This week on the channel +181K views this week

BBC Ideas sends Sophia Herod to Mercury's weather desk

The BBC Weather presenter delivers an extraterrestrial forecast, while Boolean logic and shoelace science keep drawing viewers.

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BBC Ideas Story of November 5, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.

How hot does it get on planet Mercury?

Sophia Herod has a forecast to make Earth's weather look positively accommodating. In BBC Ideas' only new upload this week, Mercury's daytime heat gives way to a brutally cold night, delivered with the familiar composure of a television weather report.

"How hot does it get on planet Mercury?" packs that contrast into less than half a minute. Herod puts the daytime high at 430 degrees Celsius, then follows it with a night-time plunge to minus 180. Viewers respond by comparing it with Phoenix and suggesting that their local weather suddenly seems rather more appealing.

The forecast has reached roughly 4,600 views and is currently the busiest of the channel's highlighted uploads. Behind it, "The deceptively simple power of Boolean logic" continues to find an audience. Narrated by mathematician Dr Katie Steckles, the Royal Society partnership uses cupcakes and car colours to explain logical rules, while also making room for Mary Boole's role in communicating George Boole's ideas.

There is practical science closer to home, too. In "Are you tying your shoelaces wrong?", astrophysicist Josie Peters explores why apparently similar knots behave differently, including the stronger reef knot and the less secure granny knot.

BBC Ideas added subscribers over the week, though more slowly than its month-long average. Daily viewing is currently about half above its usual level. Among nearby educational channels, Cogito is also having a busier-than-usual viewing day, while The Rest Is History drew a much larger weekly audience. BBC Ideas' own contribution is characteristically compact: planetary extremes, the rules behind computers and a reason to look down at your shoes.

Published on Trari

Where next?

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What viewers say

My favourite weather forecaster. She makes me appreciate the local weather so much ❤😅
@mpd8633See it on YouTube
Living in Phoenix be like
@semyoniusSee it on YouTube
So you'd get a day or two at a decent temp
@tomgillard2181See it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube