The Rest Is Science

S1E90 - Why Do We Like Staring Into Fire?

Published: September 27, 2026

Duration: 59:02

What is fire, and why does watching it hold our attention in a different way from scrolling on your phone?


Hannah Fry and Michael Stevens start with the science of a flame: why it glows, what its different colours reveal, and why fire is a series of chemical reactions rather than a single substance.


Then they travel back to a time before wildfires could burn on Earth, and ask how early humans learned to use and make it.


Could keeping a fire alive have...