This week on the channel +1.5M views this week

Upside down with the Blue Angels, Be Smart investigates lift

Joe Hanson builds a smoke-filled wind tunnel after a fighter-jet ride raises a deceptively simple question.

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Be Smart Story of November 15, 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.

The Most Misunderstood Idea in Flight

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1:04A homemade 3D-printed wind tunnel uses smoke and laser lighting to reveal airflow around wings.
5:52Hanson sets out the familiar Newton and Bernoulli explanations, arguing neither alone supplies a satisfying account.
7:43Air passing above and below a wing does not have to reach the trailing edge together.
10:55Hanson explains lift through turning airflow and the lower pressure on the inside of its curved path.
14:55Stalls, symmetrical wings and inverted flight illustrate how the explanation applies beyond a conventional curved airfoil.

How can a plane stay aloft when its wings are upside down? Joe Hanson returns from a Blue Angels flight with that question, then builds a 3D-printed wind tunnel to work through it at home. Smoke and laser lighting make the invisible air currents visible.

"The Most Misunderstood Idea in Flight" was Be Smart's only upload this week, reaching more than half a million views. The cockpit footage supplies the physical stakes: Hanson endures sustained high-g turns over Pensacola, with pre-flight training showing the effort required to stay conscious. The video includes an AnyDesk sponsorship.

Back at the experiments, Hanson challenges the familiar story that air traveling over a wing must meet the air passing underneath at the trailing edge. "Equal transit time is a myth," he says. His central explanation arrives later: wings turn the airflow, producing the pressure differences that generate lift. Symmetrical wings, stalls and inverted flight become tests of that explanation rather than exceptions to it.

The comments keep the lesson going. Viewers debate how his account connects Newton's laws with Bernoulli's principle, while others ask why curved airflow has lower pressure on its inside. Several focus specifically on angle of attack and how the airflow diagrams communicate pressure.

Be Smart's daily views are running above their usual level, although its subscriber total stayed unchanged over the week. Among nearby science channels, Miwu Science had a much larger week for views, while minutephysics had a quieter one. Hanson's flight lesson now supplies most of Be Smart's daily viewing; "Your mom's cells are still inside you" and "Why are there no green mammals?" remain its next busiest uploads.

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Where next?

Also in Science and experimentsVideo taking off 27x its usual first dayScott Manley examines Super Heavy's tower abort and green flareHis fast-starting Short separates the reported reason for abandoning the tower catch from what happened just above the water.Channel: Scott Manley · Story of November 15, 2026

A different discovery todayVideo taking off 5x its usual first dayCaptain Steeeve traces the FAA ground stop to a system called ERAMFilmed at Detroit Metro Airport, his explainer runs from a failed network update to what pilots do when the radio goes quiet.Channel: Captain Steeeve · Story of November 15, 2026

What viewers say

I came to this video wanting to understand how wings generate lift, but I left wanting to understand why vortexes have lower pressure on the inside.
@justindie7543See it on YouTube
The hard part for me with these visuals is that lines closer together make my brain think of higher pressure. Which isn't really shown in the air over wing image (at least under the wing), and is especially confusing in the tornado image. Looks higher pressure at the center not lower.
@jarodbeukelman6893See it on YouTube
Incredible experience! We were happy to have you in Pensacola, Joe!
@visitpensacolaSee it on YouTube

2 more comments

"the wing bends the air" IS the Newton explanation.
@asadaboobaker7465See it on YouTube
I was actually here for the lift explanation...
@mildsoup8978See it on YouTube

Public comments from the video's page on YouTube