The Craziest Experiment Humans Have Ever Built

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 15:44:24 +0000

This machine found something scientists thought was impossible…
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In the middle of the desert, miles from any city, are two HUGE concrete tubes. They’re part of a giant machine running the most precise experiment humans have ever built…

Each tube is 4 kilometers long, and inside there’s a big metal pipe. And at the end of each pipe, scientists place some of the smoooooothest mirrors ever made. And then they fire a powerful laser that gets split down each tube, bouncing it back and forth… building up more and more power… until… they bring those beams back together… to discover something that just 100 years ago scientists thought was impossible to find!

Finding it took hundreds of scientists and over a billion dollars. But what did we find?? And what’s the cutting edge we’re finding NOW that makes those scientists want to build… AN EVEN BIGGER ONE?

Let me show you…

Chapters
00:00 What's the most precise experiment humans have built?
01:41 How do we know what’s out in the universe?
02:33 What if two stars collide?
03:41 What are gravitational waves?
6:34 What's inside the concrete tubes in the desert?
5:50 How did they build the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory?
07:42 How does the laser experiment work?
09:20 What's the LIGO dance?
11:14 What are the most reflective mirrors in the world?
14:02 What happened when they turned on the laser machine?
15:17 Did we detect gravitational waves?
16:16 Can we manipulate gravity?
17:44 :)

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Bio:
Cleo Abram is an Emmy-nominated independent video journalist. On her show, HUGE* If True, Cleo explores complex technology topics with rigor and optimism, helping her audience understand the world around them and see positive futures they can help build. Before going independent, Cleo was a video producer for Vox. She wrote and directed the Coding and Diamonds episodes of Vox’s Netflix show, Explained. She produced videos for Vox’s popular YouTube channel, was the host and senior producer of Vox’s first ever daily show, Answered, and was co-host and producer of Vox’s YouTube Originals show, Glad You Asked.

Additional reading and watching:
- LIGO: https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/page/learn-more
- Paper on First Gravitational Wave Detection: https://arxiv.org/abs/1602.03837
- Einstein's Theory of Gravitation: https://www.cfa.harvard.edu/re....search/science-field
- Advancements to LIGO: Quantum Squeezing: https://www.ligo.caltech.edu/news/ligo20231023
- Advanced LIGO Documentary “LIGO”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dX4vCNi544w
- Caltech, “LIGO: The First Observation of Gravitational Waves”: https://youtu.be/wrqbfT8qcBc?si=39S3-hcXpU6Dwiyg
- Physics Girl, “I Visited the First Gravitational Wave Detector! LIGO | STELLAR”: https://youtu.be/jtp71NT0GNg?si=6BUilmCISXlwN8qr
- Veritasium, “The Absurdity of Detecting Gravitational Waves”: https://youtu.be/iphcyNWFD10?si=DFZYSAIyW90oIoNe
- Caltech “How Squeezing Light Reduces Uncertainty in LIGO's Measurements”: https://youtu.be/q5lnamXhnfI?si=QrbgPVHwkYs1CEip

Vox: https://www.vox.com/authors/cleo-abram
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm10108242/

Gear I use:
Camera: Sony A7SIII
Lens: Sony 16–35 mm F2.8 GM
Audio: Sennheiser SK AVX and Zoom H4N Pro

Music: Musicbed, Tom Fox

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—
Hey, welcome to the joke down low!

What did Gravity say to Light?
Nothing, it just waved!

Find a way to use “wave” in a comment to let me know you’re a real one who made it to the end of the description :)