The Universe in a Nutshell
Added 2020-09-22 17:59:00 +0000 UTCOhai Patreons! I wanted to let you know that we created our first app ‘Universe in a Nutshell’, together with Tim Urban of Wait but Why! You can get it here:
Appstore: http://kgs.link/universe-app-ios
Google Playstore: http://kgs.link/universe-app-android
Oh boy. Making an app is hard. It seemed so easy when we started. We underestimated the necessary work load and all the potential problems at least tenfold – this is not a figure of speech, making this thing really took ten times longer than we thought it would. And we are used to working on big projects that take longer than you thought. So the first update to the app should hopefully be here in the next 24 hours (we are waiting for approval of the update in the app stores) – it will fix a bunch of small things that slipped through (because of cause there are things to fix left). We’ll constantly improve this thing because while it was honestly a horrible nightmare to make, it also was fun and we want to get better at it and make more things in the future. In case you don’t know Wait but Why: it is the best and most fun blog on the internet (https://waitbutwhy.com/2020/09/universe.html) and if you don’t know it you should change that like right now. The brain behind it, Tim Urban and I collaborated for the first time in 2013 and we have been good friends ever since. He has one of my favorite brains on the planet – his writing is a constant source of inspiration for me and talking to him is always super helpful for reflecting my own work with Kurzgesagt. He asked me the most interesting questions when I was doing chemo. Tim is one of these quality humans. It has to have been in the year 2014 when we decided to make this app together. We have a huge inspiration here: It is inspired by the “scale of the universe” website by the Huang Twins that we spent a lot of time with when it came out years ago. We always wanted to make our version of that website.
It is basically a universe size explorer. You can seamlessly travel from the smallest things in existence, past the coronavirus, human cells and dinosaurs all the way to the largest stars and galaxies and marvel at the whole observable universe. You can learn more about each object or simply enjoy the sheer scale of it all. It’s a fun plaything and we are so happy we finally made it and we hope you like it! There are no in-app purchases and no ads. All future updates are included! Since this is our first app we would love to hear your feedback so we can improve it over time. Leave us a five star review if you want to support it. Kurzgesagt and all the projects we do are mostly funded by viewers like you. So if you like the app we’ll make more. Let us know what other kinds of play or learn things we should make in the future! Ok! Thank you for reading! – Philipp
Comments
Most phones support mirroring to a TV, or smart set top box. It shouldn’t be a challenge to either connect a cable or mirror wirelessly to a classroom display.
Stewart Lawrence III
2020-12-13 07:01:34 +0000 UTCdownloaded on iPads of my daughters. works great
Ivan
2020-10-27 23:09:37 +0000 UTCHi. Can this app be accessed on a device other than a phone? It would make a really cool educational resource for some of my classes. Like on the pc?
harry banks
2020-10-04 01:12:34 +0000 UTCBeautiful app--congratulations!
Matilda Luk
2020-09-28 14:35:10 +0000 UTCSupporting Kurzgesagt is easy when the product is this good. Really high quality as always. The care and attention shows - really nice work.
Team Saunders
2020-09-27 22:58:37 +0000 UTCI'd also appreciate using the metric system, or scientific notation. "390 billion kilometeres" is very hard to understand. - "billion" varies per region (10^9 in US/UK, but 10^12 for most other countries). I don't know which one you guys adhere to (it's 10^12 for Germany, right?) - A meter is MUCHO easier to think about that a kilometer, especially when one has to think about power of it. Like, my door is two meters tall, but I can't quite picture what a kilometer is. - Ultimately, "390 billion kilometers" completely lacks any tangible frame of reference. It's got two multipliers inside of it (10^12 * 10^3), and having just one would likely make more sense. I do admit it's still very hard to present information -- so the zooming in/out does help! Great idea!
WhyNotHugo
2020-09-26 10:42:14 +0000 UTCGreat app! I'm loving it. There's just one thing that's supper annoying: swiping seems to be in the counter-intuitive direction. At least it is if you're right handed. I push things towards the center (right-to-left), yet they move away from the center (left-to-right). So far, every time I've paused I've then resume in the wrong direction because of this. (just compare it to how you'd swipe anything that you move around in any app). If you're left handed it makes sense though; since pushing things towards the center does move them in that direction.
WhyNotHugo
2020-09-26 10:30:23 +0000 UTCAn amazing app! Gives you an intellectual vertigo of sorts when you think about the difference in scale... Also, SHOULD WE POST ABOUT SPELLING AND OTHER MISTAKES HERE?
Dmitry Mandriko
2020-09-25 21:52:39 +0000 UTCTotally agree! And ready to help with the Russian one. 🙂
Dmitry Mandriko
2020-09-25 21:48:58 +0000 UTCCan there be a campaign goal where the app would be published for free? The current goal is at 100% so there should be no reason to have non-open knowledge (also as in libre/open source) if there aren't new goals that aren't yet met.
tuxayo
2020-09-25 15:17:16 +0000 UTCIs it free for patreon?
