New High Speed Camera, Road Trip & a Mousetrap Challenge | Smarter Every Day 56

Hey, it's me, Destin. So, I feel like I owe you an apology for not making videos the last couple of weeks, but when I explain why, I hope you will accept my apology.

So, it started like this. I got something in the mail. Turns out it is the new Phantom camera. It's called a Miro M320S. So this is different. It's a lot smaller, it's more sensitive, it's better than what I've been shooting with in the past, and they're letting me try it out. There's only a few of these in the continent right now. So, Miro is Spanish for "I see", so it's kind of like "Hey, I see something that I haven't seen before", so I thought that was a pretty cool name.

I took this over 9000 miles on 8 different plane trips to meet all kinds of cool people all over the country to shoot video for you. So, in a nutshell, the reason I haven't been showing you videos is because I've been shooting videos.

So, it started like this. I got on a plane, and I went out west, and I met a guy named Alan Sailer. Alan Sailer is "the man" when it comes to high-speed photography, but he doesn't know a lot about high-speed video. So, Alan combined what he knew and his artistic style with what I know as a high-speed video guy, and we made some really cool videos. That'll be coming up soon.

After that, in the desert, a guy named Greg came out and met me to show me a device that he had built, and we analyzed that and looked at all the math involved in how that thing worked. That's gonna be cool as well. After that, I went out of my way a little bit and went and saw my buddies Joe and Buzz. Buzz bought me an ice cream sundae with USA drawn across it in chocolate syrup. Of course, we shot a bunch of cool video, and that was that.

After that, I got back on a plane and went to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Canada, to a meeting called BrainSTEM. BrainSTEM, STEM meaning Science Technology Engineering and Math. At BrainSTEM, I met some really cool people. I met Chris from Science Alert in Australia. I saw Michael from Vsauce again. I met Vihart, who makes math videos on YouTube. I saw Derek from Veritasium; we got to shoot some slinky footage together.

I also saw Henry from Minute Physics in his office. He showed me how Minute Physics works; that was fun. He also plays the violin and the mandolin, so we shot some really cool video of that. I was also able to do a demonstration of high-speed video using liquid nitrogen and fruit provided by the faculty of the Perimeter Institute. They use their liquid nitrogen for their superconductors, so I was able to use it for a less noble purpose, but it's pretty awesome.

[bang] Nice. [laugh] I flew back to LA and I went to VidCon. VidCon is this big huge meeting of a bunch of people from YouTube, basically. It was fun. I got to sit on a Physics panel with Henry from Minute Physics and Derek of Veritasium; that was pretty cool. They got to ask them questions about theoretical physics, I answered all the really hard questions about snack cake design and stuff like that.

I set up a high-speed camera and I let people just walk up and experience high speed on their own. I didn't really officially get a booth, but I found a spare outlet, and they tried to run me off once or twice, but I just kinda stuck to it. But it was fun.

Destin, hotel, LA. Gavin, slow-mo guy. Hello. So, you brought a high-speed camera to me..

(Destin) Pretty much, yeah.

Which is awesome, 'cause I don't have one at the moment. So, we've gotta come up with stuff to do in this regular hotel room. So, I bought this shirt to wear to VidCon. I thought it'd be pretty good. I found it at a thrift store in Arizona. Anyway, it's a really adorable kitty cat, and I thought, hey, it's YouTube; they would love kitty cats.

But the problem is I chickened out. In hindsight, I made a foolish decision; I should have worn the kitten shirt. I've been compiling all this video, so that's why I haven't released a video. I'm preparing for the future. Speaking of preparing for the future, I put a link on the main channel page that you can directly donate to my kids' scholarship. I call it a micro scholarship. That's really why I shoot Smarter Every Day is to raise money for my kids' college education, and I'm serious about that.

Thank you to the five people that just happened to find the link and donate. Thank you very much. Ooh, rubber band just popped.

I'm gonna leave you with this. I want to introduce you to a guy named Brady Haran. So, he went to both BrainSTEM and VidCon and we became very close over the entire week. But the thing is, we became so close that we started picking on each other, you know, that kind of friend?

So here's what I want to do. I want to introduce you, the viewing audience of Smarter Every Day, to Brady's videos, but I decided to make him earn it. So here's the deal. I set up a challenge using the Miro, and Brady had to earn the right to have you link to his stuff, and hopefully subscribe. This is kinda how that went down.

My business card is not as impressive as yours, Destin, but this is it. This is the world's smallest periodic table, which has been etched on a human hair. It's in this year's Guinness Book of Records; you can look it up, and of course, it's also on one of our videos on Periodic Videos.

(Destin) OK, so here's the deal. Brady makes a channel called Periodic Videos at the University of Nottingham, and if you watch Smarter Every Day, you probably have figured out by now I'm pretty weak in chemistry, but this man and his team are probably the strongest channel in chemistry, and I think you should pretty much go check it out. But for now, before I give them a link, I'm gonna make you earn it. I want to teach you..

(Brady) I'm singing for my supper am I?

(Destin) Yes, you are. So, I want you to set this mousetrap. So let's figure this out.

(Brady) Can I, like, you know how we were joking around saying I don't know how to set a mousetrap? I actually don't know how to set a mousetrap, so you just giving it to me and saying set it is kind of.. This is Smarter Every Day, man, I've seen your videos; your videos teach the smartest things in the world, and here we're learning how to set a mousetrap. I think you're lowering the tone.

(Destin) Put your thumb right here and don't move it. Yeah.

(Brady) Is that done it?! ohh!

(Destin) I have the high-speed camera, and we were gonna do the mousetrap, right?

• Yeah

(Destin) I wanna see if you can trip that with your finger without getting hit.

• And what do I get in return for this?

(Destin) I'll provide a link to your Periodic Videos.

[laugh] Deal?

• And, like.. oh well, alright. I have a lot of respect for your viewers, and if a few of them come to Periodic Videos, I think it's worth a broken finger.

(Destin) You won't break a finger if you're fast enough.

[laugh]

[snap] Ooh.

(Brady) Is that the pen bending?

(Destin) 12.161. OK, if you can get out of the way in about 90ms, you're good.

(Brady) Man, I can't even think that fast. Alright, you want me to do it?

(Destin) Yeah, go.

[laughs] That was like a.. that was a practice golf swing.

[snap]

(Destin) Yeah, you got it! Way to go! Alright, so..

Brady has successfully earned your trust, so if you want to go see Periodic Videos and a really adrenaline-pumped Brady, then click on the link here and go check out his videos. He actually has a lot of channels, so if you can calm down enough to tell me what you got: Periodic Videos for chemistry, Sixty Symbols for physics, I mean I've just displayed some physics skills there, and there's Deep Sky Videos for people that like astronomy like Destin; there's some good space stuff.

And Numberphile is a really good one for some numbery maths stuff as well. They're all at the University of Nottingham for the most part, but he does things like go to Everest; I mean it's really top-notch stuff.

So go check it out; I'm Destin, you're getting Smarter Every Day, Brady's getting more manly every day.

[laugh] Have a good one. Later.

Yeah, stupider every day.

[laugh]

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