Awesome Learning

CGP Grey breaks down Roger Sperry’s Nobel Prize-winning split-brain experiment, in which several test subjects (!) underwent surgery to cut the nerves that connect their left brain with their right brain. It revealed that we have two minds in one body.

(PG-13 Language) Super Deluxe presents their prog-metal, pixel art take on Schoolhouse Rock with a brief educational short about the origin of the Pug dog. Cats almost ruined everything, but the diminutive dogs ultimately prevailed. (Thanks Daniel!)

Varsity Tutors’ new iOS app lets you hire and learn from private tutors on the go. The app lets you communicate via video-chat, written messages as well as topic-specific content. There are tutors for over 200 subjects, including several practical topics.

The School of Life talks about the common factors that influence our sense of self-worth. Whatever the cause, it’s important to realize that we should accept and love ourselves, and that comparing ourselves to others is pointless.

The earliest known predecessor of the necktie is depicted in Chinese sculptures from 209 BC. But it wasn’t widely used until the 1630s, when Croat soldiers brought cravats to France. The tie as we know it today wouldn’t come about until the 1920s in New York.

Mathpix uses your iOS device’s camera to detect mathematical equations, even handwritten ones. It will then instantly solve the equation and show you the solution step by step, as well as the equation’s graph if possible. Android version coming soon.

YouTuber Tom Scott explains the basics of online video compression and why these techniques are ill-suited to depict videos with lots of tiny moving objects on them such as snow and confetti. It’s not the amount of objects that’s the problem, it’s their movement.

(PG-13: Language) Vox points out a few verbal tricks that some of the most technical rappers invented and perfected. These go beyond rhyming words to matching the syllables, flows, and of course the beats behind them, all while telling a story.

Today I Found Out addresses one of the common misconceptions about Japanese food. Sushi can contain raw fish, but there are varieties that have cooked fish and other ingredients. Sashimi on the other hand, always has raw seafood.

The theremin is one of the strangest musical instruments of all time. SciShow takes us inside the process that lets you play this retrofantastic electronic instrument without ever touching it. It’s all about using your body as part of a giant capacitor.

Colin West McDonald was a Production Assistant (PA) at RocketJump. Here he talks to us about what PAs do with the help of behind-the-scenes footage. PAs are the maids and butlers of the film world, but it’s a great way to learn more about the industry.

Deep Look shares the fascinating mating strategies of the Side-blotched lizard. The orange males use strength to lock down multiple females. The yellow males use stealth for quickies, while blue males mate for life and buddy up.

Today I Found Out lists the many reasons why passenger planes don’t bother providing parachutes. For instance, the cruising speed and altitude of airliners are way above the safe limit to use parachutes.

The Science Channel uses its awesome animated exploded diagrams to discuss the fundamental parts of digital video projectors, particularly the ones used in cinemas. Those tiny mirrors are mind-blowing.

Practical Engineering shows off a construction technique called Mechanically Stabilized Earth to strengthen material that would normally crumble under even the slightest of weight. The trick is adding thin, stiff layers like screen to confine the loose grains of sand.

YouTuber Standupmaths shows us an old game from the 1960s called The Amazing Dr. NIM. This apparently simple game that combines moving plastic bits and marbles is basically impossible to beat if you follow the rules, thanks to a little mathematical trickery.

Voltaire was the 18th century equivalent of Stephen Colbert, John Oliver and other satirists. While not a rebel or an atheist, he used his humorous and elegant writing to criticize irrational and intolerant institutions and break down complex thoughts into digestible tidbits.

Our smarty pants friends at Kurzgesagt examines the idea of human exploration, and some of the currently known limitations of space travel, physics, and our own bodies which prevent us from traveling to an unfathomable portion of the great unknown.

Life Noggin explains how despite our brains’ best efforts to only believe inputs from our sensory organs like eyes, ears, nose and skin, that things can go wrong causing us to see and hear things that weren’t actually there. Also, we can now use “fusiform gyrus” in a sentence.

The horned helmet has been associated with Vikings for hundreds of years, but Vox reminds us that it’s historically inaccurate. Based on linguistics professor Roberta Frank’s research, the helmet was invented by a costume designer in 1876 for an opera.

The Simpsons has both reflected and influenced pop culture for much of its 26+ year run. But did you know the series also managed to predict (or potentially caused the creation of) a number of inventions? Does this mean we can blame them for Farmville? And autocorrect.

(PG-13: Language) Last Week Tonight reminds us to be wary of morning show science, i.e. the kinds of “findings” that mass media often present as facts even though the actual studies were unverified, inconclusive or cherry picked.

How to Make Everything’s latest project is tequila. While they’re finishing their DIY process, they made this video showing how liquor companies make tequila. It’s made from the blue agave plant, but legally, only those made in Jalisco, Mexico can be called “tequila.”