YouTube and education goes well together with courses, lectures and experiments from the world’s finest educational establishments, but much of the time videos of kittens outdo solid informative efforts. It’s no secret that the best way to make people learn is to engage them with your subject, but this is easier said than done. That’s particularly true on the Internet, where everything is a distraction.
Striking the balance between education and entertainment (go on, use the word edutainment, I dare you) is difficult, but many have achieved it. AsapSCIENCE is another channel that fuses short bursts of truly interesting knowledge into light, hand-drawn videos that attract millions of views. Best of all you’re guaranteed to learn something, even if it’s the fact that you have the ears of a 70-year old rock star.
Why Do We Cry?
While the ability to expel liquid from our eye-holes (the technical term) is not just limited to our primitive species, the fact that we blub like babies to demonstrate emotion is. There are several theories as to why this is, all of which are explained above which also covers the basics behind onion-induced blubbing and other tearful triggers.
How Old Are Your Ears?
For this one you’ll need to watch the video at 1080p quality (assuming this provides the highest audio bitrate too) and with a (decent) pair of headphones on. By playing certain frequencies, you can determine how old you are in ear years. Your ears will begin to degrade from the second you start using them, and there’s nothing you can do beyond simply finding out just how deaf you’ve become. Sorry about that.
Zombie Apocalypse Science
It seems that everything these days needs a zombie twist, but should we really be worried? Well according to this rather scientific approach to the situation, the answer is yes. We’re not going to be raising the dead any time soon, but your chances of contracting a virus that’ll cause you to feast on foes and loved ones alike isn’t as far-fetched as it might initially sound.
This Is 200 Calories
Do you find visualising arbitrary numbers on the side of your favourite cardiac-inducing foods difficult? You’re not alone. In this video you can see what 200 calories (which can be burned off with a brisk 20-minute run) looks like via a variety of different foodstuffs. Our society is fascinated with words like “calories” but little attention is paid to their real-world meanings. 200 calories of sugary caffeinated evil is not equal to 200 calories of lettuce leaves, for example.
Weird Ways to Burn 200 Calories
Obsessed with weight loss? Well don’t be, obsessive behaviours are unhealthy. Plus, you don’t need to go for a run to burn calories, you can simply brush your teeth 45 times, chew gum for 18 hours or just watch TV for two and half hours. The point here is your body is always burning calories, and here are some of the more entertaining ways of burning the 200 calories mentioned in the previous video.
Brain Tricks (How Your Brain Works)
You probably realised it was there but never made the distinction between “fast thinking” and “slow thinking”, in which your brain is easily capable of coming to a conclusion on face value, but deeper thought like mathematical calculations require actual effort and take a lot longer. The two work in conjunction with each other to provide you with the ability to rethink your impulsive findings, without making life too mentally tiring. This video demonstrates these phenomena in the best way possible, by using you as the experiment.
The Science of Productivity
Got something important you should be doing, but instead find yourself watching videos on the Internet? Don’t blame me, blame your unproductive ways. The science of productivity has little to do with willpower or hitting the books for hours and hours, and instead relies on a routine, breaks and convincing your brain that those big tasks aren’t so bad when broken down into more manageable pieces.
The Science of AsapSCIENCE
Ever wondered how these videos are made? Whose hands are they exactly? And whether these guys even studied or worked in a scientific capacity? This video introduces you to team behind AsapSCIENCE, who they are and most interestingly how they create their videos. It’s worth noting that they’ve both taken up AsapSCIENCE as a full-time job, and so this should serve as inspiration to anyone who dreams of making a living through the medium of online video.
Never underestimate the power of YouTube!
Subscribe
You can subscribe to AsapSCIENCE for even more videos, which are uploaded on a weekly basis and tackle all kinds of topics from brain chemistry to the apocalypse. Don’t forget to check out past scientific Stuff to Watch outings examining extreme electricity, zero-gravity experiments aboard the ISS and these US research labs that have a YouTube presence.
Tim Brookes
Tim is Mac and iOS editor for MakeUseOf and can currently be found living in Melbourne, Australia. You can check out his website at timbrookes.co.uk or find him on Twitter.
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