Materials Science Videos Hacker News Recommends

talk#99

Finding the Missing Memristor - R. Stanley Williams

The Qualcomm Institute

“I encourage folks to watch this tech talk by HP Research Labs on the discovery of the memristor and implementation details.”

12 HN recommenders · 2010–2024

documentary#340

Why It Was Almost Impossible to Make the Blue LED

Veritasium

“is goes into great detail on what it took to make the blue LED. It's quite fascinating.”

10 HN recommenders · 2024–2026

tutorial#939

Revolutionary Paint: How to Make Surfaces Stay Cool in the Sun

Tech Ingredients

“Great video about making home-made high reflectivity paint”

5 HN recommenders · 2023–2026

explainer#1007

The Infinite Pattern That Never Repeats

Veritasium

“My kids and I geeked out over the Veritasium video on Penrose tiles”

4 HN recommenders · 2021–2023

tutorial#1055

Making Infrared Cooling Paint From Grocery Store Items (w/Novel CaCO₃ Microsphere Synthesis)

NightHawkInLight

“Here is a frankly incredible video of how you could make such a paint”

5 HN recommenders · 2023–2026

tutorial#1070

How To Make Infrared Cooling Paint (Electricity Free Air Conditioning)

NightHawkInLight

“This YouTuber[0] does an excellent job recreating chemistry research from papers and improving on the techniques to be accomplished with household materials.”

4 HN recommenders · 2022–2025

documentary#1091

Smelting Iron in Africa (A DEMONSTRATION)

Christopher Roy

“One of my favorite videos is a documentary of a village in Africa that goes through the process of producing iron tools from scratch”

4 HN recommenders · 2015–2024

demo#1174

Mystery of Prince Rupert's Drop at 130,000 fps - Smarter Every Day 86

SmarterEveryDay

“High speed video of one of these things exploding. Kinda blew my mind.”

4 HN recommenders · 2013–2024

demo#1594

Nokia Morph Concept (long)

Alexander Budde

“I have just watched the video about it [2] again and I am still as excited about it as I was 11 years ago.”

3 HN recommenders · 2011–2025

talk#1621

The Liquid Metal Battery: Innovation in stationary electricity storage

School of Convergence Science

“It's an hour long, but it's well worth the time investment.”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2021

demo#2193

Etching small patterns in Glass

Huygens Optics

“The video on micro etching glass with HF is highly informative on this post...”

4 HN recommenders · 2021–2024

explainer#2268

Was Roman Concrete Better?

Practical Engineering

“Here's a good video on the use and tradeoffs of Roman concrete engineering”

4 HN recommenders · 2021–2024

explainer#2504

The Ridiculous Engineering Of Jet Engines

Veritasium

“is absolutely fascinating & well worth a watch”

2 HN recommenders · 2025–2026

explainer#2525

What is Concrete?

Practical Engineering

“You're going to love this playlist from Practical Engineering [1].”

2 HN recommenders · 2018–2023

tutorial#2625

Glass engineering - designing and making photochromic glass

Applied Science

“I'd highly recommend his channel to anyone interested in science and fabrication.”

2 HN recommenders · 2017–2022

other#2808

A Day Made of Glass... Made possible by Corning. (2011)

Corning Incorporated

“has far more every day examples we can all believe in”

2 HN recommenders · 2012–2019

explainer#2885

MOLTEN GLASS VS Prince Rupert's Drop - Smarter Every Day 285

SmarterEveryDay

“Learn about and see how it’s made”

2 HN recommenders · 2023

demo#2934

For the undying 9/11 MORONIC JET FUEL ARGUMENT

purgatoryironworks

“watch this excellent and short video from a blacksmith”

2 HN recommenders · 2017–2023

demo#2992

Demo and teardown of an X-ray fluorescence gun (measures chemical composition)

Applied Science

“Fascinating teardown on one of these things at Ben Krasnow's channel”

2 HN recommenders · 2020–2024

explainer#3293

The Material Science of Metal 3D Printing

Real Engineering

“Great Real Engineering video with a lot of discussion of the issues with material properties, crystalline structure, and fatigue cracks”

3 HN recommenders · 2019–2024

demo#3626

Making uranium glass

NileRed

“If you're interested in the process and chemistry behind it, it's a very informative and entertaining watch.”

1 HN recommenders · 2020–2024

demo#3638

DIY Scanning Electron Microscope - Overview

Applied Science

“Ben Karsnow's channel is really inspiring. With every video, he pushes the limits of what I thought it was possible to do in your garage.”

1 HN recommenders · 2015–2025

explainer#3656

The Snowflake Myth

Veritasium

“Here's a fantastic Veritasium video about snowflakes with a scientist that basically figured out all of the ways they can form”

1 HN recommenders · 2022–2023

demo#3790

I Grew Real Spider Silk Using Yeast

The Thought Emporium

“advanced cutting-edge biotech is getting to be as accessible as computing was getting in the 80s”

2 HN recommenders · 2020–2022

lecture#3820

Richard Feynman "Tiny Machines" Nanotechnology Lecture - aka "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom"

Muon Ray

“there's a good richard feynam video about how things feel when they're that small”

1 HN recommenders · 2015–2026

demo#3995

.38 Special vs Prince Ruperts Drop at 170,000 FPS - Smarter Every Day 169

SmarterEveryDay

“In high speed, you can see the bullet splat against the glass and break into shards, long before the glass breaks. Really neat.”

1 HN recommenders · 2017–2023

demo#4163

Space Shuttle Thermal Tile Demonstration

Roscket Tasartir

“have a look at this video demonstrating insulating tiles as used on the space shuttle”

1 HN recommenders · 2014–2023

demo#4403

Your toothbrush is worn-out!

Applied Science

“You can find electron microscope scans of fresh toothbrushes and worn ones in this[0] Applied Science YouTube video.”

1 HN recommenders · 2023–2025

demo#4405

Making purple gold

NileRed

“There's a fascinating video of a fellow trying to make a ring out of Purple Gold.”

1 HN recommenders · 2023–2024

demo#4529

[593] Gallium vs. Titalium - Abus Padlock Meets a Gruesome End

LockPickingLawyer

“you should watch his video where he breaks a lock by simply applying Gallium to a lock”

1 HN recommenders · 2020–2024

demo#4609

A Boy And His Atom: The World's Smallest Movie

IBM

“This IBM video[1] was made with an STM scanning tunneling microscope, which sees outer electrons.”

1 HN recommenders · 2013–2025

tutorial#4671

Making YBCO superconductor

Applied Science

“Here's his video of making YBCO for anyone that hasn't seen it”

1 HN recommenders · 2021–2023

demo#4748

Attempting to make transparent wood

NileRed

“NileRed on youtube has a cool video detailing the steps to create transparent wood.”

1 HN recommenders · 2020–2021

demo#4793

How the pyramids were built in Egypt

Geopolymer Institute

1 HN recommenders · 2017–2024