Skip to content

Has Anyone Ever Accidentally Seen me Naked (Question Tuesday on a Friday)

2026-01-30 · Q&A · Hank · 9:40 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Science & nature (also: Internet & YouTube, Personal life, Projects, Global development) · mode: Q&A & conversation · tags: recurring series, self promotion, community lore

In a Question Tuesday on a Friday, Hank answers viewer questions: Earth loses more mass than it gains, trees, being seen naked, which animals to punch, his three-day Twitter relapse and why content platforms will fade, P4A preparation, his new Crash Course Scientific Thinking, amber and static electricity, raccoon versus whale, and favourite ice.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Intro (letting viewers pick the topic); is Earth gaining or losing mass

  • ★★ Hank says Earth is both gaining and losing mass over time, but losing more than it gains. — 00:00:00 · Earth
  • ★★ Hank says Earth's mass input is small space rocks: about 200 metric tons hit Earth every day, some 40 to 50,000 metric tons a year. — 00:00:00 · Earth
  • ★★ Hank says Earth loses about 100,000 metric tons a year of hydrogen and helium; helium made by radioactive decay rises and is kicked off by the solar wind. — 00:00:29 · Earth

00:00:58 — Trees and flowers Hank is excited about

  • ★★ Asked which trees or flowers excite him, Hank admits none do as much as they should; he should be more excited about trees and flowers. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ Hank says trees are a thin film of life over a dead skeleton, basically a little plant that builds a giant structure, which is very weird. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Has anyone accidentally seen Hank naked

  • ★★ Hank says someone has probably seen him naked by accident, but he would not always know and would not remember it long term. (playful, hedged) — 00:01:27
  • ★ Hank remembers accidentally seeing others naked, like his grandfather, who just didn't close the door; it probably didn't matter much to him, as it doesn't to Hank. (playful) — 00:01:27

00:01:56 — Ask Hank Anything with Brennan Lee Mulligan; which animals to punch

  • ★★ Hank says the new Ask Hank Anything, an hour of him answering Brennan Lee Mulligan's questions, just came out and viewers probably want to watch it. — 00:01:56 · Ask Hank Anything

00:02:26 — Hank's Twitter relapse and why content platforms are bad and will fade

  • ★★ Hank says the best animal to punch attacks you, so you can't be blamed, but can't really hurt you; punching a shark is a great idea, but not a situation he wants. (playful) — 00:02:26
  • ★★★ Hank says he had a Twitter relapse but is not still on Twitter. — 00:02:26 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says his three-day Twitter binge produced nothing good; he kind of enjoyed it but does not think it is good behaviour. — 00:02:56 · Twitter
  • ★ Hank cites his post that a study found two people can be put in one CT scanner in emergencies and it works. — 00:02:56
  • ★★ Hank says that instead of nice, value-adding posts he posts angry rage on Twitter because he is feeling anger and rage. — 00:03:25 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says his three days on Twitter were the only topic he discussed with his therapist this week (week of 26 January 2026). — 00:03:25 · Twitter
  • ★★ Hank says he liked it and had no bad consequences, but doing it ten times would not go so well every time, so he needs to rein it in: it's a bad place. — 00:03:25 · Twitter
  • ★★★ Hank says content platforms are bad, and we understand more and more why, and their negative effects on the world. — 00:03:54 · social media
  • ★★★ Hank predicts a reversal of fortune for content platforms: in a thousand years Facebook will at most be mentioned in a history book, a relic like gasoline cars. — 00:03:54 · social media, Facebook
  • ★★ Recalling the science-fiction trope of an ultra-powerful child he discussed with Brennan, Hank says platforms are run by 'children' with too much power, who don't know what they're doing. — 00:04:24 · social media

00:04:53 — How Hank is preparing for the Project for Awesome

  • ★★ For P4A Hank sought a high-quality possum mask (two-month lead time, too late), and has a list of balloon gags, very weird peanut butter someone sent him, and weird fruits from Miami Fruit. (playful) — 00:04:53 · Project for Awesome
  • ★★ Hank says you don't want to prepare too much for the Project for Awesome: you want to leave space for things to happen. — 00:04:53 · Project for Awesome

