The Rest Is Science

Is 100 Better Than 101?

2026-11-01

Is 100 really such a special number? Or have we spent thousands of years getting excited about something completely arbitrary?



To celebrate the 100th episode of The Rest Is Science, Professor Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens (Vsauce) go head-to-head in a mathematical showdown: which is the better number, 100 or 101?



It sounds like a simple question, but the answer takes them from the strange history of counting, to the psychology of numbers, the mathematics of primes and the possibility of communicating with alien species.



Why do we find round numbers so satisfying? Would 100 mean anything if we'd evolved with 9 fingers? And is there a single number that’s fundamentally special, regardless of the counting system we use?



Can Hannah and Michael settle the debate once and for all? Or is the most ‘important’ number of all one they haven't even considered yet?



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Video Producer: Adam Thornton + Oli Oakley + Jack Meek

Animator: Sam Benson

Video & Social: Bex Tyrrell

Assistant Producer: Lucy Lipscombe

Producer: Simona Rata

Senior Producer: Lauren Armstrong-Carter

Chief Digital Officer: Samuel Oakley

Exec Producer: Neil Fearn
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No. of episodes

102

Latest episode

2026-11-01

Where can you listen?

Join mathematician Professor Hannah Fry and science creator Michael Stevens (Vsauce) as they dig into the weird scientific questions that often go unexplored.

Welcome to The Rest Is Science, a show that sits in the fascinating space between what we think we know, and what we actually know. Why do we assume we understand things like time, randomness, or even gravity? Once you start questioning these familiar ideas, reality becomes astonishingly strange and completely fragile.

Whether you're a lifelong science fan or just naturally curious, The Rest Is Science will change your perception of reality, and prove that the biggest questions are always the most fun.