Every season of PBS Space Time ever, ranked from best to worst by thousands of votes from fans of the show. The best seasons of PBS Space Time!

We've run, jumped, and stomped all over the world of Super Mario, but, where in the universe is Super Mario EXACTLY? It's virtual so it obviously DOESN'T exist, but if it did, could Super Mario world be in our solar system? And what do the planet's dynamics reveal about Mario's crazy jumping ability? Join Gabe as he takes us on a rick-roaring tour of our known universe as we search for the answer in this week's SpaceTime!

What Planet is Super Mario World?

Aliens! Could humans really be alone in this expansive universe? And if we're not, how come we've never made contact with other intelligent life? Everyone's thought about it; especially members of the scientific community. Join Gabe as he presents some of the most popular theories that scientists use to rationalize their support or skepticism of the existence of aliens. We may never know the answer to this age old question, but a little scientific thinking never hurt anybody!

Is It Irrational to Believe in Aliens?

The universe is HUGE. But, there is only so much of the universe we can ACTUALLY see, and if we wanted to measure that FINITE space, how would we do it? A gigantic ruler? One really long car ride? Or maybe it's something even more spectacular, something that involves not only the observable universe as it is NOW, but how it was when it was first BORN?

How Do You Measure the Size of the Universe?

Mars One. The Mars Rover. Bruno Mars. Mars Bars. It's pretty clear we're OBSESSED with the idea of Mars, especially in regard to it being a potential colony for earthlings. But is that really the best option? Is there a better place for us to colonize in our solar system? Well, how about Venus?  Sure the surface temperature is over 450 degrees Celsius, with crazy pressure, but there might be a smart way around that, making Venus a better option for long term colonization than Mars!

Should We Colonize Venus Instead of Mars?

Killing all the life on Earth is easy. But what about destroying the planet itself? That is DEFINITELY going to happen!!  But HOW? Could it be Nukes? A Giant Asteroid? A Collision with another planet? And what’s more, will anyone be around to actually watch the world reach its ultimate demise?

What Will Destroy Planet Earth?

DO A BARREL ROLL! Or at least, try…? The iconic move from Star Fox seems so easy, just press a button and BOOM. The ship rolls. But HOW? Barrel rolls in atmosphere are easy to execute with the use of ailerons, but in space, it's a different issue altogether. With no atmosphere (and no thrusters), how does one Barrel Roll like Star Fox in space?

Can A Starfox Barrel Roll Work In Space?

HAS SPACE ALWAYS BEEN BLACK? As long as we've been around, YES. But the universe gets much more exciting, AND much BRIGHTER, as we start winding our clocks back to the early days of the universe. Near the beginning of the universe, when space was rapidly expanding, that dark night sky we know so well as actually…ORANGE! But why? Did the lights just go out, or did something more spectacular happen?

Cosmic Microwave Background Explained

Is Link in Majora's Mask actually being overseen by a Black Hole (with teeth)? It's easy to take things at face value in video games. But when we take a deeper dive into the physics in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, it seems that the "MOON" might be one of those things that isn't quite what it seems. Given its size and the way it affects Termina, it actually appears that the moon is really a BLACK HOLE! Is that seriously the only possibility? What is the evidence that supports this theory?

Is the Moon in Majora’s Mask a Black Hole?

Listen, we know you've thought about it, and we're here to give you THE DEFINITIVE ANSWER to one of the greatest science questions of all time. How long would it take to get to the MOON by farting?

Could You Fart Your Way to the Moon?

EVER WANTED TO WEIGH A FART? Well, it isn't easy, but walk through the math, physics, and science behind farts and how to measure them!

How to Weigh a Fart

Could NASA Start the Zombie Apocalypse?

Are Space and Time An Illusion?

What's the Most Realistic Artificial Gravity in Sci-Fi?

Should the First Mars Mission Be All Women?

9 NASA Technologies Shaping YOUR Future

The Real Meaning of E=mc²

Habitable Exoplanets Debunked!

Is Gravity An Illusion?

Challenge: What Happens to a Helium Balloon in Freefall?

How to Signal Aliens

The Calendar, Australia & White Christmas

Can a Circle Be a Straight Line?