Kevin Zhang
2020-09-24 19:28:46 +0000 UTCbought it!
Oliver Alex
2020-09-24 18:29:55 +0000 UTCNeutrinos dont have a size! Proof me wrong :(
2020-09-24 18:27:13 +0000 UTCGekauft 😘
Stephan
2020-09-24 14:51:38 +0000 UTCThis is lovely! I can now learn at a glance that, e.g. the physical size of a fully utilised Phobos colony will be comparable to metropolian Marseille (cultural melting pot of southern France). So I have a couple of points on feedback, the first is functionality and the second is content. 1. Will you consider a search-bar in the menu? It would then be easier to look up the size of, say, an average "bacteria". 2. I'm a structural biologist (protein), so from that bias I think there are an endless number of very cool things you can add between 10^-9 m and 10^4 m. Here is a short-list of things: 0.436 square km: Pando, the colony of one quaking aspen that is one of the largest single organisms we currently know about. Aspens trees can grow by sprouting new trunks from root systems (like grass), and this is how one such single tree becomes an entire grove. 8.9 square km: On the same topic of "largest known organism", individual fungi have a similar root-spreading ability, and and up supporting entire forests. The Wikipedia value is almost certainly not the largest out there. 1 micrometer: Titin, the longest individual human protein, is a long beads-on-a-chain things that provide a flexible structural supports between muscle fibers. ...I think it's heavier than the smallest virus on the list. 120 nanometers: (Vertebrate) Nuclear-pore complex, the security gates between the Cellular City and the Library of Knowledge at its center. To exit or enter the nucleus, all products bigger than a certain size must be chaperoned by dedicated protein chauffeurs. 30 nanometers: Proteasome, the recycling module for many proteins used by ~every eukaryotic cell. On the plus side, it also looks like a rubbish bin with lids on both ends! Proteins tagged for recycling go in, building materials come out. 7 nanometers: Hemoglobin, carrier of oxygen and carbon dioxide. If the red-blood cell is the size of a cargo ship oir cruise liner, imagine it half-full of washing-machine sized drums of hemoglobin. Each drum contains only four oxygen molecules the size of your thumb. ...and that concludes a brief tour of the untold universe of biology.
Poker Chen
2020-09-24 04:54:22 +0000 UTCFinally, a Kurzgesagt app! This is so fun and well, I just love it!
Young Joon
2020-09-23 11:16:28 +0000 UTCThanks for the great app, it is super awesome, but what about translations to other languages? Is it planned? There are some people (me including) who can help with Russian translation for example)
proksimov prksimovich
2020-09-23 08:59:04 +0000 UTCLike your app! It is super great!
Darya Krainia
2020-09-23 07:44:34 +0000 UTCLove the app! Buttery smooth animation on my iPad2 mini. And yes, as a mobile developer myself, I can imagine the challenge it must have been. Keep them coming!
Guy Moreillon
2020-09-23 05:59:14 +0000 UTCLooks so great but immediately crashes on my old iPhone 5s (iOS 12.4.8).
HazySkies
2020-09-22 23:29:10 +0000 UTCThis is incredible! WBW and Kurzgesagt come together on a project?! My Instant Gratification Monkey is marking the date 12,020-9-22 on my calendar 🤓😬
Jon Wood
2020-09-22 23:27:30 +0000 UTCUtterly amazing! The graphics, the infos, the sounds, the SCALE!
Daniel Wild
2020-09-22 21:10:24 +0000 UTCSame here. This looks great, but I do not have access to the Google Play Store so I cannot get the app. Sharing the APK with patrons would be nice.
Antoine Amarilli
2020-09-22 20:38:42 +0000 UTCWow this is so exciting!!
Brittany B.
2020-09-22 18:43:51 +0000 UTCIt's beautiful and mindblowing!
Kendra Reed
2020-09-22 18:30:30 +0000 UTCThanks. Updated the link!
Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell
2020-09-22 18:20:54 +0000 UTCMy two favourite creators!! 😊😊
Rens Oliemans
2020-09-22 18:10:46 +0000 UTCPlease do more of these, I have too much Google Play credit from doing their surveys, and not enough things worth spending it on. Also, I'm getting some popping in the audio when playing via the speakers on my Galaxy S9+, sounds like playing some old records.
Kirk Lane
2020-09-22 18:09:22 +0000 UTCLink should be: https://waitbutwhy.com/universe
Mark Tea
2020-09-22 18:08:01 +0000 UTC12014 you mean? ;)
Mark Tea
2020-09-22 18:07:06 +0000 UTCIt isn't available for my android phone. I have Android 8.0.0. Will it be available in the future ?
Catoryu
2020-09-22 18:06:55 +0000 UTCVery nice app, music alone is worth the purchase. Well done!
Janne Vartiainen
2020-09-22 18:04:28 +0000 UTC
