The giant freezer that tests winter boots 

I tried to find a balance between "actual science" and "me falling over" here. I think I managed it.

My favorite part of this giant, expensive piece of equipment with ridiculous amounts of control and data logging: the cheap mattresses to cushion the slips.

Can confirm: grad students are universally regarded as super disposable

0:43 _We have the worlds most realistic driving simulator_ *shows graphics of a mobile game*

1:27 "That is terrifying!" what, do you mean the walk I take to get the mail?

Science that actually helps people and industry. Great job by these folks.

That is good science. And it looks a lot of fun too.

You don’t need to fall to hurt yourself. You can slip, jerk around to catch yourself, and mess up your knees particularly. I slipped and hyperextended a knee last year - felt very minor [until the next day when I could barely walk], didn’t fall or even jerk around much - and tore cartilage. So please clear your sidewalks. (Boom! Surprise message at the end there!)

I’m surprised they didn’t mention that the static coefficient of friction is equal (or roughly equal) to the sine of the angle at which you will slip. 7 degrees equals 0.12.. or roughly the same as bare ice or dry snow on ice. And someone definitely needs to get this information to Blundstone. They make the one of the most comfortable and durable boots there are... but they don’t know anything about snow and ice in Tasmania and it shows.

i can see myself watching this in class and answering questions

I like how this guy is explaining what they're doing at that lab and how they've improved and it keeps randomly cutting to Tom slipping.

We got some students. And they're sort of disposable.... 🤣🤣🤣🤣👍

1:40 as a university grad student working in a lab this hits home lmal

Imagine if the room tilted to 90° and the person still kept walking normally.

wow can you imagine straight up saying grads are disposible

Graduate students are D-Class, the D means delightful

The thumbnail looks nearly like Gordon Ramsay.

Graduate students: disposable.

Two of my favourite channels working together. Rare Earth and Tom Scott, NICE collab.

I just wanna skate on that ice

Can they put a version of that room at Wonderland?

"When it rains in our simulator it actually rains" What does that mean

This guy is brutally honest about his science and I Iove it. "Graduate students are disposable" "A five point scale would've been depressing"

"We use graduate students because they're disposable" SCP Foundation: *_WRITE THAT DOWN, WRITE THAT DOWN!_*

This is my favorite kind of scientific work. There's a clear goal, thorough testing, and it has a somewhat subtle but genuine impact on the quality of goods we can produce as a species. Imagine how damned hard it would be to test all this stuff as a shoe manufacturer. The cost to do it properly would be so absurdly high that you'd never get the green light. This is just brilliant.

I love how honest he is about the disposability of grad students.

That tilting ice room would be great for overcoming anxiety of loosing your footing. A controlled environment (complete with harness!) like where you can experience that loss of control but still be fine would be ideal exposure therapy.

Lol he called students "disposable." haha I like this guy. He is a mad scientist kinda

I am slightly disappointed that that mop in the corner of the room is not a curling broom.

"We can make nice, white, fluffy snow." Okay, next let's see some cruel, jagged, artery-slashing snow. Just for comparisons' sake.

I love that Tom is just falling the whole time while the mad scientist is cackling about his research and disposable grad students 😂😂😂

Man, that videography is brilliant. I bet whoever took that footage is super cool and probably really, really handsome. Love ya Tom.

This channel is amazing!

That guy makes people fall for science, and for a living. Awesome.

Would have liked to find out the science behind what makes some shoes less slippery.

It's labs like this that keep my quality of life in a wheelchair higher than ever thought possible! Those grab bars he mentioned I use several times a day and I hope he and all the people who work there know how wonderful they are and how appreciated their work is. Thank you, Tom!!!

Apart from the great work being done for accessibility and safety, the thing I love the most about this video is how they made a big ice box with a variable temperature floor and weather conditions, and then decided to strap two different bed mattresses on it with some rope. That's such a personal touch and it really ties the room together.

This looks fun, how does one sign up to be a test subject at Winter Lab?

Graduate students: _exist_ University studies: *I'll take your entire stock*

"Graduate students are disposable" O.o k

60 disposable grad students disliked this video.

Maybe instead of better boots, they just need ropes and harnesses all around the city of Toronto. :P

Hearing that guy describe grad students as "not very expensive and sort of disposable" hurts a lot, as a current grad student...I mean, he may not be wrong, but it hurts...

"...disposable grad students..." I guess that is as evil as a canadian scientist can be ;-)

Randall Munroe once estimated that hockey players could stay still on a rink that's tilted 50 degrees. If that's not the place to test it out, I don't know what is.

Why does this seem so wholesome? There’s people out there who want to make loads of money and revolutionize whole fields and then there’s this guy who’s like, “I just want to make a nice pair of boots”

"Toronto is cold." Great observation.

I love how the professor is just talking , while Tom is slipping and falling inside the winter box!

Glad you had fun in my hometown :)

Could we have like a 20 minute version of this were there is nothing but you slipping, sliding and falling trough that room?

The best ones are where they lock Tom in a fancy room or vehicle and then toss him around a bit.

"Grad students are kind of cheap and disposable." Yeah, that about sums it up

The switching between Dr. Fernie to Tom falling comically was really perfectly timed. A+ editing!

