Good Youtube channels for learning stuff

[Magic_Hat]

Despite the fact I'm out of school I still want to continue to learn. What are some good youtube channels to to so? Subject can be anything math or science related (and maybe history or literature). Anything nonfiction, though since this is in the Mad Science and Grumpy Technology section focus mainly on math and science.

I guess I'll start: the big two for me are ASAP Science and Numberphile. I also watch TED talks.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Despite the fact I'm out of school I still want to continue to learn. What are some good youtube channels to to so? Subject can be anything math or science related (and maybe history or literature). Anything nonfiction, though since this is in the Mad Science and Grumpy Technology section focus mainly on math and science.

I guess I'll start: the big two for me are ASAP Science and Numberphile. I also watch TED talks.

Extra History is a great for introductory topics into various historical periods. They started with the obvious ones you'd expect, but have since branched into some areas that not only had I not heard about the period, in some cases I had not heard about the country.

Kurzgesagt is a nice all-rounder for all kinds of current topics. Hard to pin down a category for it, but their videos are generally well researched and getting better.

Minute Physics and Mintue Earth are short(ish) videos on both physics and natural sciences.

Historia Civilis is a deep dive into the minutia of ancient world, especially the Roman Empire.

Engineer Guy is a bit of a grab bag of engineering topics.

And for something completely different, Primitive Technology is a guy trying out theories on how pre-history people might have built various tools for their everyday life, based current theories and practical application to figure out what really does and does not work out on the field.

Grey Wolf

[gomipile]

Crash Course is pretty good. My favorite series of theirs is still their original Crash Course World History with John Green they started releasing in 2012:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Yocja_N5s1I

Another favorite of mine is 3Blue1Brown:

https://youtube.com/channel/UCYO_jab_esuFRV4b17AJtAw

[thirsting]

The Science Asylum is pretty good. Difficult subjects in easy-to-understand form, mostly physics and astronomy.

[factotum]

I like Tom Scott. He doesn't do traditional "I teach you this subject" videos, but it's very rare you come out of one of his videos without learning something you never knew before. Also a fan of CGP Grey for the same reason, but he doesn't upload very often these days--definitely worth going through his back catalogue, though.

[Yora]

I still can add SciShow Space, Smarter Every Day, Real Engineering, and PBS Space Time (the nerdiest of them all).

Also very often lots of fun are the videos that Brady Haran does with scientists from the University Nottingham on all matters of fields. Periodic Videos, Sixty Symbols, Numberphile, Computerhphile, and some others.

In history,I quite like Townsends on Colonial American crafts, Overly Sarcastic Productions on quirky things from Antiquity, and TIK on exposing myths and lies about specific operations in World War Two with obsessive detail.

[Lord Torath]

Veritasium and Physics Girl are pretty interesting, too.

[Kato]

Extra History is a great for introductory topics into various historical periods. They started with the obvious ones you'd expect, but have since branched into some areas that not only had I not heard about the period, in some cases I had not heard about the country.

Hey there, fellow EH fan. Though I'm not sure how much I'd call obvious, there are few series I'd except to be the first to be tackled.
But yes, I really like the series.
The channel is actually Extra Credits and gaming focused but is also doing videos on Sci-fi literature and recently mythology. It's really good.


CGP Grey also does mostly short videos with varying degrees of depth into things but they're mostly superficial. I don't agree with all of them but overall it's good content.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

Hey there, fellow EH fan. Though I'm not sure how much I'd call obvious, there are few series I'd except to be the first to be tackled.

Everyone who does a segment on the Roman Republic seems to do the Punic wars. It's got to the point where it's a bit much. It's specially weird when they open with "this is a little-known period of Roman history" like EH did. Who the hell hasn't heard of the genius-madman that crossed the Alps with elephants?

That said, reviewing their playlist (here!), I take it back: sure, their first topic (Punic War) was not as unknown as they claimed, but they followed up with "Why WW1", which is something no-one had ever managed to explain properly to me ("everyone was allied to everyone else" was always a less-than-ideal explanation). The Japanese civil war is ok fame-wise (especially if you have consumed any manga in the last 30 years), but after that they immediately branch into some truly obscure and yet important moments in history, which I thought it had taken them longer.

So, as I said above, never mind, it was just their first series. If you already know the Punic wars, you can skip and move on to the next one.

Grey Wolf

[JeenLeen]

patrickJMT does good tutorials on calculus.

[tiornys]

As someone who subscribes to a large number of science and math related channels, I'm impressed with how many have already been named here. Only a few more to mention:

The Brain Scoop hasn't been very active lately, but has a good backlog of natural science and museum related topics.

TierZoo presents various zoological topics in a unique and hilarious format.

Vihart is mostly making VR videos these days, but has a great backlog for eclectic math topics.

[Traab]

Does Because Science count? Im honestly not sure how accurate his channel actually is scientifically speaking but the videos I watch are fun attempts to take comics, movies and such and explain them using real world science. Like, he covers light sabers, points out the various ways they dont work, and mentions that they would be so hot that cutting someone wouldnt create a cauterized wound, it would flash boil what it cut and make it explode in a pink mist. Obviously its more about fun but he does run around with tons of formulas for various things.

