Vsauce slowed to a near-stop on long-form videos while its creator moved into podcasting. Michael Stevens posted his last full-length Vsauce essay, “All the Ghosts You Will Be,” on 15 July 2025, ending a two-year gap. Since 25 November 2025 he has co-hosted a twice-weekly science podcast with Hannah Fry.
Why Vsauce Stopped Posting Long-Form Videos
Michael Stevens has never given a public reason for the slowdown. That is the honest answer, and it is worth stating plainly because most of what circulates online is inference rather than anything he said.
Stevens is the American educator who created Vsauce in 2010 and built it into one of YouTube’s largest science and philosophy channels, with more than 24 million subscribers and over six billion views as of September 2026. His format was demanding: single-presenter essays that ran twenty minutes or longer and folded together physics, psychology, language and philosophy.
The long-form uploads thinned out and then stopped during 2023. He kept posting short-form clips through the quiet period, which is why the channel never went fully dormant even when the videos people actually associate with Vsauce were absent. Commentators have offered theories about burnout, research workload and algorithmic pressure, but none of these has been confirmed by Stevens.
What the July 2025 Comeback Video Was
The comeback was a single 22-minute video published without advance promotion. “All the Ghosts You Will Be” appeared on 15 July 2025 and drew more than 1.1 million views within roughly twelve hours, climbing to about 4.8 million in the months afterwards.
The essay deals with transience and memory: the traces a person leaves behind through names, genes, actions and the recollections of other people. It is recognisably the old format rather than a stripped-down version of it.
What the video did not include was any commitment to a schedule. Stevens did not tell viewers he was back for good, did not announce a next upload, and did not explain the absence. That silence is why the question kept being asked well into 2026, and why a return that happened over a year ago still reads to many viewers as unresolved.
Where Michael Stevens Publishes Now
His regular output has moved to a podcast. The Rest Is Science, co-hosted with the British mathematician and broadcaster Hannah Fry, premiered on 25 November 2025 and is produced by the British company Goalhanger, the studio behind The Rest Is Politics and The Rest Is History.
The show is video-first, released as audio and on YouTube, and runs on a twice-weekly pattern:
- Tuesdays: a deep dive into a single topic and the science and history behind it.
- Thursdays: a “Field Notes” episode that begins with a curious object and follows the ideas it represents.
Announcing the show, Stevens said the aim was to go beyond pop science and maths, to the space where “curiosity really lives.” Fry described the format as taking familiar ideas and turning them inside out. The podcast won Best New Podcast in the Entertainment and Culture features category at the 2026 Webby Awards.
This is the part most write-ups miss. Measured by output, Stevens is publishing far more often now than during his years of Vsauce essays. It is simply landing somewhere other than the channel people search for.
Is the Vsauce Channel Still Active?
Yes, the channel exists and has not been deleted, sold or abandoned. It continues to carry its full back catalogue of more than a decade of videos.
It also helps to separate the channel from the man, because the Vsauce name covers more than Stevens. Vsauce2 and Vsauce3 were both created in December 2010 and have long been hosted by Kevin Lieber and Jake Roper respectively, and the experimental channel D!NG launched in 2015 under a different name. Activity on those channels is not Michael Stevens returning, a distinction that causes regular confusion.
Stevens also has a substantial body of work off the main channel. Mind Field, his documentary series on human behaviour and neuropsychology, ran for three seasons of eight episodes each between 2017 and 2019 on the service then called YouTube Red, and its episodes became free to watch with ads on 1 October 2019.
Long silences from well-known creators are common enough to be their own genre, though they resolve very differently. Some end in a permanent exit, as with Jenna Marbles, who has not posted since 2020. Others end with the creator retiring a character rather than the career, which is roughly what happened to Fred Figglehorn. Vsauce fits neither pattern.
Where Things Stand in September 2026
As of 19 September 2026, The Rest Is Science is actively publishing, with new episodes released during the week of 14 September 2026 and roughly 89 episodes out since launch. On Apple Podcasts in the United Kingdom it holds a 4.4-star average from about 810 ratings.
On the Vsauce channel itself, no new long-form video has been reported since July 2025. Stevens has not announced one, and he has not ruled one out. Given that the last two full-length uploads arrived after gaps of roughly two years each, the absence of an announcement is not by itself evidence that the format is finished.
| Date | Development |
|---|---|
| 2010 | Michael Stevens creates the Vsauce channel |
| 2017 to 2019 | Mind Field runs for three seasons on YouTube Red |
| 2023 | Long-form Vsauce uploads stop; short-form clips continue |
| 15 July 2025 | “All the Ghosts You Will Be” ends the two-year gap |
| 25 November 2025 | The Rest Is Science premieres with Hannah Fry |
| 2026 | The podcast wins a Webby for Best New Podcast |
| September 2026 | Podcast still publishing; no new long-form Vsauce video reported |
Frequently Asked Questions
Did Michael Stevens Sell the Vsauce Channel?
No. He discussed the idea hypothetically in a June 2023 interview, saying he could imagine taking a payout and walking away to make documentaries and films, but he also doubted the channel would fetch much because he had never run it to maximise profit. No sale has taken place.
Who Hosts Vsauce2, Vsauce3 and D!NG?
Vsauce2 is hosted by Kevin Lieber and Vsauce3 by Jake Roper. Both were created in December 2010. D!NG is the experimental channel launched in 2015 and renamed in 2019. None of these is presented by Michael Stevens.
What Was Mind Field?
Mind Field was a documentary series created and presented by Stevens about human behaviour and the brain, running for three seasons of eight episodes between 2017 and 2019. Originally exclusive to paying subscribers, it opened up to free viewing with ads on 1 October 2019.
How Often Does The Rest Is Science Release Episodes?
Twice a week. A Tuesday episode examines one subject in depth, and a Thursday “Field Notes” episode works outward from a single object. Episodes are available as audio and as video on YouTube.
Has Michael Stevens Explained the Gaps Between His Videos?
Not publicly. He has not issued a statement setting out why the long-form essays became infrequent, and he offered no explanation when he broke the two-year silence in July 2025.
