Season 2018 2018

This week's guest is Rikki Poynter! Go subscribe to her vlog: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCS7wVohIwd66b95xyuw7DFQ -- and if subtitles aren't on automatically here, you can turn them on in your device settings! There isn't one universal sign language for all: even British and American sign languages have very little in common. Here, with full subtitles, is someone actually qualified to explain why!

Today's guest is 12tone! Go subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCTUtqcDkzw7bisadh6AOx5w - and here's their video about the Imperial March: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jA36-mQEYwk Solresol is a language, invented out of whole cloth by Jean-François Sudre in the 19th century, that used seven musical notes to create all the words that he thought you'd ever need. It did work: so why aren't we all speaking in notes right now? SOURCES: http://web.archive.org/web/20060115061414/http://www

This week's guest is Evan Hadfield, from Rare Earth. Go subscribe! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCtGG8ucQgEJPeUPhJZ4M4jA -- start with his video on the last elephants of Cambodia: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4SETSsXkx0 William Lyon Mackenzie King was a sexually repressed, hypocritical, guilt-ridden, prostitute-visiting momma's boy who was exceptionally weird. He was also, perhaps, Canada's greatest prime minister. This week, Evan talks about legacy, and about how you don't need to be a

I'd never heard of moiré effect beacons until I got an email asking me about them. It seemed like a really clever idea - but it was really hard to research. Or at least it was, until I stumbled upon one magic phrase that revealed its history. It turns out this thing's called an "Inogon leading mark" or "Inogon light" -- Inogon, not Inogen -- and it's a Swedish invention from the 1980s. But there's still a question: why is being used to mark an undersea cable, instead of guiding people home? (F

Many people sent me this story: it covers my favourite topics of power grids and temporal anomalies. But when the mainstream press have already covered it, how could I add something more? The answer: by adding another pet topic, Unnecessary British Patriotism. And a teasmade. Press release: https://www.entsoe.eu/news-events/announcements/announcements-archive/Pages/News/2018-03-06-press-release-continuing-frequency-deviation-in-the-continental-european-power-system.aspx Teasmade: http://amzn.t

Thanks to the RAF, Rolls-Royce, and the Red Arrows! Go visit their Starrship project, it's the reason I got to do this: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCqSO3sA38W0YLwrwTxA0POw The Red Arrows are the Royal Air Force's aerobatic display team - the best in the world. They fly Hawk T1 jets, powering through the sky at hundreds of miles per hour, pulling high-G maneuvers with just a few metres between their wingtips. Here's how they do it: and part of it's a skill that you probably already know. S

As far as I can find, no-one has actually made a International Standard Cup of Tea - ISO 3103 or BS 6008 - for the internet before. Lots of people have talked about it, but that's easy. Making one? That requires precision... and some specialist equipment. You can buy a professional tea tasting set from this Amazon UK affiliate link: https://amzn.to/2qfbxyr Thanks to Morag Hickman for letting me borrow her workshop for last-minute filming! She makes beautiful jewellery, like ring-keepers, drago

Over the North Atlantic, there's no radar coverage: so how do air traffic controllers keep planes safe? The answer, at least in part, can be found at Nav Canada's Gander Area Control Centre in Newfoundland. The North Atlantic Tracks are like freeway lanes in the sky, if freeway lanes were stacked a thousand feet on top of each other. More about Nav Canada and the tracks, and the new standards they're introducing: http://blog.navcanada.ca/increasing-operational-flexibility-north-atlantic/ Edite

In Dawson City, a small mining town in the Yukon, sits the Downtown Hotel. Inside there is a tradition that tourists have been trying out for decades: the Sourtoe Cocktail. Thanks to everyone at the Downtown Hotel! More about them: https://dawsoncity.ca/attraction/sourtoe-cocktail-club/ Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin) I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tomscott and on Snapchat and Instagram as tomscottgo

In the last few years, wildfires have been getting worse - and, oddly, it's because humans have been preventing them. From a helicopter above the forests of British Columbia, and from the Tree Ring Lab at UBC, let's talk about how we should just let some wildfires burn. Thanks to Bradley Friesen! He's about to properly launch his channel 'Destruction by Gravity': https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL3Kr3kf9W34cUvurxl7AGw and Mister Bentley the Dog is on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrben

In Porthcurno, Cornwall, there's an old telegraph cable landing station. It's how Britain talked to the Empire -- and it's now a museum. But the technology here isn't quite as obsolete as you might think. Thanks to Steve and all the team at the Porthcurno Telegraph Museum! You can find out more about them here: https://telegraphmuseum.org/ Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin) I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tomscott an

Back in the 1920s, wingwalking claimed lives. Daredevils would move around on the top of a plane's wings, in mid-flight, often without any harness or any safety line. Maybe they'd be able to clip onto something during takeoff and landing, but maybe not. There are still a few of those true daredevil wingwalkers out there in the world, but in the 21st century... it's usually a bit different. Thanks to the team at Aerosuperbatics Wingwalking: http://www.aerosuperbatics.com/ (this isn't sponsored,

Ogham is an old Irish script made by carving notches into stones. It fell out of use more than a millennium ago - but it's an interesting exception to a linguistics and computer-science rule that I'd never even realised existed. Let's talk about the Ogham Space Mark. Thanks to all the team at the British Museum! You can visit their YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/user/britishmuseum I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook

Every month or so, somewhere in London, a manhole explodes. It's so common that it doesn't make the news unless it's spectacular or someone gets injured. Here's why, complete with gratuitous pyrotechnics. Filmed by Perspective Pictures Pyrotechnics by Paul at Darkstar Pyrotechnics News articles: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/11169183/Explosion-in-city-street.html https://www.standard.co.uk/news/london/pavement-explodes-yards-from-pedestrians-and-cars-in-old-street-a35

Dinorwig Power Station, otherwise known as Electric Mountain, is a pumped-storage hydro station in Llanberis, Wales. And yes: it's Britain's largest battery. Here's how it works, and why some of the things you think you know about TV pickups might not be so true any more. Thanks to all the Engie team! More about them: http://home.engie.co.uk Public tours of Electric Mountain are closed until mid-2019, but you can find details here: http://electricmountain.co.uk/ Camera op: Ryan Priestnall Edi

The Tree That Owns Itself in Athens, Georgia is well known. The other Tree That Owns Itself in Eufaula, Alabama, really isn't. It's the same story in a different place. Why? I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tomscott and on Instagram as tomscottgo

The Multi Axis Trainer, or MAT, is an icon of space exploration and astronaut training. But other than spinning round kids at Space Camp: what's it actually used for? Thanks to Moriah and all the team at Space Camp! You can find out more about their programs for kids and for adults at https://www.spacecamp.com/ Edited by Michelle Martin (@mrsmmartin) I'm at http://tomscott.com on Twitter at http://twitter.com/tomscott on Facebook at http://facebook.com/tomscott and on Instagram as tomscottgo