65
votes
Youtube channel recommendations 2026
Previously Tildes have had a few discussions on good quality Youtube channels one, two, but I couldn’t find a recent discussion.
I would be interested in peoples recommendations!
Personally I would like to get recommendations for intermediate/harder science or engineering videos. Most are too basic, or very dry lecture based. I know a few good ones like:
- 3blue1brown
- Smarter every day
- Looking Glass Universe
But I would like to know other people’s favourites (including non science ones)!
Technology Connections is a must!
Oh I watch’s one of these videos once and couldn’t remember it! I watched one on freeze dryers.
Thanks for the reminder!
Gamers Nexus was, for a long time, just about PC hardware news and testing. Recently it has become an independent news outlet, funded by Patreon (and thus not beholden to anyone but their viewers), of the highest caliber. I seriously cannot overstate this. About half a year ago they produced the three and a half hour long documentary 'THE NVIDIA AI GPU BLACK MARKET in which they traveled to China and did quality, on-the-ground investigative journalism about the GPU bans and how they were largely ineffective at keeping GPUs out of China. They also have recently created a second channel: GNCA - GamersNexus Consumer Advocacy which is what it sounds like but also more, also with a a focus on quality.
Perun is an Australian Defense Economics Analyst who posts hour-long powerpoints on that subject - you may have noticed me posting those here weekly, usually on Sundays. Excellent focus on quality and accuracy.
Adam Savage's Tested has already been mentioned in this thread. Seconded, he is a wonderful human being and shares his joy with us regarding everything he does in his shop.
Next up is a channel I like but this IS also a plug for a political candidate. I want to be very upfront about that. Kat Abughazaleh is a Palestinian-American journalist who is running for Congress in Illinois (district 9) and I mention her in part because she has ignored the normal fundraising approach and is raising the money for her campaign... by streaming on YouTube. And it's working. In my view, way better than making yourself beholden to a bunch of rich people while trying to get elected. Edit: looks like she's streaming now (currently T:2135 GMT-5) raising money for the Minnesota chapter of the National Lawyers Guild to help with the situation there.
Ezra Klein is one of the better journalists I have found. He does long-form videos and they are of substance and quality.
Marco Reps is a fellow electronics YouTuber who does repairs and projects and has the best dry humor for electronics nerds. You can know nothing about electronics and STILL be entertained by his videos.
What's Going on With Shipping? is a very subject-specific quality information outlet about... you guessed it, shipping!
Knitting Cult Lady - Daniella is former US Army, masters degree in organizational psychology from Harvard, and grew up in the cult 'children of God'. She is a scholar of cults, extremist groups and bad leadership.
David Malawey is a (former I think?) Toyota Engineer, has a masters of Science and seeks to provide high quality informational videos about Mechatronics (the combination of Electronics and Mechanical Engineering - Robotics basically), working spaces, sourcing useful materials that are BOTH cheap and quality and much more. I've learned a lot from him that has been useful.
Dr. Glaucomflecken - want to hear about the evils of United Healthcare and laugh your ass of in the process? Here you go. Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuunited Healthcare, why did you bother calling?
Dungeon Soup - Do you like DND? Do you need some laughs right now? Here you go.
Project Farm - Todd is funded by Patreon and does extremely high-effort, time-consuming product research while adhering to the scientific method and showing his work. Great consumer advocacy. If you're thinking of buying something, check to see if he's reviewed it.
James Hoffmann - do you like Coffee? Do you want to know everything you can possibly learn about it from a soothing-voiced polite Englishman? Yes, you do.
I can't get into Adam Savage since his sister claimed he raped her for years as a child. I'll admit he seems like a decent person in the spotlight, but...
Without a criminal case we'll probably never know if he's a rapist or if she's seeking attention.
I'd never heard about this accusation before, but after looking into it, given that their own mother sided with Adam and said this of her daughter:
I get the distinct impression that Adam was telling the truth when he said this was really just about her trying to get money out of him and the rest of their family, which she succeeded at thanks to an out-of-court settlement. cc: @datavoid
I definitely can't claim he did anything, and would rather believe he didn't. But in my experience, family members are more likely to protect abusers and blame the victim, as they don't want to deal with the embarrassment (my wife cut out a large portion of her family due to this). The fact that his mom backed him up doesn't really mean much in my opinion. I would honestly be interested to see a case where a rich / famous person did something reprehensible, and then their mother stopped supporting them (I'm sure there are some, but none come to mind).
Side note, how fucked up does your relationship have to be with your sister for them to claim that? He doesn't even have Sam Altman level money (who is another alleged sister abuser).