Tom (at one snowflake): "I can literally just walk normally" Geoff: "The first time we ever did this, 90 out of 100 boots failed to get 1 snowflake" Love that clear juxtaposition, it shows the progress these lads have made.

I've had 8 minor concussions, and 2 major concussion. All of them were from falling on ice. It's more dangerous than people realize.

We need more slipping footage please.

"We have graduate students -- They're not very expensive and are very disposable" Well.. at least he's honest I guess.

graduate student, disposable and cheap

Scientist: *(explaining)* Meanwhile... *Tom:* ↘️↗️↙️➡️⬅️↖️↔️

Best quote: "We have a group of graduate students.. ..they're not very expensive and sort of disposable"..

Fun fact, static friction is higher than sliding friction... so if you don't wanna slide... then don't slide

You know it's a proper mad science lab when they talk about their test subjects being disposable.

Tom, quick hint. If you're on ice, you should try and lower your centre of mass by keeping your knees bent a bit as you walk, and by crouching down when you start falling. Bending your knees helps keep your centre of mass over your foot as you walk which limits the amount of force pushing against friction between the boot and the ice. Crouching down lets you move a foot out to gives your more space where your centre mass is stable, this lets you catch your balance again so you stop sliding. Source: Am Canadian who has stopped falling on his butt.

I like all your videos, but the ones, in which you're flailing around always crack me up

this guy was a great interviewee.

I LOVE the way he says graduate students! I love knowing I am disposable.

That Professor looks so enthusiastic. Like, i want every teacher in my school like that!

I liked the cross-cutting between the interview subject and the slipping in the winterlab, because the latter footage was always well-related to what the former was talking about

Anyone who has tried bowling in street shoes knows you can have too much friction.

I live in Wisconsin, where we get a lot of slushy, icy winters. I also have a visual impairment, which affects my ability to balance, especially once I start slipping. Therefore, I have developed what I see as a special ability of being able to recognize not just that I am slipping, but how much. My reaction to starting to slip on a surface is not throwing my arms out, but rather reducing the amount of force that I'm putting down to the surface to help control the slip and regain traction. In a way, I "cut power" when a significant amount of slippage is detected, similar to a traction-control system on a modern car. This ability seems like it would wreak havoc on these ratings. Instead of outright falling on a slope that was too steep for the amount of traction that I had, I would go through a rapid cycle of trying to move, getting no traction, and stopping. On the other hand, being able to very precisely control slip could be an advantage. Where other people might fall, I could control the amount of slip and end up successfully climbing the slope.

"not very expensive (cheap) and disposable" - thats exactly how I feel as a graduate student

Love this guy's quote about grad students - "..they're not very expensive and sort of disposable". HA HA HA HA!!! Awesome video!

My favorite episodes are the ones where someone else explains and Tom just faffs about on the background

"Thanks to Evan from Rare Earth for being the camera op" *WHAT*

Is it just me, or does that guy seem kind of like a Canadian Martin Poliakoff?

"Here in toronto, its cold for most of the year, so you need a good pair of winter boots" *me walking around in broken sneakers*

In case you're wondering "if there can be such a thing as too much friction", talk to someone with MS. Yes, friction is needed but when getting your feet off the ground is hard enough, every little snag can make you fall down hard.

As a grad student, I appreciate being appreciated. Even if it's for being disposable

Finally an honest description of graduate students. Not expensive, and disposable. (Former Grad student)

I love the way this is edited, Tom just sliding along the floors while the scientists explains everything-

*waits for the bonus video of All The Falls... with or without Culture Club's "I'll Tumble 4 Ya" playing in the background...*

So what’s your profession? Making people fall for science 😂😂

Gets to trip people and calling it science? Where do I sign up?!

Walking on ice is a skill that people that live in snowy countries have. You have to lower your center of gravity as low as you can, a lot of the balance is maintained with ankles.

scientists narrating about their findings over footage of tom flailing around is my new favorite genre of youtube video

Like/dislike ratio of 783 to 1! That's the highest I've ever seen it on a RU-vid video.

1:51 thank me later

Tom your videos never cease to amaze me!

I don't know about 'Built for Science'... more like 'Tom flails about again for science'. Always interesting, flailing or not - Tom Scott rules the internet! :D

Just came for the disposable graduate students

Good usage of grad students. They are truly disposable.

When I am confronted with a slippery surface i sit down and move with my hands and legs. You can't fall over if you are already on the ground

I like how Tom has decided to release this video about winter boots in the MIDDLE OF JUNE. Absolute mad lad.

Here from the guitar rice vid from lateral highlights

@ 01:40 "We actually have a group of graduate students... Because they're not very expensive and they're sort of disposable." K den

"Graduate students are disposable" This explains why I get paid so poorly as one.

Hmm, i wonder how much "experience" plays into how good shoes are. I know i walk differently on ice than on a clear sidewalk. I remember when i was a kid, my cousins from the southern USA came up to visit during the winter in Minnesota. We went out a skating rink, and I laughed and laughed at them as they could barely walk around while I had no issues.

Winter lab scientist: “We have the worlds most advanced driving simulator” Simulator: shows ps2 quality graphics

The worst isn't bare ice, but a thin layer of snow atop ice. Unless you've got cleats, no boot will help you.

Mad Scientist: Grad Students aren't expensive and sort of Disposable Me: Ahaha Also me: MonkaS