Tom Scott

Mannequins are generally bought, used once for a project, and then thrown away to landfill. Except here, at Mannakin in Lincolnshire. Thanks to Roz and the team at Mannakin: https://mannakin.com My first thought was "don't those mannequins rot, just sitting out there in the weather?" And then I realised: no, not really, they're fibreglass. That's part of the problem Mannakin's trying to help with!

Predicting the future is a fool's errand, but I tried it: talking about phones, lifelogging, and social changes. And on top of that: what do I think's coming in 2032?

The 1933 British penny is one of the most famous coins in the world. I'm not saying this is definitely a heist movie waiting to happen... but I do think someone should write it. ■ Thanks to the team at Baldwin's, and the penny's owner, for letting me film it! https://www.baldwin.co.uk/

The International Cocoa Quarantine Centre, at the University of Reading, has an important job: stop pests and viruses from hitching a ride, as researchers try to breed better and hardier varieties of cocoa. Here's how they do it.

Hutton's Unconformity, at Siccar Point, is about an hour east of Edinburgh, in Scotland, and I've wanted to set my own two feet on it for years. And from it, I've got a bigger question: is there anything we've missed?

The Hill House, in Helensburgh, Scotland was decades ahead of its time... but that means it's also experimental. And damp.

In the 1960s, America was running "Operation Plowshare": the idea that perhaps nuclear bombs could be used for peace, not war. At least some British scientists had similar ambitions, and it involved setting off a nuclear bomb under Wheeldale, in the North York Moors National Park. Based on catalogue reference ES 26 in the National Archives, mainly ES 26/2 and 26/4. "Atomic Weapons Research Establishment and Atomic Weapons Establishment: Peaceful Uses of Nuclear Explosions: Files and Reports".

Rochester, in the south-east of England, was a city for nearly 800 years. And then, in 1998, an administrative error took that city status away, likely forever. Here's the story. Research and script assistance from Jess Jewell

In Fife, in the south-east of Scotland, there's the Elie Chain Walk: a footpath that's got a reputation for being dangerous. It isn't — as long as you're prepared, and as long as you watch out for the tide. Thanks to Allan Dunlop and Carrie Blair from Outdoor Education Fife, for both guiding me and holding the cameras!

"Anderson's Piano" is a set of wires and signals at the Pass of Brander, near Falls of Cruachan in Scotland, that try to detect when there might be a boulder on the track. They're 140 years old, and so far no-one's been able to find a better solution — but they're working on it.

I can't make science fiction any more. So, to get the ideas I have out of my head, I went to a Standard BBC Quarry, and put all of them one video. Pull down the description for a list of the books that inspired these!

On Sunday, the South Terminal at London's Gatwick Airport will reopen for the first time since 2020. It turns out that mothballing an entire terminal isn't quite as easy as turning out the lights. Thanks to all the team at Gatwick Airport! (To be clear, this isn't a sponsored video: I approached them about filming this, and I'm grateful for the access. I did not expect to get out on the airfield.) Bonus fact for pulling down the description: this was filmed on Wednesday, when the cloud of Saharan dust was in the atmosphere. I had to do a lot of colour-correction to make the outside scenes look normal!

Deepstore doesn't let many people film in their massive facilities. So when the team at Laura Ashley invited me down into the mine to look at their archives, I jumped at the chance.

Did I need to get a radio controlled clock and travel to Anthorn to film this video? Absolutely not. But for a few minutes, that clock was really, really accurate.

With many thanks to all the team at Engineered Arts who worked on this. To be clear, this is not sponsored by them, I paid money (technically, NordVPN's money) for the Mesmer robot -- or at least, for the silicone mask and 3D printed skull that were put together for just one day!

"Daly's Bridge", in Cork, Ireland, is better known as the Shakey Bridge. Because it shakes. But what happens when a bridge like that has to be repaired and refurbished?

The Monte Toboggans, in Funchal on the island of Madeira, are wicker sofas: a bit like the gondolas of Venice, only you're going downhill in regular traffic.

Funchal Airport, on the island of Madeira, was too short for modern commercial airliners: but there was nowhere to extend to. The solution is one of the greatest civil engineering projects of our time.

The Chauvet cave, in the south of France, is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world, filled with art that's tens of millennia old. No-one's allowed in, for very good reasons: but just a few kilometres away, there's a near-exact copy. Is that enough?

In southern France, there's a man called Christian who flies a microlight aircraft, alongside flocks of birds. And he takes passengers.

The "accelerated pavement testing facility" in Nantes can simulate decades of road traffic in a few months. Here's how.

Les machines de l'île, in Nantes, are famous for their giant mechanical elephant. And to my surprise, tourists can just pay and ride it.