I mean, people are innocent until proven guilty. As far as I know, there is no actual evidence of this whatsoever, let alone enough to prove he's guilty.
It takes two to tango. His sister can be 100% of the "fucked up" part, especially if she does have instances of mental instability.
This does seem to be true more often than not, sadly.
But also - you could be the friendliest sibling in the world, but envy and greed will drive some people to do or say almost anything.
Thank you for sharing that cfabbro.
Angela Collier https://m.youtube.com/@acollierastro
A grumpy physicist lady who makes great long form videos about physics, physics history, books, dumb things billionaires believe, knitting, etc... She has just been so great at voicing a lot of the ways this stupid world has been making me feel over the last year. And she does it with the perfect amount of cynicism.
She has a nearly 4-hour video on Star Trek (largely on TNG)! Thank you so much.
I would consider:
And as was already said, Technology connections is a must!
How is veritasium these days? Several years ago, he made a video explaining that he was going to make clickbaity lower-quality videos to sustain the channel. While I appreciate the challenges of YouTubing as a business, I did notice a significant drop in quality and unsubscribed. Has he turned it around in the time since?
His channel was acquired by a private equity firm. The quality has gone down dramatically since and has not recovered.
"Gone down dramatically" is an hyperbole. He's had many very interesting videos lately that are very high quality, especially the one about the chip-making-machine.
I’d say his channel is an example of private equity not ruining something. The style has changed a bit, maybe in a way that people won’t like, but the content is still good.
I get these all mixed up, but I believe he's the one I dropped (not that I watched him a ton) after he had a glowing review of tesla's self drive beta when just about everyone sane was putting out unedited footage of it dipping into oncoming lanes.
I don't think about it that much. I consider the videos the same - Derek comes up with some thought that I wouldn't consider even having and then goes down the rabbit hole. Maybe the titles are.clickbaity, but the video itself is as deep as it ever was, in my opinion. I also watch on Odysee where only the first title and thumbnail shows up and I know he changes both throughout the first days of video on Youtube.
What is more important for you probably - he has, say, apprentices or helpers or new hosts in the videos and it seems (and I believe he said something like that in recent video) that he will be stepping a bit back, it won't be just Derek in every single video. The quality is still though here in my opinion. You won't probably find another channel like this one where they wpuld question something you have been certain about for your whole life... and disintegrate that certainty.
Probably the best part about Tested is just watching Adam use his knowledge and experience prop making to remake famous props for his personal collection. I also learned from this channel the importance of creating a nice case/box for objects.
I'm not unto replicas, but it's great to see him working on anything. Don't get me wrong, even the "talking" videos are great, but the technical ones are top notch.
EEVBlog is in my view THE original Electronics YouTube Channel. Dave also hosts the largest and most visited Electronics forum in the world.
just wanna say shane from stuffmadehere is mentioned by mark rober (on his puzzle solving video) as being an absolute god tier engineer.
definitely one of the smartest dudes making vids on youtube
Benn Jordan is a musician whose channel I came across as AI/chatgpt was starting to take off, as he was showcasing adversarial “AI poison” to make it difficult or impossible for AI to harvest your published music without pretty heavy corruption, while making the changes basically imperceptible to humans listening.
He’s since headed further down a number of rabbit holes around technology and how it can be used against either big tech companies or the growing surveillance state in America, eg a breakdown of how poorly protected some Flock cameras software was
I intentionally avoid anything science or technology related on YouTube, because I live that all day at work, so my recommendations will be around music production.
Doctor Mix: an extremely enthusiastic Italian guy talking about analog synthesizers and doing meticulous reconstructions of classic synth songs.
Captain Pikant: Analysis and recreation of drum machine patterns.
Bad Gear: This channel has kind of a satirical angle. It's presented in the form of reviews of hardware synthesizers, but it's kind of roasting them in an unserious way.
12 Tone: Music theory videos analyzing popular songs, in the form of the presenter doodling on staff paper while he talks, and also using it as a visual aid where applicable.
Bthelick: An industry professional giving advice on dance music and audio engineering. All streams are just a recording of Ableton with narration over it, in a format that's more conversational than your typical YouTube tutorial type thing. He does monthly Q&A streams, where he'll field live questions from the chat.
Have a look at Synthet. He's a master at delivering some music theory within a well packaged, easy to parse video.
Two of mine on there. Though Doctor Mix is a bit too effervescent for me a lot of the time. I like his recreations though. Bad Gear is always a fun watch
May I recommend 8 bit music theory
https://youtube.com/@8bitmusictheory
Cutting Edge Engineering - high quality videos about the repair and refurbishment of industrial equipment with excellent dog tax interleaved in each video. Lots of welding, milling, and lathe work. Everything is explained and accessible.
