Awesome Learning

PBS’ criminally underappreciated YouTube channel The Art Assignment has a series of videos that do a great job of introducing great artists and contextualizing their work. This video is about the infamous and oft misunderstood contemporary artist Ai Weiwei.

His conversational tone makes this project sound easy, but I Like to Make Stuff actually makes us four-eyes thankful for mass-produced eyewear. We sure as hell couldn’t pull this off. First of all, we’d need glasses. Second, we don’t have nearly enough clamps.

Veritasium explores the work our brains perform to process information, and how the shortcuts our minds automatically take can lead to mistakes. Bottom line is that study and practice are key to improving our brains’ ability to reach sound, but quick conclusions.

Designed by Paul Renner in 1927, Futura became the first widely used sans serif font and remains a popular choice because of its efficient and clean design. Vox put on its Wes Anderson hat to sum up the font’s history.

Wendover Productions explores the speeds at which passenger airplanes get us around these days, and why they’re really no faster than planes were 50 years ago. In fact, between the cost of operation, safety limitations, and congestion, we’re actually slower these days.

Works of art are products of their time, but critics and audiences are even more so. The Royal Ocean Film Society points out some of the films that were received horribly when they first came out, only to be praised years later. Will Michael Bay’s – ah we can’t. We can’t do it.

“We invented the tools, and the tools then invented us.” Melodysheep’s Nat Geo miniseries looks at eight of the most important developments in human history: fire, medicine, communication, money, war, transportation, shelter, and exploration. Premieres 3/6/17.

kaptainkristian presents Who Framed Roger Rabbit as a shining example of animated characters combined with live action. The film’s crew worked doubly hard to make the cartoon characters converse and interact convincingly with live actors and real objects.

Even casual moviegoers will get the sense that La La Land is an ode to ’40s and ’50s Hollywood musicals. But Frame By Frame points us to one director whose spirit lives on most in Damien Chazelle’s masterpiece: Vincente Minnelli.

Trappist-1 is a star that’s 39 light years away from the Earth. Astronomers recently shared that they found seven planets orbiting Trappist-1, and that all of them could have liquid water and thus could support life. Learn more about our neighbors here.

Epic How To provides a brief lesson in physics, and delves into but a few of the complexities that stand between us and the ability to turn an 88mph trip in a DeLorean or a blue police box into a journey through space and time.

ElectroBOOM needed a vacuum chamber to see if his Tesla coil will still make sparks in a vacuum. But instead of buying one or looking up guides, he decided to wing it. “Sometimes spending money saves you more money and time.” We coulda told you that, Mehdi.

While Kyrie Irving might believe the Earth is flat, most rational humans are willing to go along with the scientific evidence that’s right in front of us. In this classic clip from Carl Sagan, he shows off some very basic observations which prove this place is an orb and not a sheet.

Serial fast learner Mike Boyd picked up an Arduino kit for beginners and figured out how to code and tinker with electronics so he could toggle his coffee maker using his phone. Check out his YouTube comment for the twist.

Illegal sand mining? Sand mafia? Sand shortage? Sadly, all of those things are true. YouTuber Tom Scott explains that rising sea levels and continued construction are slowly but surely making this seemingly abundant material more and more valuable.

Lessons from the Screenplay looks at how the late screenwriter Nora Ephron gave us a refreshing romantic comedy in When Harry Met Sally. By focusing on internal conflict, the story was able to go on a leisurely pace without becoming aimless.

If you’re reading this, then you’re not in the majority of humans. Asap Science reminds us to keep learning and to keep an open mind, because the group that we identify with is not as typical, as average, or as numerous as we probably think.

Transporting the US President is not only dangerous, it’s also complicated and expensive. Wendover Productions identifies the vehicles in a typical Presidential motorcade and estimates how much it costs per minute to ferry the President around.

Ever wanted to know how the algorithms that drive modern computer systems and robots actually work? CGP Grey provides a pretty solid layperson’s primer to the concepts of machine learning and artificial intelligence in this informative video.

Most video footage you see of welding just looks like a blinding light and some sparks. mrbean022387 added an appropriate soundtrack to Vurt Runner’s super-macro footage of gas metal arc welding as a tiny pool of molten metal burbles and coalesces.

YouTuber ChrisFix brought new and old brake parts to point out the common reasons why your vehicle makes squeaking or scraping noises when you step on the brake. They could be from worn out parts, rust, lack of lubrication and more.

(PG-13: Language) Long before the clothing store, wealthy plantation owners in Central America built massive empires on the backs of its people, all thanks to a little potassium-rich fruit we like to put in our cereal. Sam O’Nella Academy offers up a brief history lesson.

From Mickey Mouse to Bugs Bunny to Goofy to Marvin the Martian, many iconic cartoon characters wear gloves on their hands. Vox’s Estelle Caswell does her best to explain the reasons behind the odd choice of handwear.