The Wasserspiele of Bergpark Wilhelmshöhe are 300 years old, powered entirely by gravity, and entertaining tourists. As legacies for rich people go, there are far worse ones.

Monte Kaolino, in Bavaria, Germany, is 35 million tonnes of quartz sand, piled up over the years from a nearby kaolin mine. In the 1960s, one guy just turned up with skis, and now half a century later it's a theme-park destination for sandboarders and skiiers.

The team at Sparkmate (https://Spkm.co/Build) asked if I had any ideas for things to build. And I realised that, yes, I had a question to answer: and it all goes back to an old kids' television show called "Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons"...

It feels like no-one's told the world about this yet.

There are only a few working Link Trainers left in the world: but before microprocessors, before display screnes, half a million pilots learned the basics of instrument flying inside one.

The Hudson River Special Flight Rules Area is an incredible thing: unrestricted airspace right next to Manhattan. We flew it.

I feel like there are other YouTube channels that would take a different approach here.

Tradinno weighs 11 tonnes, has a 12-metre wingspan, and breathes fire. And every year, someone has to stab it with a spear.

In Soda Springs, Idaho, there's a geyser that fires carbonated water into the air, on the hour, every hour. I paid a visit.

At the Remote Encoding Center in Salt Lake City, keyers process 1.2 billion images of mail every year. It's a more difficult job than I thought.

On Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, there's a summer tradition: "mail jumping". It's a bit dangerous, a bit ridiculous, and would never be allowed to start today. But it's a tradition.

The Chicago and Sanitary Ship Canal is the path that invasive carp would take to reach the Great Lakes. So to stop them, the US Army Corps of Engineers has installed an electric barrier. Although for obvious reasons, I didn't get to see it close up. [The interviewee is project manager Jeff Zuercher, whose name caption got missed out! Apologies, Jeff.]

The "T-Rex" is the University of Texas' large mobile shaker, and I got to see it in action.

The @royalalberthall is 150 years old; the roof is 600 tonnes of glass and steel. And it turns out that there's a terrifying technicians' trampoline, acoustic-dampening mushrooms, and a complete lack of connections.

The Aéroplume, in France, is a helium blimp sized for one person. €60 gets you half an hour's flight. I had to try it.

It's about synchronisation, right? Well, not exactly...

The treadwheel crane, or treadmill crane, sounds like something from Astérix or the Flintstones. But at Guédelon in France, not only do they have one: they're using it to help build their brand new castle. ▪ More about Guédelon: https://www.guedelon.fr/

The Doppelmayr Garaventa Monorack is a decades-old product. I've no idea how I missed it before. But for the third video in the Monorail Trilogy, this isn't an advert: I'm just happy to be proved wrong.

The Gotthard Base Tunnel in Switzerland is 57km long: and I think its greatest piece of safety equipment is nowhere near the tunnel itself.

At the Swiss Military Museum in Full, there's the last remaining example of a 1970s tank-driving simulator. But there's no virtual worlds here: it's connected to a real camera and a real miniature model.

The Headington Shark, in Oxford, UK, is a local icon: but it was protest art, put up without permission. Now, the local government wants to protect it. ▪ The Shark House: https://www.headingtonshark.com/

There's a lot of articles written about how tap water in Warsaw is constantly tested by a small team of clams. It felt like a hoax to me: so I went to find out. ▪ Thanks to MPWiK Warsaw: https://www.mpwik.com.pl/

The Udbyhøj Cable Ferry across Randers Fjord in Denmark is electric-powered: but rather than batteries, it's plugged into mains electricity. Here's how it works. ▪ More about the ferry: https://www.randersfjord-faerger.dk/

Surely water simulation can be done with computers now? Well, not quite. At the University of Sherbrooke, there's an artificial research river, and I asked them to start it up. ▪ The University's civil engineering department: https://www.usherbrooke.ca/gcivil/

The Montreal Olympic Sports Centre has a 20m (65ft) diving board. That's twice the Olympic height. Why would anyone need that?

The Bay of Fundy has cheap, clean power: if you can harness it.

TRIUMF's Rabbit Line, on the University of British Columbia campus, sends slightly radioactive material under the streets of Vancouver at 100km/h (60mph). Here's how and why.

The brown marmorated stink bug is an invasive pest. To help deal with its numbers, the Oregon Department of Agriculture is releasing its natural enemy: the tiny samurai wasp. There's a lot of work that goes into it. ▪ Thanks to all the team at the ODA, and to Chris Hedstrom for the macro footage.

Did 18th century firefighters really let buildings burn? Sources below

Thanks to Lazarus 3D: https://www.lazarus3d.com/ ▪ Lazarus had no editorial control over this video, and I paid for my own MRI, but of course they helped set everything up and provided the print!