OpenTube

The Importance Of "Soft Fascination"

The Rest Is Science

888,105 views

What is fire, and why does watching it hold our attention in a different way from scrolling on your phone?

Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens start with the science of a flame: why it glows, what its different colours reveal, and why fire is a series of chemical reactions rather than a single substance.

Then they travel back to a time before wildfires could burn on Earth, and ask how early humans learned to use and make it.

Could keeping a fire alive have helped our ancestors learn to plan and cooperate? And what happens when we replace the quiet pull of a hearth with the endless pull of a phone?

From candle flames to early human history and the psychology of attention, this is the story of fire, the space it occupies in our history and lives.

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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

20 Comments

@GrandHam-k5k 3 days ago

this ep was rlly good, it seemed like Michael was really in a flow state. He did a phenomenal job getting a complex concept across. 10/10

@nickduffy8482 3 days ago

Hannah & Michael, this is one of the most satisfying and wholesome episodes you have ever made together. And that is really saying something because your content is totally off the charts in terms of being food for the soul! Thank you both for the best content on the internet.

@xb2856 3 days ago

This format is just so perfect for these two

@liwusiek555 3 days ago

For solid two minutes i was so confused how they found evidence of first fires in WHALES🤔

@2Bnot2Seem 3 days ago (edited)

Hannah’s hair is the fourth element of fire

@stivenBermeo 3 days ago

I DON’T have this podcast running on the background, I cannot sleep hearing it either. It’s delightfully stimulating , I always wait for a good moment and enjoy it fully.

I have my comedy podcasts for sleeping/white noise.

@2MANYWWWWWWWWWWWWS4U 3 days ago

watching this channel is an example of Soft Fascination

@neitan6891 3 days ago

I feel like this is why bird song is so calming because it tells our bodies that no predators or other weird, dangerous things are around. And also reminds me how unnatural it is to be sitting in a room where nothing is moving. No wonder we get cabin fever; we evolved to be looking at things in constant motion that grab our attention but in very calm, quiet ways (like the waves and the rustling leaves).

@ZoneKei 3 days ago

Scaring away predators was gold 😆

@alfiowo 3 days ago

Love these two nerds so much I hope they never stop making this

@postbox42008 3 days ago

"If you're familiar with molecules..." Yup, it's Vsauce - that checks.

@lmaoidgaf 3 days ago (edited)

00:17 bruhh I just started watching

@LucidGaming89 3 days ago

Shout-out to Hannah Fry rocking the Canadian Tuxedo!

@olGrandpaby 3 days ago

I have to admit this podcast is 100% hard fascinating for me. If it wasn’t I likely wouldn’t be paying close attention and never would have thought about the fact that the majority of what I do outside of work is also hard fascinating.

You guys made me realize that I don’t get enough soft fascination. It’s about time I go walk around in the woods with no headphones

@markmamdouh8117 3 days ago

3:29 "And you need to have three things for there to be a fire. Or do you......?" Classic Vsauce

@stevenmccormick7863 3 days ago

Been listening to this video on and off for about 1.5 hours. Been waiting for a mention of Fascism, just to now know that it’s “Fascination”.

@NoBeats_ 3 days ago (edited)

“Soft fascination” is what I call my pillow talk.

@nocandopdx 3 days ago

30:40 can we take a moment to appreciate the editors sense of humor 🤣

@OliveHavre 3 days ago

In reading about Biophilia, the thing that stood out to me was how it describes not only the love we have of nature. But that the feeling comes through without it being beneficial to us in any other way than "hey this is nice and beautiful". Nature provides so many things, it's just not always the reason we love it.

@SleepyScienceMysteries-n5d 3 days ago

There’s something comforting about the idea that not all attention has to be intense. Sometimes watching clouds, trees, or water might be exactly what an overloaded brain needs.