[Bohandas]

Numberphile- Discusses mathematics
Periodic Table of Videos- A channel about chemistry
Overly Sarcastic Productions- Does videos about history, literature, and mythology
Vsauce

[wumpus]

3Blue1Brown has a slightly different take on undergraduate math.

[Finlam]

3Blue1Brown has a slightly different take on undergraduate math.

Can't second 3Blue1Brown enough. It has the best videos on math including calculus, quaternions, matrix theory, euler transforms, neural networks, and so much more.

If you're having difficulty with higher maths or you want to pick up new skills, I can't recommend it enough; I have yet to find a channel that comes close in quality.

[KillianHawkeye]

Photoshop Training Channel is an AMAZING source for cool image editing tricks and all around useful techniques.

[Hazlewood]

CaspianReport (geopolitics), Lindybeige (military history), Ryan Reeves (history of Christianity), and Isaac Arthur (uses sci-fi as a springboard for discussion of real science and speculative futurism) are all worth a look, depending on your interests.

[Drumbum42]

I second Tom Scott, Extra Credits, Numberphile, and Computerhphile as great resources.

If you are interested in History at all I highly recommend The Great War. It is probably the best history program I've seen (on TV or Internet) as it gives a week by week update of how things progressed. There is also a substantial amount of content, so you can binge watch like Netflix.

[Bohandas]

If you are interested in History at all I highly recommend The Great War. It is probably the best history program I've seen (on TV or Internet) as it gives a week by week update of how things progressed. There is also a substantial amount of content, so you can binge watch like Netflix.

Blue's History Summarized from Overly Sarcastic Productio s is also good for learning history stuff

[shawnhcorey]

SciShow, SciShow Psych, SciShow Space (already mentioned), Seeker.

Shadiversity for medieval stuff.

[J-H]

Business history (history of a company or trend in 10 minutes): Business Casual
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_E...T-qFwXLJWBav8Q

Engineering basics and intermediate concepts: Practical Engineering
https://www.youtube.com/user/gradyhillhouse

Geography: Atlas Pro (not a lot of videos)
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCz1...rQ82-276UCOU9w

[The Random NPC]

I'm rather fond of Today I Found Out, though I mostly just watch their Youtube videos. They mostly have neat trivia, like how the Queen of England can get away pretty much any crime due to her sovereign and diplomatic immunity.

[ben-zayb]

TierZoo presents various zoological topics in a unique and hilarious format.

Seconding this. It teaches ecology by treating the real world as a game called "Outside" and the various animals as class/build choices of varying stats and talent specs.

The target demographic obviously leans towards RPG players. My gradeschool nephew and his buddies who were videogamers got interested in biology after I showed them the channel.

[Fyraltari]

Kurzgesagt - In a nutshell focuses on science
Overly Sarcastic Productions, Blue does History, Red does literature and mythology.

Spoiler: French speaking channels, if someone is interested

Show

e-penser, science.
Nota Bene, History
Confessions d'Histoire, history told as interviews of kings and leaders, uploads once every never.
Dirty Biology, science
Axolot, weird factoids.

[gomipile]

I'm rather fond of Today I Found Out, though I mostly just watch their Youtube videos. They mostly have neat trivia, like how the Queen of England can get away pretty much any crime due to her sovereign and diplomatic immunity.

That reminds me. I found Fact Fiend - With Karl Smallwood to be a pretty good channel once I got used to the presentation and humor styles of the host.

I mention it because Karl writes material for Today I Found Out sometimes.

[Supermorff]

Excellent suggestions on this thread, thanks everyone. I'll definitely try out some of the ones you've mentioned.

The ones that people have already mentioned that I also have to recommend are Numberphile, SciShow, Crash Course, Overly Sarcastic Productions, Extra Credits (mainly their Extra History series, as mentioned).

I also like It's Okay To Be Smart (general science), PBS Eons (a spin off of PBS Digital Studios about the history of life on Earth), and MonarchsFactory (Dael Kingsmill talks about mythology and also D&D a lot, so may be of interest).

I also watch a bunch of channels that focus on fiction, particularly movies, but I guess this isn't the thread for that?

[Bohandas]

Vsauce and its sister channel D.O.N.G. - They talk about math, physics, engineering, and psychology, and many of the videos have Adam Savage from Mythbusters as a guest star, (this video for example)

[Bohandas]

Mathologer. I forgot about that one before

[Caerulea]

A few interesting channels that don't update much:
- This Place (Mostly Biology, Game Theory, and Philosophy)
- Frame of Essence (Physics + CS)
- Looking Glass Universe (Physics)
- The Rest of Us (Business + Tech)
- Tipping Point Math (Math)
- Vihart (Math)
Others:
- Wendover Productions (Logistics + Miscellaneous)
- Real Engineering (Guess...)
- Computerphile (CS)
and Robert Miles, for AI Safety.

Also, seconding 3blue1brown. Grant is amazing. (He has a podcast called Ben Ben and Blue, but it has stopped updating.)

—Caerulea

[Bohandas]

Veritasium- physics

Curiosity Show- Licensed rebroadcast of the titular 1970's educational TV show

Nile Red- Metallurgy and chemistry