12 popular science and educational channels on YouTube
Dasha Tatarkova
Scientists and inventors today become new rock stars. It turned out that understanding how the world works is around, not only useful, but far more interesting than it seemed from the school curriculum. YouTube in this sense is just a storehouse in which you can find interesting information about everything, from modern philosophy to astrophysics. We found the most fascinating channels devoted to the popular explanation of the world inside and out.
PostScience
"Postnauka" - the first major popular science portal in Russian. Despite the fact that from 2012 the project of the year has grown to a huge site, the backbone is a large collection of videos. Compared to many channels, “PostScience” boasts an incredibly wide range of topics, on which both single lectures and the whole course are filmed. All video lectures are uploaded on the official YouTube channel, and their text options are on the site. Leading Russian scientists talk about science and technology in the field of astronomy, mathematics, physics, as well as the Russian language and much more - a full list of subjects can be found on the website. Perhaps the only drawback is the extreme academic character of the approach: it was not for nothing that we fell asleep at the university.
MinutePhysics
“Physics in a minute” was invented by the American mathematician and physicist Henry Reich. The name is a little cunning about the length of the video, but it does not matter at all - even the longest explanations of the channel look at one go. He already has almost 3 million subscribers, and this is because Reich is very lucidly answering various questions concerning physics that can confuse anyone: "Why is pink not a color?", "What is the Higgs boson?" and, finally, the most popular video "An object that cannot be moved against non-stop power - who will win"? Now the channel has a version in Spanish, as well as a sister project MinuteEarth, where, obviously, it tells about entertaining terrestrial phenomena.
Kurzgesagt
"Kurz gesagt" from German is translated literally as "in short". A hint of a short video format is a win-win. So, not even interested in science is not afraid of a complex or controversial topic in the title. The name of the channel directly says that the discussion will not last long. In general, Kurzgesagt is a design bureau, which deals with Philip Dettmer and Stefan Reter, specializing in educational animation. It is not surprising that their videos are not only informative, but also the most beautiful of all. Be prepared: after the video about what life is, an existential stupor is guaranteed for at least half an hour.
Arzamas Academy
A young, but important Russian project: Arzamas.Academy was launched at the beginning of the year - but it is already impossible to imagine an intelligent Russian information space without it. However, the team, which includes Philip Dziadko, Alexey Munipov and, for example, Oleg Koronniy, prefers to call him not educational, but enlightening. Here the spirit of the old school is reigning, but this does not mean that it will be boring. In fact, this is an online university for those who do not have much time, attention deficit, but a lot of interest. A new course comes out once a week: from “Architecture as a means of communication” to “Crime and punishment in the Middle Ages”, and for the very lazy, each cycle has a digest. Undoubtedly, Arzamas is, first of all, a very convenient and beautiful site, but the project has its own channel on YouTube, where for now the cycle of commercials about the classics of Russian literature lies.
AsapSCIENCE
Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown are in charge of fast science as far as possible. Before the damned dress of an incomprehensible color appeared, sent over to punish the Internet, the most popular video on AsapSCIENCE was "What appeared before - chicken or egg?". The channel is full of answers to similar, often paradoxical, questions. Their videos are mounted touching pictures drawn with a marker on a white board. Such an approach well reflects the whole essence of the project: to answer, perhaps, naive, but actually interesting questions that inevitably arise in thinking people, with the help of science. AsapSCIENCE has a sister project AsapTHOUGHT, created by the same authors, who are also partners not only for work, but also for life. Openly homosexual scientists even made a touching video in which they discuss homophobia and sexism in science and on YouTube.
Vsauce
Over time, many successful YouTube-projects grow into a whole conglomerate. It happened with Vsauce, one of the most (if not the most) popular scientific channels on YouTube. It began as a jumble of formats and presenters, but it quickly became clear what was most popular. In addition to the very first channel, invented by Michael Stevens, who devoted his life to educating people around the world, there are now two more that other people are leading. Stevens earned his popularity not only thanks to classic popular science and philosophical questions, the answers to which we are too lazy to search and read in other open sources, but also because of his charisma and presentation style, which made watching his video a real pleasure. We also recommend watching his TED talk, where he talks more about his mission and educational YouTube.
