Awesome Learning

Inspired by Bill Wurtz’ entertaining History of Japan, YouTuber OverSimplified made an approachable and (somewhat) lighthearted take on one of mankind’s dumbest moves. And France’s bullseye uniforms.

Think you have the cojones to reach the 29,000+ ft summit of the world’s tallest mountain? The daunting climb, thin altitude, and sub-zero temps have claimed hundreds of lives, and Epic How To explains what gear and abilities you’ll need to do it yourself.

Rick and Morty is the last place we’d turn to try and solve our existential crisis, but that didn’t stop video essayist Will Schoder from finding serious philosophical depth in the offbeat and indelicate sci-fi cartoon.

Coffee is awesome, but the way coffee shops present it can make it an intimidating and confusing drink. So Casually Explained made this guide to help newbies get through the coffeehouse chain experience.

“Might we have wealth and a degree of virtue?” The School of Life traces the origin and spread of consumerism in the Western world. They hope that someday, we will fuel the world’s economy by purchasing items that, while non-essential, are healthy for our mind and body.

YouTuber RealLifeLore tries to vivify the destructive power of nuclear weapons – the ones that existed, the ones that exist and the ones that could exist. We really are too smart for our own good.

(PG-13: Language) “Usually, chords are happy – called ‘major’… or ‘minor’ which are the ones that make you want to kill yourself.” The always informative exurb1a is back to explain to us the basic tools of the musical trade. Our instrument of choice – the nose flute.

“Gut feeling” may actually exist, but not the one that has a knack for making good decisions. AsapScience points to the enteric nervous system, a division of the nervous system that governs our digestive organs, and perhaps to an extent our emotional well-being as well.

If you’ve ever wondered why we never built a lunar colony, not just because of the technical challenge, but because of the ridiculous amounts of money it would take to achieve. Wendover Productions estimated the cost of putting 4 astronauts on the moon for a year.

Today I Found Out explains why we often say “o’clock” when telling time. It’s an abbreviated form of the ancient disclaimer “of the clock”, which came about around the 14th century to clarify that one consulted a clock instead of a sundial.

Mehdi Sadaghdar tries to make a railgun on a much smaller scale. He ends up making a music video, discovering Donald Trump’s origin story and of course hurting himself in the process. Learn more on his blog.

CaptainDisillusion tears apart the dubious claims and the aggressive begging of the people behind the Cicret Bracelet, a tiny, yet improbable accessory that supposedly projects your mobile device’s display as an interactive projection on your wrist.

RealLifeLore performs a stressful thought experiment: what if all 7.4 billion humans moved together into one city? He doesn’t go into the economics or engineering of such a feat. Instead, he looks at the smallest area that we can realistically occupy.

Math (and Sharpie) lover Vi Hart explores another practical application for calculus, as she explores the mathematics and physics behind drivers who ruin our days on a regular basis. It turns out that these stupid drivers just need to improve their math skills.

Kurzgesagt presents a vexing conundrum. Scientists have created genetically-engineered mosquitoes that are immune to the microorganisms that create malaria. But we don’t know if letting these “newsquitoes” loose has dire consequences.

On The Late Late Show, Andy Samberg asked astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson some big questions, and he responded with his typical combination of intelligence, passion, and humor. He never answered the time travel one, so he needs to go back in time and fix that.

Real Engineering looks at one of the most basic electronic components, and how its ability to change between states is at the core of every bit of technology we count on every day. While early devices had just a handful of transistors, today’s computer chips pack billions.

Most sunglasses and even prescription glasses are manufactured, sold and even prescribed by people who work for just one company – Luxottica. As one would expect from a near-monopoly, Luxottica jacks up prices and stifles or outright buys out its competitors.

(PG-13: Language) Movies have glorified the swashbuckling pirate lifestyle, but the reality is that they had it pretty bad, especially when it came to food, diseases, and overcrowded ships. Sam O’Nella explains why you should stop singing “Yo ho, yo ho, a pirate’s life for me.”

After ruining engagement rings, Adam Conover continues railing against the romance industry. American weddings used to be a simple home affair, but now they’re displays of wealth perpetuated by intense and manufactured social pressure.

If you’ve ever watched an auction here in America, you know that the auctioneers speak a mile a minute, and what they’re saying seems almost like gibberish. In this video, auctioneer Barry Baker explains what they’re really saying in their so-called “chant.”

Several years back, The Atlantic interviewed David Lynch to speak about how he arrives at the ideas in his films. Along the way, he provided some inspiring advice that any of us could use to help us generate fresh ideas.

Mental Floss‘ Elliott Morgan fills our brains with 26 tidbits of trivia about magicians and their tricks, including the math skills, psychology, and dexterity required to make stage illusions convincing. Also, we never knew Teller’s first name until today.