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.
- 8 HN recommenders 8 months 2017–2023explainerHN 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.
- 4 HN recommenders 6 months 2023–2024explainerIt is the go-to explanation whenever a thread touches on imaging exoplanets or solar gravitational lens telescopes.
- 5 HN recommenders 5 months 2018–2026explainerHN commenters point to it as an approachable explanation of how symmetries give rise to conservation laws, including the story of Emmy Noether.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2018–2025explainerRecommended as the cleanest visual explanation of time and space switching roles past the horizon, and a gateway to the channel's black hole videos.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2017–2025explainerHN recommends it as a quick introduction to the quantum eraser and delayed choice weirdness, though one commenter notes later corrections to its framing.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2016–2022explainerHN commenters regularly send people to it as an accessible, friendly introduction whenever pilot wave theory comes up.
- 4 HN recommenders 4 months 2016–2022explainerHN links it in Mars-colonization threads as a concise case for Venus.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2016–2022explainerHN recommends it, and the whole channel, as a clear and deeper-than-usual physics explainer.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2019–2021explainerRecommended as a clear, layman-friendly explanation of the Hubble tension from a channel regarded well by physicists.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2020–2023explainerHN points to it as a short, approachable starting point on warp drive physics from a channel commenters like.
- 4 HN recommenders 3 months 2022–2024explainerHN recommends it as the best non-mathematical explanation of the Higgs field, deep but accessible to lay viewers.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2016–2020explainerHN commenters point to the PBS Space Time series as a high-quality, bite-sized way to learn modern physics concepts.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2019–2025explainerCommenters call it a short, clean, visual explanation of the infalling-particle question and of Penrose diagrams.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2019–2024explainerRecommended as an accessible and correct explanation of Hawking radiation for non-physicists.
- 5 HN recommenders 3 months 2016–2021explainerHN commenters recommend it as an accessible but deep explanation of black holes that corrects popular misconceptions.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2018–2021explainerHN recommends it as a sober analysis of 'Oumuamua theories that counters the alien-spacecraft claims.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2018–2022explainerRecommended as a clear explanation of how electrons gain mass, and the channel itself gets binge-watch praise.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2019–2022explainerHN 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.
- 3 HN recommenders 3 months 2016–2022explainerHN points to it as a clear, approachable explanation of quantum entanglement.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2017–2022explainerUsed 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.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2018–2021explainerHN recommends it as a clear explanation of how information may be encoded on a black hole's surface.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2020–2023explainerHN commenters point to it as an accessible pop-science introduction to entropy and the physics of life, including Jeremy England's work.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2019–2021explainerHN commenters point to it as an accessible explanation of abstract modern physics around the black hole information problem.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2018–2022explainerHN points to it in warp drive discussions as a math-free explanation of why superluminal travel causes causality problems.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2021–2022explainerRecommended as an accessible but not oversimplified explanation of the muon g-2 experiment, by a channel aimed at curious physics enthusiasts.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2020–2023explainerHN recommends it as a clearer explanation of Penrose's cyclic cosmology than comment threads can give.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2022–2024explainerRecommended as a good visual walkthrough of the Standard Model equation for people who want to understand its terms.
- 2 HN recommenders 2 months 2024–2026explainerPointed to as a clear, balanced overview of quantum-brain theories when AI consciousness and brain models come up.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2020–2024explainerUsed as a go-to reference for cosmology questions about the beginning of time and the universe's scale.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2021–2023explainerRecommended as a good explanation of what happens when gravity acts on an object.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2022–2023explainerCited as an accessible pointer when threads discuss black hole models that avoid singularities.
- 3 HN recommenders 1 months 2018–2020explainerHN points to it as a clear explanation of the evidence that gravity does not propagate into extra dimensions.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2023–2025explainerRecommended as a solid, informative treatment of silicon-based life and the chemical limits on alien biochemistry.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2022–2023explainerPointed to as a clear treatment of the universe-in-a-black-hole idea whenever black hole cosmology comes up.
- 1 HN recommenders 1 months 2023–2024explainerHN uses it as an approachable treatment of whether an earlier industrial civilization would be detectable in geology.
- cited 4× 0 months 2019–2020explainerHN commenters link it in propulsion and space threads as an episode on interstellar travel that needs no unknown physics.
- cited 3× 0 months 2021–2025explainerLinked as a readable summary of where warp drive theory stands when threads discuss recent papers.
- cited 6× 0 months 2022–2025explainerHN 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.
Video list and Hacker News comment labels from HackerTube (prompted by @karpathy), released under ODC-By 1.0, built on the open-index/hacker-news archive. Hacker News data is provided by Y Combinator; comments remain the work of their authors. Video titles, channel names and thumbnails belong to their creators and are shown via YouTube. HackerTube Watch is an unofficial edition. Data export of 2026-10-31.