Mental floss
Mental Floss is all at once: YouTube channel, popular blog, books, t-shirts and, of course, the magazine that started it all. What they do best is to compile various facts into fun lists: it’s especially easy to take them in video format. The area of interest of the creators of the widest, you can find here the most interesting facts about alcohol, and the English words that are often pronounced incorrectly, and popular quotes, and that only not. In fact, this is the favorite format of random encyclopedic knowledge told in an entertaining language on the Internet. One of the successes of the channel - a popular author of youth literature, John Green, who is his face. After a couple of weeks of regular views, you will easily flash interesting facts at the party.
PBS Idea Channel
PBS Digital Studios is a whole network of YouTube-channels that brings together various content creators, helping them to professionally engage in online video. Idea Channel, obviously, the best of them. It was designed by Mike Ragnetta, who repeatedly received the Webby Award for services to the Internet. Such an outcome seems well-deserved, as Ragnetta promotes a critical approach to contemporary pop-cultural phenomena and always tries to find an unusual angle to look at the topic. Each video begins with the phrase "There is such an idea," then the main theme of the video is voiced. The creator of the PBS Idea Channel does not just talk out loud about the philosophical and cultural issues of concern to him - his videos are especially valuable because he explores the subject in detail, referring to many authoritative researchers in the philosophy of culture from antiquity to the present day.
Stuff mom never talk you
Another channel, which is part of a large creative network. Stuff Mom Never Told You is one of the subsidiaries of HowStuffWorks, designed to entertain and entertain. In the immense field of interest of its creators, Stuff Mom Never Told You occupies a specific niche. Kristen Conger, creator of the blog and YouTube channel of the same name, talks about cultural and scientific social phenomena that concern her as a woman. Kristen's pro-feminist videos cover a variety of issues that are relevant in modern society, from heels to abortions. Conger actively communicates with readers and viewers and always does a detailed study of the facts before using them in his work. Together with her partner she is also engaged in a podcast, which can be found on their website.
Veritasium
Derek Müller’s YouTube channel combines the most interesting things you can tell about modern science and engineering. The name for him, he chose his own obvious: veritas in Latin means "truth." So, masquerading as an item in the periodic table, Veritasium becomes an "element of truth." Mueller not only answers obvious and not very near-scientific questions, but also often inserts interesting practical experiments into his videos. It is the combination of an engineering approach, interviews with experts like Nobel laureate in physics, Brian Schmidt or astronaut Chris Hadfield and popular science make his videos so interesting. The most beloved segments on Veritasium are social surveys that show which ideas about science exist among a wide audience.
Crash Course
Channel created by the brothers Green: John and Hank. Crash Course was launched as part of the YouTube Original Channel Initiative, sponsored by Google to attract professional content creators. This is still the same John Green, who helps make a video site for Mental Floss, but here it goes further compilations of random facts. The Green Brothers set themselves the task of creating an educational space in which it would be possible to cover large, complex topics, while retelling only the most important. The main areas: world history, literature, ecology, chemistry and physics. Video on a brief course of history, by the way, almost the most fascinating. A bunch of facts and complex logical connections easily form a clear picture, thanks to the beautiful combination of consistent presentation and video, which is often interrupted by useful and beautiful animation. Hank, by the way, is creating another popular science channel SciShow.
Khan Academy
It may be hard to believe, but even if you hate math, after a couple of videos on this channel you will most likely love it. Khan Academy is a whole non-profit organization invented by Salman Khan, an MIT graduate and Harvard MBA owner, to make education accessible to all, regardless of their background or place of residence. In his home studio, Khan has already made about 5,000 educational videos, talking about algebra and other sections of the exact sciences. Thanks to his mission, Khan has become an Internet celebrity and is known about him far beyond the scientific YouTube party. If you believe that the video from the black background and mysterious figures can be fascinating, it is difficult, we advise you just to watch at least one to the end. Algebraic puzzles then seem the best way to stretch the brain, and certainly will be more interesting than a crossword puzzle. Among the many affiliated sites, the Khan Academy also has a YouTube channel in Russian.