solar system with electrons orbiting the nucleus on hula hoop orbits? That idea is so last century! Bosi takes us into the quantum world, where an electron's position and velocity aren't well defined - all we can calculate are the probabilities e.g. of finding an electron at different points in space. When we do that, we find electrons do not neccessarily occupy circles or spheres in space. Rather their probability densities make all sorts of interesting shapes from the dumbell to the peanut with the donut around it.

Congratulations, the acceleration of the bungy jump is greatest at the jumper's lowest point. This is because the bungy is now stretched to its maximum, meaning if applies a force up on the jumper more than twice his weight. This means he accelerates up at a greater rate than the acceleration down when he left the platform.

To celebrate the announcement of the discovery of a particle consistent with the Higgs Boson at the LHC, I took to the streets with Vi Hart to give out free Higgs. Now giving out a subatomic particle, especially the Higgs, would have been incredibly difficult so instead we gave out hand-drawn cards of the Standard Model, our current best theory of all matter particles in the universe and their iteractions (now with Higgs!). We also offered a hug with an integer spin, usually 1 or 2 (and in rare cases 0). This is a way of showing others that you care about the Higgs Boson.

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Everyone has played with a mixture of corn starch and water (or at least I hope they have). This was one of my favorite experiments as a kid. Your hand slides into the slime easily when moving slowly but the mixture behaves as a solid if you hit it quickly. That is what is meant by 'non-Newtonian' - the fluid's properties change depending on its relative motion. These properties can be exploited to dramatic effect as has been shown on speaker cones before. Here I wanted to understand what is going on, what frequencies and amplitudes work best so I used a slow-mo camera.

Thanks to everyone at the YouTube Space LA for helping me film this. I couldn't have done it without you.

Music licensed from http://www.cuesongs.com
Love Lost (Instrumental) by Temper Trap
A Life in the Day by Ghost of Otis
Fortune's Fool Instrumental by Hiatus & Shura
The Man by Audio Android

How to light a candle without touching a flame to the wick. A common misconception is that a candle burns by burning the wick. What is actually burning is wax vapour which is drawn up through the wick. When you blow a candle out, wax vapour continues to rise off the candle so you can light this vapour which burns back down to the wick, relighting the candle.

Scientific research has shown that heterosexual males and females find members of the opposite sex more attractive when they wear the colour red. This is a subconscious preference that seems to have some evolutionary basis. We attempted to replicate these findings in Sydney but our methods were much less controlled and the results achieved were not statistically significant.

Right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AS9OXzSRBMQ
Left: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWQ-HJ4oGKQ
It Depends: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3GHiMOHEy8
What happens when nylon rope is wound around a spool and pulled horizontally to the right? Will the spool go to the right, to the left, or does it depend on how the rope is pulled?

More about the Alaska Trip: http://education.projectaether.org

Channel 10 Breakfast: http://www.tenbreakfast.com.au (6-9am weekdays in Australia)

March 26 segment on live TV talking about solar storms and my upcoming trip to the Great White North. As you watch this I will probably be on a plane high over the pacific.
PS a student recently told me that my hair to beard ratio is a bit off and watching this clip I tend to agree. However, it is still -20 C at night in Alaska so I'll need all the insulation I can get.

I am nearing the end of a 6-week road trip filming for an Australian TV show called Catalyst (http://abc.net.au/catalyst). Along with co-presenters Anja and Simon, I have travelled from Perth towards our destination, Melbourne, picking up all the interesting science stories along the way.

Since we have been working long days I haven't had time to make any new Veritasium material. Instead I thought I'd share some things I have done for this show in the past, including narrating short 'factoid' segments like this one. Hope everyone is having a great holiday season and I look forward to getting back to Veritasium stuff in a few weeks.

Nuclear Fungus
Producer: Nicky Ruscoe
Researcher: Kiri Beilby
Editor: Chris Spur
Graphics: Rapt Animation P/L

http://abc.net.au/catalyst

What causes the phases of the moon? The common incorrect answer is the shadow of the Earth. The phases of the moon are actually just a result of our perception of the moon's half-illuminated surface. When the moon does pass through Earth's shadow the result is a lunar eclipse. This can be spectacular as the moon turns a deep shade of red.

