7 Sept 2026
Watch Becky Stern’s Shenzen series on Nebula! https://nebula.tv/videos/beckystern-h…

For most of human history, the brightest man-made light was just firelight. But around the turn of the century, artificial light came on the scene and the race to create the brightest light ever was on, and it continues to this day. In fact we have created light that is brighter than the sun. Brighter than a nuclear weapon. By tens of millions of times.

Want to support the channel? Here’s how:

Patreon: / answerswithjoe
Channel Memberships: / @joescott
T-Shirts & Merch: https://laughsmarter.com
Book of Mysteries: https://a.co/d/0gRx0qvM
Documentary: https://nebula.tv/oldestnewest

Check out my 2nd channel, Joe Scott TMI:
/ @joescott-tmi

And my podcast channel, Conversations With Joe:
/ @conversationswithjoe

You can listen to my podcast, Conversations With Joe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Spotify 👉 https://spoti.fi/37iPGzF
Apple Podcasts 👉 https://apple.co/3j94kfq
Google Podcasts 👉 https://bit.ly/3qZCo1V

Follow me at all my places!
Instagram: / answerswithjoe
TikTok: / answerswithjoe
Facebook: / answerswithjoe
Twitter: / answerswithjoe

LINKS LINKS LINKS
https://www.britannica.com/science/el…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light#S…
https://acd-ext.gsfc.nasa.gov/anonftp…
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burning…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Archime…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympic…
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innova…
https://metro.co.uk/2013/09/03/jaguar…
https://askatria.ai/learn/architectur…
https://www.scmp.com/news/world/artic…
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/mus…
https://www.nbcdfw.com/news/local/art…
https://www.britannica.com/topic/ligh…
https://hakaimagazine.com/article-sho…
https://www.historysnob.com/places/st…
https://www.signliteled.com/lumens-vs…
https://www.reagent.co.uk/blog/what-i…
https://www.history.com/articles/indu…
https://www.history.com/this-day-in-h…
https://www.history.com/articles/thom…
https://www.roadsideamerica.com/story…
https://cinematreasures.org/theaters/…
https://www.centennialbulb.org/palace…
https://www.prolampsales.com/products…
https://www.lighthousedigest.com/dige…
https://www.victorysearchlights.com/v…
https://www.ans.org/news/article-879/…
https://www.atomicarchive.com/resourc…
https://www.ebsco.com/research-starte…
https://www.afnwc.af.mil/About-Us/His…
https://ahf.nuclearmuseum.org/ahf/key…
https://www.livescience.com/nuclear-b…
https://hpmmuseum.jp/modules/exhibiti…
https://thebulletin.org/2021/11/the-u…
https://www.rferl.org/a/tsar-bomba/31…
https://newsreleases.sandia.gov/anoth…
https://nuclearsecrecy.com/nukemap/
https://www.vice.com/en/article/physi…
https://phys.org/news/2025-05-powerfu…
https://www.fanaticalfuturist.com/202…
https://phys.org/news/2017-06-billion…
https://www.wired.com/story/brightest…
https://www.nsf.gov/news/nsf-zeus-bec…

TIMESTAMPS
0:00 – Intro
1:00 – Fire
4:43 – Harnessing the Sun
7:41 – Mega-lights
12:34 – Measuring Light
17:30 – Nukes
23:16 – Insane Lasers
27:06 – Sponsor – Nebula

[…]