I promise this story about microwaves is interesting.
Why Hacker News recommends it
HN recommends it as a well-told chase of a weird fact that lands a rare interview with Lovelock at age 101.
What it is
Tom Scott investigates the claim that the microwave was invented to heat hamsters, and interviews James Lovelock about freezing and microwave-thawing hamsters in the 1950s. It traces early magnetron uses beyond radar.
Recommended by 9 HN commenters across 7 different months, 2021 to 2026.
What Hacker News said
Strong rec techdragon · 2022-07 · on “James Lovelock has died”
Despite everything else he accomplished in his quite storied professional career as one of the last independent scientists... Including his work on the Viking mars landers! [LINK] To me he will always be the man who invented his own microwave to thaw frozen hamsters. The whole story is worth a watch since Tom Scott does an admirable job of explaining how he went digging up a weird fact expecting to debunk it only to wind up recording an amazing interview with James Lovelock [this video] but if you’re impatient the interview with lovelock about cryopreserved hamsters and his "microwave" starts here [this video]
Recommends broof · 2021-06 · on “Frozen in Siberian Permafrost for 24,000 Years, Microscopic Animal Comes to Life”
They already studied this. It sometimes worked with small animals like mice, but fails as organisms get larger. There was a really interesting video about how microwaves were first used to test this: [this video]
Recommends _Algernon_ · 2022-05 · on “Faecal transplants reverse hallmarks of ageing”
That's purely a size thing iirc. Lot quicker to get enough heat into a mouse to thaw it, than a human. Edit to add an interesting related video: [this video]
Recommends bambax · 2022-07 · on “James Lovelock has died”
This Tom Scott's video from last year about microwave ovens features a nice interview with Lovelock: [this video]
Recommends mabbo · 2022-10 · on “A singular scientist: James Lovelock”
Tom Scott interviewed him last year in a really wonderful video about microwaves. [this video] > I found an article that said "The microwave was invented to heat hamsters humanely in 1950s experiments." And I thought, no it wasn't. ...was it? At over 100 years old, the man was remarkably coherent and healthy. Quite sad to hear he's passed now.
Recommends zeristor · 2023-02 · on “SimEarth, Finding Gaia in an Afternoon”
This where I can post Tom Scott’s video on Microwaves, in which James Lovelock is interviewed: [this video] Spoiler warning, well you wouldn’t watch it if I didn’t tell you would you.
Recommends cynwoody · 2023-02 · on “How to date a recording using background electrical noise”
Yes, Tom Scott is one talented YouTuber. See, for example, his video on microwaving frozen hamsters back to life[0], in which he interviews the 101-year-old J. E. Lovelock, the scientist who did the work back in the fifties. [0] [this video]
Recommends H8crilA · 2023-06 · on “Scientists unfroze rat organs and transplanted them”
Tom Scott made a great video about it, he even got to the guy who started using microwaves for thawing entire small animals. Before microwaves (diathermic heating) they would use a hot piece of metal, like a large spoon. [this video] And yes, you can unfreeze a rock solid rat, then see it walk around. This is why cryogenics was hyped so much, because it sort of works on small animals.