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6 votes
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Lab-grown dairy: The next food frontier
9 votes -
NASA's Dragonfly spacecraft, resembling a large quadcopter drone, will fly through the orange clouds of Titan searching for signs of life
8 votes -
What are the ethical consequences of immortality technology?
9 votes -
The North Atlantic ocean current, which warms northern Europe, may be slowing
6 votes -
Scientists from the University of Borås are exploring the possibility of converting old pieces of glutinous waste into yarn
4 votes -
A conversation with the team that made bread with 4500-year-old yeast from ancient Egyptian pottery
13 votes -
The life and death of an Instagram fish - What one funny-looking fish taught us about evolution, the internet, and the monsters we create
7 votes -
Detailed maps of the donors powering the 2020 Democratic campaigns
11 votes -
The empty radicalism of the climate apocalypse: What would it mean to get serious about climate change?
13 votes -
A mathematician has resolved the Sensitivity Conjecture, a nearly thirty-year-old problem in computer science
24 votes -
Airborne concentrations and chemical considerations of radioactive ruthenium from an undeclared major nuclear release in 2017
13 votes -
The Left needs a statewide strategy
13 votes -
Would Donald Trump be president if all Americans actually voted?
17 votes -
Watch the Ridgecrest earthquake shatter the desert floor in stunning before-and-after images
12 votes -
Death dive to Saturn
3 votes -
USDA expected to lose two-thirds of research staff in move to Kansas City
12 votes -
Would you eat a burger made out of CO2 captured from the air?
9 votes -
Science and sustainability may clash on the Moon: Balancing the mining of lunar ice between colonization and astrobiological research
4 votes -
Danish architecture firm COBE has won an international competition for a new science museum in Lund
5 votes -
So far cultured meat has been burgers – the next big challenge is animal-free steaks
6 votes -
NASA chooses Saturn’s moon Titan as its next destination as part of Project DragonFly—a drone mission to explore Titan's surface over two years
28 votes -
Becoming a data scientist: The career path for job changers
8 votes -
Zach Weinersmith, the cartoonist behind Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal and co-author of SOONISH, does a Q&A
12 votes -
NASA rover on Mars detects high amounts of methane gas, hinting at possibility of life
8 votes -
NASA will conduct a delicate rescue mission to free a probe trapped just inches below the Red Planet’s surface
6 votes -
The case for room-temperature foods: There are many dishes and delicacies that benefit from being served at room temperature
9 votes -
Ancient Babylonian astronomers calculated Jupiter’s position from the area under a time-velocity graph
7 votes -
Boaty McBoatface makes major climate change discovery on maiden outing
14 votes -
Trump's latest government overhaul aims to cut advisory panels by one-third
3 votes -
How almonds went from deadly to delicious
5 votes -
C.S. Peirce on science and belief
4 votes -
The long-awaited upgrade to the US weather forecast model is here
7 votes -
Here's the trick to caramelizing onions: There is no trick. The best caramelized onions cook low and slow.
10 votes -
A short history of Presidential vacillation: Mars or the Moon
5 votes -
Quantum computing is a marathon, not a sprint
5 votes -
Researchers strapped video cameras on sixteen cats and let them do their thing. Here’s what they found. (Q&A with Maren Huck about her recent study in Applied Animal Behaviour Science)
9 votes -
Science institute that advised EU and UN 'actually industry lobby group'
10 votes -
The hidden heroines of chaos
5 votes -
The 'forbidden' planet has been found in the 'Neptunian Desert'
4 votes -
The birth of science in a darkened room: The father of modern optics could not have succeeded had he not feigned madness
6 votes -
Defeating the voters: Across the United States, state autocrats are spurning democratic majorities
15 votes -
Liverpool is finishing a phenomenal season - thanks in part to an unrivaled reliance on data and analytics
3 votes -
The methane detectives: On the trail of a global warming mystery
6 votes -
Inside NASA’s race back to Neptune’s icy moon Triton
5 votes -
New batlike dinosaur was early experiment in flight
4 votes -
Bad evidence: Ten years after a landmark study blew the whistle on junk science, the fight over forensics rages on
7 votes -
The new film "The Race Is On" tackles climate change. Its filmmaker is Dr. James Dyke, who's crossed the line that separates academia from activism.
7 votes -
What makes a video essay good?
Youtube channels like CGP Grey, Kurzgesagt, Vsauce and Nerdwriter are all incredibly popular. They bring up interesting topics, explain them fairly well, and have high production quality. But to...
Youtube channels like CGP Grey, Kurzgesagt, Vsauce and Nerdwriter are all incredibly popular. They bring up interesting topics, explain them fairly well, and have high production quality. But to me, something is missing. I'm not sure how to formulate my criticism, since it has nothing to do with the quality of their videos.
It feels like the mentioned channels lack depth. They give off an uncomfortable "pop-science" vibe. Pop-science isn't wrong, I have nothing against it. But they feel too "poppy". They provide sources, but the commentary is directed to people who don't read. They don't dare to use precise words, in case the audience won't understand them. I get the feeling that they make their videos for the lowest common denominator: persons who doesn't read, persons who can't google and persons who want to make no effort to actually learn.
I'd feel bad to only mention bad examples, so here is a list of high-effort video-creators with (in my eyes) good content:
Lindsay Ellis: Long-form film reviews that actually go into the details.
Every Frame a Painting: Very high-quality analyses of film directors and their styles.
3Blue1Brown: Beautifully animated math visualizations explaining multiple areas of mathematics.
Captain Disillusion: Critically debunking and deconstructing fake videos.
Historia Civilis: In-depth historical videos about Rome.
Bliss Foster: A hidden gem, with only 1000 subscribers, analysing runway shows.
I'd love to hear your thoughts on what makes a good video essay. I'd also really like some suggestions for more creators to follow.
26 votes -
A psychedelic renaissance
12 votes