In need of a quick refresher course on, well, the science of pretty much everything? Here’s a cheeky, irreverent summation of the universe in just four minutes from Exub1a, YouTube purveyor of “spacey stuff and existential angst.”
Loosely reminiscent of the classic “Powers of Ten” motif, the video starts with “the Tyrion Lannister of physics,” better known as the Planck length—“the smallest thing you can sensibly talk about.” From there we move through neutrinos, quarks, and those naughty atoms with their kinky threesomes (protons, neutrons, and electrons). Then it’s on to the periodic table, the four forces of physics, the Standard Model, DNA, cells, our macroscopic world of everyday stuff, all the way out to the solar system and the most distant galaxies. Yep, it’s all here—even brief forays into parallel universes and hidden dimensions of space.
If that makes you feel very small and insignificant, the video leaves us with this parting shot of wisdom: “Nothing means anything and we are all going to die.” You’re welcome.
Bonus, if you’re keen on more irreverent but pretty darned accurate physics: “A Shit History of Quantum Theory”: