Welcome back to Smarter Every Day.

I get a lot of questions because of Smarter Every Day.

Some that are personal, some that are about the channel,

all different kinds of things

and I've never really addressed them in a formal way.

So today on Smarter Every Day we're gonna do a question and answer video.

I've blasted out to all the different types of social media that I use

the fact that we're doing a Q&A,

and people have sent in questions.

So without further ado,

let's look at the questions that my sister Briley has prioritized

and categorized by different things,

like controversial questions,

funny, video answers, personal,

channel specific questions, scientific or advice.

Let's start with a question from the Smarter Every Day facebook page

where I literally post something so that I get Smarter Every Day

and share that with other people.

Where did you get the idea of doing Smarter Every Day,

was it a project that you created with your buddies?

The answer is, no.

I wanted to make a video about how to light a bonfire with rockets.

My wife got a new computer that had video editing software on it

I like to communicate and I like to learn.

So i created the video, it was fun, we enjoyed it,

and people started watching it, I thought that was pretty cool.

Later on I decided to actually formally create Smarter Every Day.

I initially called it Pennywhistle Productions.

Smarter Every Day was an attempt to start creating videos

before any monetization happened or anything.

I wanted to figure out a way to pay for my kids' college.

The next question comes from the Smarter Every Day instagram page

which I'll admit is not very good because I'm not a body builder

and I'm not very good at filters,

but anyway you can check me out there if you like too.

This question is from Justin.

What did you go to school for and what are your degrees?

My undergraduate degree is in mechanical engineering from the University of Alabama,

I got a business minor while I was there also.

My masters degree is in aerospace engineering with an emphasis in rocket propulsion.

The next question comes from Lewis on snapchat,

which is like a stream of consciousness for me.

I am ilikerockets on snapchat

and I just post pictures and videos of whatever I'm thinking

at the moment. It's pretty fun. Anyway.

Here's his question.

- Hey Destin. This might be not only my question

but a question from a lot of people.

Can you tell us what do you work with

and what is your relation to rockets?

- I am a flight test engineer for the Department of Defense,

specifically I'm a civil servant for the Army.

I don't work in the Army, I'm not a soldier,

but I work for the Army.

The best thing to do here is just Google the place I work,

Redstone Test Center.

You'll learn everything you want to know.

The next question comes from the Smarter Every Day

twitter page which is something where I'm active

pretty much all the time.

It says how did I meet my wife,

who happens to be in the room,

so how did we meet?

- We met in physics at college.

- We met in physics at the University of Alabama.

Yaaaayyyyy. [laughs]

The next question comes from Instagram.

Hey Destin what would a fish do in the ISS in a water bubble?

Well Dr Mark Weislogel at Portland State University

actually does experiments with this

in a drop facility.

It's pretty cool, check it out.

Fish tries to leave, but it can't.

Eventually it does.

That is cool science.

[laughs]

She sees herself.

She doesn't know what to do.

You're locked in.

Ricky wants to know from Instagram

Can you put up daily videos please.

I do, on snapchat.

From twitter,

How do you deal with the pressure of presenting all of your thoughts

in video to very skeptical and sometimes mean commenters.

What do we do?

People are saying mean things. Do we let it upset us?

No.

Say no.

Next question, from Facebook.

Oh, my sister, I see what she did.

You're called the biggest blank-hole on earth and as ugly as a turd hope you like it.

[laughs]

Ahh, next question, from Instagram.

Do you have any pets?

Yes!

We have three pets.

We have Spotsy, who is a cat who has 21 spots.

We have Buckshot, who is a dog.

She's a mutt and I love her.

And then we have a third dog named Cody.

She is a three legged dog,

we adopted her

and we like her a lot, don't we.

She's pretty cool.

Can I get a kiss? Kiss?

Nope, no kisses. [laughs]

No kisses, alright.

So, next question is from snapchat,

from Keira.

My name is Keira, I'm from New York

and I was wondering if you ever had a career in the Army

because I saw your snapchats

you wear army uniforms.

Very good question Keira,

like I said, I work for the Army, I'm not in the Army,

but I do fly as an aviation flight test engineer,

sometimes I fly in helicopters.

And when I do that I wear a uniform basically.

