PBS Space Time: the videos Hacker News recommends
Not the channel's most viewed videos: the ones HN commenters kept linking with real commentary. The top pick, "The Speed of Light is NOT About Light", hN commenters send people to it whenever a thread confuses the speed of light with a light-specific limit, and several say it deepened their understanding of relativity.
- explainer recommended in 8 different months by 8 HN users, 2017–2023HN commenters send people to it whenever a thread confuses the speed of light with a light-specific limit, and several say it deepened their understanding of relativity.
- explainer recommended in 6 different months by 4 HN users, 2023–2024It is the go-to explanation whenever a thread touches on imaging exoplanets or solar gravitational lens telescopes.
- explainer recommended in 5 different months by 5 HN users, 2018–2026HN commenters point to it as an approachable explanation of how symmetries give rise to conservation laws, including the story of Emmy Noether.
- explainer recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2018–2025Recommended as the cleanest visual explanation of time and space switching roles past the horizon, and a gateway to the channel's black hole videos.
- explainer recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2017–2025HN recommends it as a quick introduction to the quantum eraser and delayed choice weirdness, though one commenter notes later corrections to its framing.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users, 2016–2022HN commenters regularly send people to it as an accessible, friendly introduction whenever pilot wave theory comes up.
- explainer recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2016–2022HN links it in Mars-colonization threads as a concise case for Venus.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2016–2022HN recommends it, and the whole channel, as a clear and deeper-than-usual physics explainer.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2019–2021Recommended as a clear, layman-friendly explanation of the Hubble tension from a channel regarded well by physicists.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2020–2023HN points to it as a short, approachable starting point on warp drive physics from a channel commenters like.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users, 2022–2024HN recommends it as the best non-mathematical explanation of the Higgs field, deep but accessible to lay viewers.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2016–2020HN commenters point to the PBS Space Time series as a high-quality, bite-sized way to learn modern physics concepts.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2019–2025Commenters call it a short, clean, visual explanation of the infalling-particle question and of Penrose diagrams.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2019–2024Recommended as an accessible and correct explanation of Hawking radiation for non-physicists.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 5 HN users, 2016–2021HN commenters recommend it as an accessible but deep explanation of black holes that corrects popular misconceptions.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2018–2021HN recommends it as a sober analysis of 'Oumuamua theories that counters the alien-spacecraft claims.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2018–2022Recommended as a clear explanation of how electrons gain mass, and the channel itself gets binge-watch praise.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2019–2022HN commenters point to it as an accessible way to get a grip on AdS/CFT and the holographic principle whenever black holes or information physics come up.
- explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2016–2022HN points to it as a clear, approachable explanation of quantum entanglement.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2017–2022Used as a go-to reference for relativity arguments, such as spacetime intervals being the same for all observers, and as a suggested follow-up for physics fans.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2018–2021HN recommends it as a clear explanation of how information may be encoded on a black hole's surface.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2020–2023HN commenters point to it as an accessible pop-science introduction to entropy and the physics of life, including Jeremy England's work.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2019–2021HN commenters point to it as an accessible explanation of abstract modern physics around the black hole information problem.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2018–2022HN points to it in warp drive discussions as a math-free explanation of why superluminal travel causes causality problems.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2021–2022Recommended as an accessible but not oversimplified explanation of the muon g-2 experiment, by a channel aimed at curious physics enthusiasts.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2020–2023HN recommends it as a clearer explanation of Penrose's cyclic cosmology than comment threads can give.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2022–2024Recommended as a good visual walkthrough of the Standard Model equation for people who want to understand its terms.
- explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2026Pointed to as a clear, balanced overview of quantum-brain theories when AI consciousness and brain models come up.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2020–2024Used as a go-to reference for cosmology questions about the beginning of time and the universe's scale.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2021–2023Recommended as a good explanation of what happens when gravity acts on an object.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2022–2023Cited as an accessible pointer when threads discuss black hole models that avoid singularities.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 3 HN users, 2018–2020HN points to it as a clear explanation of the evidence that gravity does not propagate into extra dimensions.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2023–2025Recommended as a solid, informative treatment of silicon-based life and the chemical limits on alien biochemistry.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2022–2023Pointed to as a clear treatment of the universe-in-a-black-hole idea whenever black hole cosmology comes up.
- explainer recommended in 1 different month by 1 HN user, 2023–2024HN uses it as an approachable treatment of whether an earlier industrial civilization would be detectable in geology.
- explainer cited on HN 4 times, 2019–2020HN commenters link it in propulsion and space threads as an episode on interstellar travel that needs no unknown physics.
- explainer cited on HN 3 times, 2021–2025Linked as a readable summary of where warp drive theory stands when threads discuss recent papers.
- explainer cited on HN 6 times, 2022–2025HN people link it in dark matter and black hole threads as a clear summary of why black holes alone are unlikely to explain dark matter.
Questions
Which PBS Space Time video does Hacker News recommend most?
The Speed of Light is NOT About Light: recommended in 8 different months by 8 HN users between 2017 and 2023.
Is this every PBS Space Time video?
No. Only videos that at least three different HN users linked, in at least three different months, with at least a sentence of their own commentary. That filter is what makes the list useful.