Images courtesy of NASAimages.org and Geoff Wyatt, Senior Astronomy Educator Powerhouse Museum

We put aerogel to the test vs 'not-a-flamethrower', a huge 2000°C flame to a large fiberglass blanket infused with silica aerogel - formerly the lightest solid (that title is now held by graphene aerogel).

Special thanks to:
Aerogel Technologies: https://ve42.co/aerogeltech
Aspen Aerogels: https://ve42.co/aspen
Ben: @BenScho999999
Dr. Stephen Steiner and the Aerogel Technologies team

The footage of aerogel materials in cold environments was provided courtesy of Aspen Aerogels. Their product, cryogel, was shown to be flexible in liquid nitrogen while preventing cold burns to the hand. They are the manufacturer of the blanket used in the main portion of this video.

This is the finale of my three-part series on aerogel. I'll put links to the other parts below:
World's Lightest Solid: https://youtu.be/AeJ9q45PfD0
I Waterproofed Myself With Aerogel: https://youtu.be/GcdB5bFwio4

Huge thanks to Patreon supporters:
Alfred Wallace, Arjun Chakroborty, Bryan Baker, Chris Vargas, Chuck Lauer Vose, Dale Horne, Donal Botkin, Eric Velazquez, halyoav, James Knight, Jasper Xin, Joar Wandborg, Kevin Beavers, kkm, Leah Howard, Lyvann Ferrusca, Michael Krugman, Mohammed Al Sahaf, Noel Braganza, Philipp Volgger, Pindex, Ron Neal, Sam Lutfi, Stan Presolski, Tige Thorman

This is an educational video demonstrating scientific experiments performed by professionals. It should not be attempted by viewers.

Music from Epidemic Sound: http://epidemicsound.com "Running Against the Clock" "Dangerous Forests"

A quote by Einstein: A human being is a part of the whole, called by us "Universe", a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings as something separated from the rest — a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. Nobody is able to achieve this completely, but the striving for such achievement is in itself a part of the liberation and a foundation for inner security.

On mobile, click here for the answer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQCVnjGUv24

When ice is put under pressure, its melting point decreases. When that pressure is removed it goes back to being solid. This process is known as 'regelation'. In this experiment regelation of ice is attempted with copper wire and fishing line of the same diameter. Which will pass through the ice first?

When is the acceleration (rate of speeding up or slowing down) greatest during a bungy jump?

The aurora borealis or northern lights is one of the most spectacular natural displays on the planet. Theories about its origins have been debated for centuries and common misconceptions persist that the aurora is the sun's rays scattered off ice crystals in the high atmosphere. In truth, the light is created more than 100km above Earth's surface as high speed electrons and protons ejected from the sun in a solar flare or coronal mass ejection collide with air molecules in the upper atmosphere. The charged particles from the sun excite air molecules which then de-excite by emitting light. The display is most common around the north and south poles because the Earth's magnetic field deflects the solar wind from the equator to the poles. Here the magnetic field dips towards the Earth's surface, channeling the charged particles into the atmosphere.

Music is by Kevin MacLeod http://incompetech.com, the song is called Mirage

Starring: Christie Wykes as Chlorine, Carbon, and Sodium
Director of Photography: Sean McCallum
Gravity (John Mayer Cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7KpH9_I2Dw
I'm Atoms (Jason Mraz Cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DBjZz0iQrzI
Electricity (Jet Cover) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cY-kiddvAg0
Experiments A Cappella http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRbI_vPyOnc

Smarter Every Day Collaboration video: http://youtu.be/riwc3UgPaHw
The Veritasium treatment of the final transit of Venus this century. The weather behaved for some key moments allowing me to observe Venus passing across the disk of the sun. The transit of Venus is steeped in historical significance. Observations of the transit in 1769 led to the first really accurate calculation of the Earth-Sun distance (or one astronomical unit AU). Since Cook was in Tahiti he then mapped the East coast of Australia and parts of New Zealand.

When a grape is cut nearly in half and placed in a microwave, plasma is produced. Please use caution if attempting this experiment: don't leave the microwave on for too long, make sure the area is well ventilated, and stand back. Remember the contents will be very hot afterwards.