The Scale of the Universe

The scale of the universe stretches from the Planck length, the smallest scale physics can describe, to the observable universe, the largest thing we can see.

Travel inward from one and outward from the other by powers of ten and they meet at something astonishingly familiar: the size of a human egg cell.

Michael Stevens (VSauce) takes Professor Hannah Fry on a journey through powers of ten, from quarks and protons and DNA to bananas and pyramids and on to planets and galaxies, to explore where we sit in the scale of the universe.

Along the way they ask whether the Planck length could be the universe's smallest pixel, whether reality might be a computer simulation and just how empty space really is.

Plus, your questions: why our best ideas arrive in the shower, Wikipedia's strangest rabbit holes and Hannah corrects the record on whether Saint Augustine and Thomas Aquinas believed curiosity was a sin.

-------------------

You can find the Reddit thread for scale of the universe here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TheRestIsScience/comments/1uycf3l/i_visualized_michael_scale_comparison_from_the

And The Power Of 10 documentary here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0fKBhvDjuy0

See some of Hannah & Michael's favourite Wikipedia pages here:

- Osama Bin Laden The Elephant - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Osama_bin_Laden_(elephant)

- Death From Laughter - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_from_laughter

- Order Of Magnitude - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Order_of_magnitude

- Amedeo Avogadro - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amedeo_Avogadro

- Guy Standing (Economist) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Standing_(economist)

-Guy Standing (Actor) - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guy_Standing_(actor)

-------------------

For more information about Cancer Research UK, their research, breakthroughs and how you can support them, visit ⁠https://www.cancerresearchuk.org/our-research/rest-is-science

Cancer Research UK is a registered charity in England and Wales (1089464), Scotland (SC041666), the Isle of Man (1103) and Jersey (247). A company limited by guarantee. Registered company in England and Wales (4325234) and the Isle of Man (5713F). Registered address: 2 Redman Place, London, E20 1JQ.

-------------------

Find The Rest Is Science all over the internet by ⁠⁠clicking here.⁠⁠

-------------------

Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices