Awesome Learning

“Jupiter is the largest, all the planets could fit inside…” Learn a thing or three about the planets in our solar system with this catchy little ditty by Clare and Si Bennett of Planet Custard. A kid-friendly track that’ll have adults tapping their feet and singing along too.

After a long day at work, it’s nice to take the edge off with a little booze. But where did humans get the idea to ferment spirits and drink them in the first place? TED-Ed presenter Rod Phillips looks back on the 7,000+ year history of alcohol, which like many things, appears to have its origins with ancient Chinese civilizations.

Whether you own your own business or just have a side hustle, knowing your way around digital marketing can be the difference between failure and success. This bargain bundle of 12 online courses will teach you how to leverage social media, email, video, search engines, and affiliate marketing to maximize results.

Yep, vacation is over. So it’s time to get back to your desk and maybe do some work or learn something. Let’s start off with another oddball history lesson from Sam O’Nella Academy, and one Timothy Dexter, an 18th century farmhand who married his way into aristocracy, and then became even more wealthy despite his stupidity.

(PG-13: Language) While true artificial intelligence is a fascinating concept, most machine learning tech still uses some kind of algorithmic decision making. Ordinary Things provides a layperson’s explanation of how these systems work, and how our reliance on algorithms could make us stupider, and take our jobs in the process.

Have you ever noticed that while wolves have pointy, upright ears, most pet dogs have soft, floppy ears? Skunk Bear explores the fascinating and puzzling evolutionary biology of wild versus domesticated animals that created these distinctions among others.

Learn a little bit about the chemistry and physics that go into the construction of a basic rocket in this clip from BBC Earth Lab’s Bang Goes the Theory. The demonstration with the oxy-acetylene soda bottle rockets is neat, but is way too dangerous to try at home.

Things are always changing in the universe, so it’s possible that someday in the distant future that the Earth could be in danger from a catastrophic force. But is there a way that we could avoid such a fate given enough notice and ingenuity? Kurzgesagt digs into a theoretical method to do just that, by moving our entire solar system.

Everyone knows atoms are really tiny. But just how small are they? After putting the scale of the universe in perspective, Wren from Corridor Crew channels his inner Vsauce, illustrating the relative size of atoms, quarks, molecules, and cells by scaling them up to something a bit easier to comprehend.

Do you know what’s beneath your feet? Go deeper than the dirt and the rocks and the water, and you’ll eventually get to the Earth’s crust. This great infographic video from Dr James O’Donoghue (@physicsJ) and Dr. Christine Houser (@seismodoc) illustrates the materials comprising the crust, as well as their proportions.

Everything we knew about mudskippers before today, we learned from The Ren and Stimpy Show. Now ZeFrank is here to set us straight on these unusual fishes that can live both in the water and out. If there’s any creature that shows how evolution works, it’s this funky little dude.

Matt Baker’s Useful Charts are 24″x 36″ prints that provide a great overview of a variety of historical and educational topics, including world history, ancient and fictional family trees and evolution. You can learn more about the topics on Baker’s YouTube channel.

(PG-13: Language) “Please remember, I am making none of this up.” We all know about Santa and Krampus, but in Europe there are other Christmas folklore characters that are not so popular. Why? Because they belong more to Halloween, as Sam O’Nella University explains.

Computers use a variety of different algorithms to sort items into order. In this mesmerizing clip by programmer Timo Bingmann, we not only see how six different sorting algorithms bring order to chaos, but hear them as well.

If you follow them on any regular basis, you know that Kurzgesagt is mostly focused on videos about science, the future, and the nature of our universe. But this time, they offer up a clip that is more about improving our lives in the here and now, looking at how gratitude works, and why it’s so important for us to embrace it.

RealLifeLore talks about interesting or bizarre phenomena and conditions on other planets – and a moon – in our universe. There’s a planet where objects have two shadows, one that rains glass at terrifying speeds, and more.

In the first episode of his series “Reservations”, CGP Grey explains how the Europeans who took over America slapped a label on its indigenous people that would later be thought of as offensive, yet is still commonly used within tribes. Plus, the term selected to replace it has stirred controversy for other reasons.

Whether it’s a bee sting or a kick in the groin, pain sucks. But we need these unpleasant sensations so we know when something is wrong or when to avoid danger. Life Noggin explores the nature of pain, and some conditions which prevent people from feeling it.

“Generally, Daft Punk likes to have A-Major good time.” Do you want to make music just like the robots? Then watch Imaginary Ambition’s lighthearted video tutorial, and if you work harder, better, faster, stronger, and you’re doing it right, you might just get lucky!

Despite people’s discomfort with the subject, pooping is something we all do. For shits and giggles, The Infographics Show decided to answer the hypothetical question of what kinds of horrors would happen if you never dropped the kids off at the pool again.

It’s a requisite stop for every kid with change in their pocket. But have you ever wondered how dropping a coin into a gumball machine makes it dispense a chewy treat? Animator and explainer of things Jared Owen gives us a detailed breakdown of its mechanism.

If you find space science fascinating, check out this clip from Kurzgesagt, in which they explain how neutron stars work. These phenomena may only be a few kilometers in diameter, but have an insanely dense atomic nucleus and powerful gravity, thanks to their origins as massive stars which have collapsed and gone supernova.

There are lots of things to be frightened of in the world, but is there a universally worst terror for all people, regardless of age, race, sex, culture or other attributes? Michael Stevens of Vsauce digs into the notion of fear, and how these unpleasant feelings are triggered in our brains. He also hates purple squares now.