Curvature Demonstrated + Comments

The Leap Second Explained

Last time we talked about what curvature means, looked at geodesics, great circles on spheres, and tried to understand the notion of "straightness". This week on Spacetime, we take a detour into how geometry works in spacetime. Get excited, because this episode is even more mind-bending than the last!

Can You Trust Your Eyes in Spacetime?

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT + Flat Spacetime Geometry Comments

General Relativity & Curved Spacetime Explained!

We all know tides have something to do with gravity from the Moon and Sun, but if gravity affects the motion of all objects equally, then how come oceans have large tides while other bodies of water don't? It's because your mental picture of the tides is probably WRONG!!! Join Gabe on this week’s episode of PBS Space Time as he sets the record straight on tidal force, gravitational differential and what role the moon actually plays in tides. Why don't lakes have tides? Watch the episode to find out!

What Physics Teachers Get Wrong About Tides!

Challenge: Which Particle Wins This Race?

Do Events Inside Black Holes Happen?

Watch THIS! (New Host + Challenge Winners)

Does Dark Matter BREAK Physics?

Lots of people believe the Universe is infinite, but there's a good possibility that might not be the case. Which means that there would be an actual edge of the Universe. What happens at that edge? Is there a restaurant? Join Matt on this week’s episode of Space Time as he explores the greatest expanses of our Universe. So what do you find when you reach the edge? More Universe? Bubble Universes? Back where you started?! Check out this episode of Space Time to find out!

What Happens At The Edge Of The Universe?

The Speed of Light is NOT About Light

5 REAL Possibilities for Interstellar Travel

Have Gravitational Waves Been Discovered?!?

Is The Alcubierre Warp Drive Possible?

Why Haven't We Found Alien Life?

Challenge: Can you save Earth from a Killer Asteroid?

5 Ways to Stop a Killer Asteroid

100 Years of Relativity + Challenge Winners!

How to Build a Black Hole

The Higgs Mechanism Explained

We know that mass is energy… but what is energy? And where did matter and time even come from? Matt begins to dive into these intricate topics by first examining what inertial mass is, how it relates to gravitational mass, and what it all means for mass as a fundamental property.

The True Nature of Matter and Mass

When Time Breaks Down

The Photon Clock Challenge

The Origin of Matter and Time

Will Mars or Venus Kill You First?

LIGO's First Detection of Gravitational Waves!

Planet X Discovered?? + Challenge Winners!

Why the Big Bang Definitely Happened

What's Wrong With the Big Bang Theory?

Cosmic Microwave Background Challenge

Why is the Earth Round and the Milky Way Flat?

How Cosmic Inflation Flattened the Universe

Pulsar Starquakes Make Fast Radio Bursts? + Challenge Winners!

We Are Star Stuff

Will the Universe Expand Forever?

Why the Universe Needs Dark Energy

What Does Dark Energy Really Do?

Will Starshot's Insterstellar Journey Succeed?

The Cosmic Conspiracy of Dark Energy Challenge Question

Anti-gravity and the True Nature of Dark Energy

Is an Ice Age Coming?

Is Quantum Tunneling Faster than Light?

New Fundamental Particle Discovered?? + Challenge Winners!

The Strange Universe of Gravitational Lensing

Planck's Constant and The Origin of Quantum Mechanics

Nuclear Physics Challenge

Juno to Reveal Jupiter's Violent Past

The Future of Gravitational Waves

The Quantum Experiment that Broke Reality

Can We Survive the Destruction of the Earth? ft. Neal Stephenson

How the Quantum Eraser Rewrites the Past

Quantum Eraser Lottery Challenge

The Kepler telescope recently noticed a strange partial eclipse that some have speculated could be a Dyson Sphere. Are Dyson Sphere's possible? Are they practical? What other alternatives to futuristic energy capture do we have to choose from? Why not a kugelblitz - a swarm of black hole powered engines?

Should We Build a Dyson Sphere?

Is There a Fifth Fundamental Force? + Quantum Eraser Answer

We’ll soon be capable of building self-replicating robots. This will not only change humanity’s future but reshape the galaxy as we know it.

