Awesome Learning

Like weddings, Valentine’s Day and Christmas, dying has become needlessly expensive because of marketing and our desire to conform. Adam Ruins Everything reminds us that the dead don’t need to be embalmed and they certainly don’t need a swanky coffin.

The always thought-provoking Kurzgesagt looks at one of life’s fundamental questions: what makes a thing a thing? In other words, when do primitive particles become things we can actually define, and why do they do what they do? AKA: Particle Physics 101.

“These creatures require our absence to survive, not our help.” Digging Deeper argues that the Jurassic Park sequels The Lost World and Jurassic World are self-aware commentaries on blockbuster films. The Lost World‘s clues are quite telling. Jurassic World just plain sucks.

Kurzgesagt explains the basics of black holes: how they form, how they distort time and how they dissipate in the first of a two-part lesson. Bonus points for the calm yet detailed explanation of a brutal death by gravity.

We like waffle fries with cheddar the best, but it turns out that potatoes have played a much more important role in the development of our world than just a junk food staple. TED-Ed’s Leo Bear-McGuinness looks at the huge impact the spud has had on world history.

Vsauce3 ran the numbers and then made a machine that can hit an uppercut with the same force as Ken’s shoryuken. Street Fighters are nowhere near as powerful as Superman, but you still won’t live long enough to see their Ultras. Skip to 4:04 for the test.

You’ve probably heard the term “quantum computing” at some point, but most of us don’t have a solid grip on what makes it key to our technological future. Here, KurzGesagt puts the science of making computers that can defy physical limits in terms we can all understand.

Founded in 2012, Make School teaches programming and tech entrepreneurship. But it doesn’t have grading systems or tuition fees. If you get in and complete their courses, you’ll pay them only after you’re employed.

Adam Ruins Everything points out how Disney and other corporations asked the US Congress to pass a law greatly extending copyright protection so they could make more money out of their copyrighted works. Remember folks, everything is a remix.

What do astronauts do when their noses itch but they have their helmets on? Which country is so clean, it actually imports trash? And where is it legal to sue a bear? Find out the answer to these important questions and more in Dan Lewis’ calendar. Samples here.

Veritasium talks about theories as to why and how humans age, and at least a couple of animals that don’t. We age partly because our cells can’t divide infinitely. Scientists think that this isn’t a weakness, but a safety precaution.

Digging Deeper explains the basics of Western and science fiction movies. He then points out how Joss Whedon’s Firefly and Serenity borrow and break free from both genres, particularly the Western’s racist and sexist tropes.

While most of us think of Thanksgiving as a time for celebration, it has a very different meaning for Native Americans. In this clip from Cut Videos, we hear from a number of our nation’s true forefathers and the mixed feelings the holiday stirs in their hearts and minds.

When Europeans first came to America, they brought with them all manner of new and nasty plagues, which wiped out millions. But why didn’t returning Europeans bring back new illnesses to their continent? CGP Grey digs deep inside this little discussed part of our history.

The Earth is constantly spinning to the East at about 1,000 mph, so you’d think that it would take basically no time to fly from East to West. Minute Physics explains why this isn’t the case, which is basically the same reason we’re not all constantly in motion.

DNA is a long list of instructions for cells. Change the instructions and you may get different traits. But you can also get different results from the exact same list if you change which instructions are carried out. That’s what Epigenetics is about.

Aside from being black and white, American movies from the ’30s & ’40s stand out because of the Transatlantic or Mid-Atlantic accent. How Stuff Works says it was popularized by the East Coast elite, taught to actors and exaggerated by the lack of bass in speakers at the time.

Adam Ruins Everything ruins one of the few things that can break the vicious Need Experience to Get a Job, Need Job to Get Experience cycle: internships. If you’re an unpaid intern, check these criteria. If any of them don’t apply to you, you’re being screwed.

While taking up Environmental Studies, Lauren Singer realized she was being a hypocrite by producing lots of trash in her daily life. Through judicious reusing, composting, purchasing bulk products, and DIY, she’s accumulated only one jarful of trash in the past two years.

Watch 5-year-old Phoenix replace a Toyota Corolla’s wheel bearing. As a bonus, he throws in the gearhead’s version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. He doesn’t do it flawlessly, but that’s a mechanic for you. Heyo!

DNews points out that 2 million years of cooking have made us prefer the taste of hot food over cold food. Cooking lets us eat more efficiently because it pre-digests raw food and destroys harmful organisms, which our modern stomachs are ill-equipped to handle.

Adam Ruins Everything talks about the U.S. Electoral College. It was intended to give less populous states a voice and avoid problems should states support regional candidates. But it ended up being an undemocratic mess where a citizen’s vote hardly matters.

The Film Theorists’ Frame by Frame explains that Guillermo del Toro’s Crimson Peak is a grand homage to horror pioneer Mario Bava. The prolific Italian filmmaker loved to use contrasting lighting, elaborate sets and period plots, all of which are in del Toro’s film.