It's a flight suit,

and that flight suit keeps me from catching on fire.

Next question from twitter.

Were you scared of not knowing anything when you were about to graduate

cause I am.

No I think you're in a good place.

I think it's OK to not be sure of the things that you know,

but you should be confident in your ability to learn new things.

OK a lot of people asked this question.

Am I submitting an application to be an astronaut.

Of course I'm gonna apply to be an astronaut.

I'd love to be on the space station or

wherever we go explore next

doing blog style updates,

Mark Watney style if you will.

That'd be a dream of mine.

Now I'm gonna apply.

I encourage you to do the same.

You've gotta chase your dreams.

There are so many qualified people though

but I'm gonna give it my best shot.

I think it'd be really cool.

Also, say hello to robonaut,

here on space station.

Here's a question from Mike on snapchat.

- Destin, what is the coolest experience you've had making a video?

- Man there are a lot of cool experiences.

I don't know, two things that stick out are

diving on the Great Barrier Reef and something that is not out yet,

something I'm editing now.

I had an opportunity with the air force.

[jet sound]

Mr Almostcool wants to know if gravitational waves are real.

Possibly.

Toilet paper roll. Over or under.

Definitely over.

Do you like potatoes?

Love em.

Here's a snapchat question from Eleana.

- Hi Destin. I'm Eleana. I'm in Philly

and my question is

What does being a father mean to you?

- When I became a father it changed my perspective

on life in general.

I realize that there are these people that

not only am I in charge of providing food and shelter for

and stability for their lives and protecting them,

but it's more than that.

It's about modelling character for them, right?

Because these people are going to make decisions

based on how they observe their leader.

Fatherhood is about giving my children a safe place,

encouraging them to bloom

and hopefully help them build into people that are much greater

tham I am.

I want them to seek truth in everything that they do,

even if it is a negative thing in the short term.

In the long term I want them to focus on truth.

From twitter,

How do you go from an idea to the video itself?

Interesting question.

I don't script things.

I shoot footage of things that interest me

and I learn about it,

over several years in some cases.

Like the most recent video,

the Mars rover,

I had footage of the Mars rover

before other people did.

I did not put it up because I didn't understand it completely.

So I don't go for the quick wins.

I'll have the footage and not put it up.

I will focus on understanding the topic.

And when I understand the topic,

and it's solidified in my mind,

and only then do I put the video together

and try to tell the whole story

of my journey from knowledge to understanding.

From instagram,

What's the biggest mistake I've made in a video.

I can specifically remember two that hurt me even now.

I misspelled viscosity in the honey coiling video.

In the dragonfly video I spoke to an expert in the UK

who said that there was a dorsal trachea and that's where respiration happened on the dragonfly.

I immediately got a call from a true dragonfly expert

whoc challenged me on this and it was wrong.

That one hurts,

because I can't go back and change the video.

I got it from everywhere.

The religion question.

Here's the deal.

From what I've read on the internet,

people think that there's the smart, rocket side of Destin's brain

and then there's this really stupid Jesus side.

And I get it.

People think that faith is a departure from reason.

But I think differently about that.

I feel like personally my faith journey has been propped up

by reason. I know that sounds strange if you're not there with me,

but that's where I'm at.

The most important thing is to remain intellectually honest

and not just believe something because you're scared

of what's gonna happen when you die and all this stuff,

but does it make logical sense,

and I have arrived at a point in my life

where yes, it does to me.

People really want to have this discussion

and argument on the internet

but I'm not interested in that

because the world is already polarized enough.

I want to bring people together,

and so I think the fact that I'm just there,

doing my thing

and people know that I'm a christian,

I think that's OK, and I'm not trying to convince anybody

of anything.

I just want people to look at the world differently

and use their own minds to draw rational conclusions.

That's all I want.

I know this didn't fully answer the question.

I spoke at skepticon and I think they're gonna put a video up about that

so feel free to check that out.

People on twitter, instagram and facebook all want to know

about the postcard project

and I owe you an apology.

Yes, I did coat the inside of an entire room of my house

with nothing but postcards that you sent me

and I read,

and they're fantastic.

People sent clever stuff from all over the world.

People from Bahrain, from England,

from Africa, you cannot imagine.

I read so many delightful things

It was amazing.