Self-Replicating Robots and Galactic Domination

Albert Einstein strongly disagreed with Niels Bohr when it came to Bohr’s interpretation of quantum mechanics. Quantum entanglement settled the argument once and for all.

Quantum Entanglement and the Great Bohr-Einstein Debate

The Hubble Telescope found more evidence of vast plumes of water bursting through the icy surface of Jupiter’s moon Europa. What does this tell us about the potential for life on Europa?

Life on Europa?

The Drake Equation tells us the likelihood that there are other advanced technological civilizations waiting for us among the stars. In this episode of Space Time we challenge you to use the Drake Equation to help us determine how near or far these alien races may be. Links to reference material below.

Are We Alone? Galactic Civilization Challenge

Primordial black holes may be lurking throughout our universe. How large are they, how many are out there and what would happen if they moved through our solar system?

Black Holes from the Dawn of Time

Elon Musk’s SpaceX program proposes that 100 people could be sent to colonize Mars within 10 years. What might that colony look like?

The First Humans on Mars

Is our universe a definitive single reality or is it merely one within an infinitely branching multiverse?

The Many Worlds of the Quantum Multiverse

Quantum Vortices and Superconductivity + Challenge Answers

Did Dark Energy Just Disappear?

Strange Stars

Pilot Wave Theory and Quantum Realism

What Happens at the Event Horizon?

Escape The Kugelblitz Challenge

Are aliens watching Earth TV? We'd like to credit the SKA Organization for the image used in the thumbnail.

Have They Seen Us?

Find out how scientists are mapping the black holes throughout the Milky Way and beyond as well as the answer to the Escape the Kugelblitz Challenge Question. Were you able to save humanity?

How to See Black Holes + Kugelblitz Challenge Answer

Because you demanded it … we break down the EM Drive!

The EM Drive: Fact or Fantasy?

Isaac Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation tells us that there is a singularity to be found within a black hole, but scientists and mathematicians have found a number of issues with Newton’s equations. They don’t always accurately represent reality. Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity is a more complete theory of gravity. So does using the General Theory of Relativity eliminate the singularity? No. Not only does it concur with Newton’s Universal Law of Gravitation but it also reveals a second singularity, not at the center of the black hole but at the event horizon.

The Phantom Singularity

When Quasars were first discovered the amount of light pouring out of such a tiny dot in space seemed impossible. A hysterical flurry of hypothesizing followed: swarms of neutron stars, alien civilizations harnessing their entire galaxy’s power, bright, fast-moving objects being ejected by our own galaxy’s core. But by the 1980’s we were converging on the most awesome explanation. It goes a little like this: Take a black hole of millions to billions times the mass of the sun. Where from? It turns out every decent-sized galaxy has one at its core. Now drive gas into the galactic core. One way this can happen is when galaxies merge and grow. That gas descends into the waiting black hole’s gravitational well and gains incredible speed on the way. It is swept up in a raging whirlpool around the black hole that we call an accretion disk, where its energy of motion is turned into heat. The heat-glow of the accretion disk is so bright that we can see quasars to the ends of the universe.

Why Quasars are so Awesome

In this episode we dive deeper into the relationship between space and time and explore how we can geometrically map the causality of the universe and increase our understanding of how time and distance relate to one another.

The Geometry of Causality

Telescopes of Tomorrow

Fomalhaut is a massive young star surrounded by a ring of dust debris that can tell us a great deal about the formation of our own solar system.

The Eye of Sauron Reveals a Forming Solar System!

Can humanity survive on one of the seven earth-like Trappist-1 planets?

Last week, seven earth-like planets were discovered orbiting a Red Dwarf star 39 light years away. Each one could be capable of supporting life.

The Treasures of Trappist-1

Space Time explores the outer reaches of space, the craziness of astrophysics, the possibilities of sci-fi, and anything else you can think of beyond Planet Earth.

The Best Seasons of PBS Space Time

The Best Seasons of PBS Space Time

Season 1

Season 2015

Season 2016

Season 2017

Season 2018

Season 2019

Season 2020

Season 2021

Season 2022

Season 2023

Season 2024

Season 2025