Awesome Learning

Vsauce2 takes a look at some animals with unusual defense mechanisms. Some of the animals include the pistol shrimp and the mimic octopus. We imagine the goblin shark’s face is enough to scare other animals away.

The Perennial Plate visited with a family in Sri Lanka to learn of the numerous uses for the mighty and versatile coconut tree, which provides food, hydration, shelter, rope, oils – and even booze.

Mental Floss drops another knowledge bomb with this eye-opening list of mangled and misattributed famous quotations. Granted, some of them are trivial, but a good number of them will leave you ashamed.

BBC Earth Unplugged takes a close look at the pistol shrimp. This crustacean can snap its enormous claw at such high speed that it generates a huge burst of sound, heat and pressure, enough to kill small fish.

ZeFrank talks about the Aye-aye, a very unusual primate that looks like a monkey crossed with a house elf. If you think its name and appearance are weird, wait ’til you see how it looks for food.

Desktop Diaries is an ongoing series by Science Friday. Each episode, scientists and other noted academics talk about the items in their office. The linked video is about Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson’s office.

0 to 60mph in under 3 seconds. 75mph top speed. And a bad ass spotted coat. The Smithsonian Channel explains how these fast cats have held the animal land speed record for more than 10 million years.

BuzzFeed takes a look at the absurdly small serving sizes of popular food. Granted, most of these are not good in large amounts, but still. Why would you call it a “single” pizza if you think it’s good for two people?

Mental Floss’ List Show shares 36 weird units of measurements. Some make common terms like a pinch, a dash or a drop more specific, some have no fixed value and some are just plain weird. A millihelen? WTF?

Buzzfeed continues their series of short video infographics with an informative clip about all of the things the human body will do in the next 30 seconds. Great job on those red blood cells! Keep up the good work!

Before astronaut Chris Hadfield was wowing us from the International Space Station, he spent some time 2-1/2 atmospheres below the surface of the ocean. Here, he shows us how the sub-sea pressure affects a shaken soda can.

CGP Grey has talked about a city within a city and a convoluted kingdom. Here he talks about countries that only have one neighbor country, either because one is inside the other or because the two are surrounded by an ocean.

A stop-motion animation about the origin and the pivotal developments in the field of typography. Ben Barrett-Forrest does a great job of explaining the differences and the rationale behind different typefaces.

Mental Floss’ The List Show returns with one of its most practical episodes yet. All websites should require people to watch this video before giving away commenting privileges.

While we’re firm proponets of letting our brains wander aimlessly on the Internet, the guys at Epipheo and author Nicholas Carr say that today’s approach to consuming information may not be the best thing for our grey matter.

YouTuber Cassandra Brooks talks about her time aboard the USAP research ship Nathaniel B. Palmer. The images were taken over a two-month period as the ship sailed, crunched and rammed its way through Ross Sea in Antarctica.

After Foodbeast schooled us on how to devour a cupcake, they’re back to make us unlearn the way we’ve been chomping on apples all our lives. Apparently, if you eat ’em top-to-bottom, you do away with all of those wasted cores.

Say the zombie apocalypse has arrived, and you’re scrounging through houses for food. You find a can of your favorite potted meat product, but can’t find an opener. Now if only we could tell the difference between pears and peaches.

Minute Earth explains how freezing became a viable method of preserving food. The next time you open your freezer and gaze at the goods inside, thank Clarence Birdseye and the Inuits for their wisdom.

What would happen if all the oxygen in the world – from the air, water, the Earth’s crust and our bodies – ceased to exist for just 5 seconds? The apocalypse. Made by BuzzFeed based on these Quora threads.

AsapSCIENCE tries to determine which hurts more between giving birth or getting kicked in the balls. If you ask us, it’s this simple: Unless said ball kicking is administered continuously for hours, childbirth wins.

In this 2011 TED Talk, Primatologist Dr. Frans de Waal shares one of his experiments about moral behavior in animals. Watch what happens when two capuchin monkeys are given unequal rewards for the same task.

PBS Off Book spoke with scientists, engineers and other tech experts to come up with a very optimistic discussion about the potential of wearable technology and the importance of open source materials.