00:05:21 — Curiosity as a practice: a planned video and the new Crash Course Scientific Thinking

  • ★★ Asked how to make curiosity a consistent practice, Hank says he has a whole video planned on it, not done yet, which will be good and is important. — 00:05:21 · curiosity
  • ★★★ Hank says he hosts the new Crash Course Scientific Thinking, about how science works, how we created it and what it is; two episodes are out. — 00:05:21 · Crash Course
  • ★★ Hank teases that even more is going on than viewers know: wait for next week (week of 2 February 2026). — 00:05:21

00:05:56 — What people thought static electricity was: amber and the word electricity

  • ★★ Hank says the story he knows is of an ancient Greek man who rubbed fur with amber and found it then attracted other things. — 00:05:56
  • ★★ Hank says the Greek word for amber is 'electron', which is where the word electricity comes from. — 00:05:56

00:06:25 — Panpsychism aside; would Hank rather be a raccoon or a whale

  • ★ Hank believes the ancient Greeks thought amber had its own soul. (hedged) — 00:06:25
  • ★★ Hank says some philosophers still think consciousness is in all things; he thinks they're wrong, though they know more than him about a lot. — 00:06:25
  • ★★ Hank says raccoons and whales are both good in different ways: raccoons eat everything, blue whales one thing; raccoons die young, often terribly, while whales live long. — 00:07:03
  • ★★ Hank thinks a whale's senses (hearing, echolocation, pressure) differ more from his than a raccoon's (sight, smell, touch). — 00:07:03
  • ★★ Hank would choose to be a whale, temporarily to learn what it is like, permanently to live longer. — 00:07:32

00:07:55 — Favourite and least favourite kinds of ice

  • ★★ Hank says orcas are the raccoons of whales, so he'd be one, but a fish-eating one, to avoid feeling bad about killing marine mammals. (playful) — 00:07:55
  • ★★ Hank's least favourite ice is black ice, ice coating a surface he is about to move over, which has caused him and many people problems. — 00:07:55
  • ★★ Hank's favourite ice is hoarfrost: stumbling on a little forest of ice on a stream bank feels magical and mystical. — 00:08:43

00:09:12 — Thanks to viewers, the last-minute video, sign-off

  • ★ Hank thanks viewers for the questions, saying he left this video to the last minute because he kept expecting to come up with a topic. — 00:09:12

Humor (significant)

  • Asked whether anyone has accidentally seen him naked, Hank recalls seeing his grandfather instead. — 00:01:27

    “He just didn't close the door.”

  • Weighing which animals to punch, Hank considers a goose, which is more in the kicking zone. — 00:02:26

    “but I feel like I could get an uppercut under there, you know, and like really teach it a lesson.”

  • Asked why he is still on Twitter, Hank explains his relapse. — 00:02:26

    “I am on Twitter again, but I'm not on Twitter anymore.”

  • Asked how he prepared for P4A, Hank tried to get a high-quality possum mask. — 00:04:53

    “So I did not prepare in time.”

  • Choosing between raccoon and whale, Hank finds a compromise. — 00:07:55

    “Like orcas are the raccoons of whales.”

  • Describing hoarfrost found on a stream bank. — 00:08:43

    “I feel as if I've been transported to the crystal dimension.”

Threads in this video

Mentioned

Central: Crash Course Scientific Thinking · social media · static electricity · Twitter

Also: People: Brennan Lee Mulligan

Projects: Ask Hank Anything · Crash Course · Project for Awesome

Organizations: Facebook · Miami Fruit

Rituals: Question Tuesday

Concepts: amber · black ice · Blue whale · CT scan · curiosity · gasoline · helium · hoarfrost · hydrogen · killer whale · meteorite · panpsychism · raccoon · radioactive decay · science fiction · solar wind · tree · whale

Places: Ancient Greece · Earth

← Previous: Two Unrelated Destroyers of Trust · Next → Does the truth still matter?