PSA: genuinely inte...
 

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PSA: genuinely interesting science programs on YouTube

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I grew up loving science shows on TV like Equinox and Horizon, and one of my great sadnesses is that this type of program has either been cut (Equinox) or dumbed down (Horizon). So I'm pretty chuffed to find that there are some YouTube content that presents the more interesting corners of maths and science in a way that slow thinking shlubs like myself can understand, starting with this little beauty here which blew my mind about how electical power is transmitted:


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 10:22 am
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Nice. I'll try and watch these thanks.


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 11:05 am
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I subscribed to them recently as well.

I really enjoy Smarter Every Day to - Destin is just so passionate about it, and you never know if the next episode is exploring a NASA mission, a nuclear sub, how a carburettor works, or a speed of sound baseball into wall....


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 2:42 pm
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RWT Forum

Disclaimer I've not actually watched the video but the (pretty knoledgable as far as I can tell) folk here who discussed it claim that the video is nonsense.


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 2:49 pm
 poly
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I find Veritasium can get a bit irritating after a while - it feels to me like a lot of his content is optimised for the algorithm rather than actually improve real understanding. alphaPhoenix’s analysis/response was far better in my opinion!

If you like this sort of stuff then I generally like Steve Mould’s stuff, and think the U.K. creators need a bit more attention as the US people, especially those in California seem to have plenty of backing which becomes a self perpetuating machine.


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 3:06 pm
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Thanks, some great stuff up there to check out!

I like the way this one looks at something so counterintuitive but seems to work:

...and this one settles the debate (and puts to rest my own doubts, including changes in wind speed being the most likely explanation!!)


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 3:15 pm
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As mentioned Veritasium videos are very optimised for views not science, some are good some not so.
Also as mentioned Steve mould is a good UK alternative.

Other channels to consider:
Smarter every day (very infectiously excitable geek/ nerd/ clever clogs)
Breaking taps (Diy microscopy amoungst other thing)
Applied Science (Very in depth super technical science projects)
Stuff made here (Entertaining Engineering project eg balistic cartridge assisted baseball bat)

3blue1brown For pure maths videos that make your brain hurt but very well presented, wrote his own software to generate visuals for the videos.


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 3:45 pm
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https://www.youtube.com/c/TheRoyalInstitution/videos

loads in there.


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 4:29 pm
 wbo
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How much time do you have and what science do you consider interesting... Chris Whites got a whole series on geology that'good, but the stuff on the archean and proterozoic, greenstone belts etc is an excellent intro. A good few hours worth tho'


 
Posted : 26/12/2021 4:47 pm
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Currently enjoying the 'Ask Why' videos and their explanations of spacetime, gravity and black holes


 
Posted : 16/01/2022 1:37 pm
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Just to add a vote for both Steve Mould, and one for alphaphoenix especially.

The 3blue1brown content is great, but need a bit of maths background to get the best out of.

I really love Matt Parker on Standupmaths, and wherever else he pops up!


 
Posted : 16/01/2022 2:52 pm
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Currently enjoying these!


 
Posted : 28/01/2022 7:45 am
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Something that has me riveted, even though it is more on the natural science part of the spectrum:


 
Posted : 28/01/2022 2:15 pm
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Another couple of science-y and explaining stuff YouTube channels:

https://www.youtube.com/c/RealEngineering/videos

https://www.youtube.com/c/TomScottGo/videos


 
Posted : 28/01/2022 4:22 pm
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I really enjoyed this one!


 
Posted : 01/07/2022 4:03 pm
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It can be pretty heavy going but I really like PBS Spacetime with Matt O Down for space / quantum mechanics and stuff..

https://www.youtube.com/c/pbsspacetime

Are we in a black hole??


 
Posted : 01/07/2022 4:09 pm
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Also Sean Carroll's Mindspace podcast is good even if it's not on youtube
https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/

This episode is quite relevant to the recent news that a Google engineer had claimed that Googles language model had become "sentient"
https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2022/02/14/184-gary-marcus-on-artificial-intelligence-and-common-sense/


 
Posted : 01/07/2022 4:11 pm
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re: electromagnetism / energy transmission...

I've got a degree that featured that stuff, and I still find it hard.

And Maxwells equations are a proper bastard if you're mediocre at Maths.


 
Posted : 01/07/2022 5:04 pm
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The engineering behind this - a completely new way to launch payloads into space - is mind boggling. Also, amazingly enough, it looks like they are actually going to get to use it later this year


 
Posted : 08/08/2022 7:25 am

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