Jokes with Jesse - dad jokes / puns with excellent delivery
Natural Habitat Shorts - take an obscure animal fact and make a funny video out of it. The link is one of my favorites, "Hamsters have a biological instinct to travel distances. A safe wheel lets them mimic that behavior."
Mouth
If you want some good, in depth science content, I highly recommend The Brain Scoop by Emily Grasslie. She started the channel while working at the Field Museum in Chicago and has kept it going after she left. Lots of lighthearted, fun science content.
I am now watching her video on extracting Bullet Ant venom. Interesting stuff, thank you!
saveitforparts has been putting out some pretty niche radio videos, if you are tech inclined you might like that channel.
I've watched some of his stuff on satellite comms! Fun channel.
Will try to recommend things I haven't seen others mention yet (though I second a lot of the recs I've seen here):
Mend It Mark - In-depth electronics repair (often older/vintage models)
Aging Wheels - Cars (especially EVs, vintage or otherwise unique cars, unique/unknown older EVs), EV-related experiences, car projects, humor
Lance Hedrick - All sorts of coffee and espresso content. Sometimes deep dives into geeky stuff
Morgan Eckroth - More fun coffee stuff, but with her own angle, often involving making coffee drinks or different brew methods
James Channel - Checking out retro / off-brand / jank video game hardware and electronics, or repair, or making extremely hacked-together janky projects.
James is the second half of Garbage Time, with Dankpods being the other half. James is the mechanic for Garbage Time, so it is interesting to see that he has vast amount of knowledge for different things. And they do have some ahem interesting videos of what would happen if they replace the oil with something that is not really meant to be used in that way, just to see how long until the engine dies.
Oh nice! I have watched Dankpods before and didn't make the connection somehow lol (or did and forgot)
I read through this thread, but didn't take the time to read through the two previous, so apologies if some of these are already mentioned:
Atomic Frontier makes wonderfully shot informative videos on a variety of interesting topics. I consider him a bit like old Tom Scott with much higher effort camera work and editing, and often more in-depth/sciency topics.
Breaking Taps builds cool stuff with some very intricate machining. I'm not well researched on the topics he covers, but I find the videos engaging and he seems to have the craziest machines in his workspace.
Blacktail Studio does a lot of epoxy-heavy woodworking with what I think is a pretty good sense of humor. Similar to machining, I know very little about woodworking but find the videos engaging.
IMPERIAL covers a range of historical and political topics with great scripts and animation.
Ordinary Things was mentioned once in this thread already, but I'd like to give them a second shoutout. I really enjoy their work.
GIFGAS makes urbex/trainhopping videos. They get taken down more and more often by YouTube, unfortunately. I prefer the style of his videos over Shiey, who is his friend and a much more popular creator.
LaurieWired in-depth computer science and programming presented in a way that doesn't require tons of previous knowledge. Great aesthetic.
Edit to add a few more I remembered:
Crime Pays But Botany Doesn't in his own words "A Low-Brow, Crass Approach to Plant Ecology & Evolution as muttered by a Misanthropic Chicago Italian." Very knowledgeable guy with entertaining presentation.
Folding Ideas surprisingly not mentioned yet, deep dives into a range of subjects.
HELP I'M ON FIRE minor shoutout as they have very little content and I'm not sure if they plan on making any more, but I really like the few short documentaries they made.
Jam2go digital artist / game dev / musician with some fun / informative / interesting videos across those categories.
Physics for the Birds Simple explanations, drawings, and demonstrations on problems and concepts in a variety of topics (math, physics, programming, etc.)
Posy a mixed bag of beautifully shot and sometimes informative looks at various things (most often retro technology)
WatchingtheAerial deep dives on filmmaking and movie topics
From the man himself:
It's very possible that's where I initially found him! I had forgotten about that, thanks for the reminder.
His channel description lists about 20 videos that have been deleted from YouTube, which immediately made me more curious - why would so many vids be deleted while the channel itself survives? I've never watched any trainhopping stuff before but I figured, given the name, it might be for some sort of community guidelines or safety policy or something, rather than DMCA strikes. So I do some searching and see that he posted this last year - YouTube is deleting all my videos. I was absolutely enrapt for the next hour I spent watching him trek along abandoned train tracks through the Spanish countryside and across the border into Portugal. He said it wasn't his usual type of video, but I could still see what you mean about his editing style and eye for photography.
I like learning about scenes and subcultures that I wouldn't find or gravitate to on my own, and it's always great to find the creators in those spaces making interesting, high-quality content. Thank you for recommending this, it's definitely a rabbit hole I'll pursue further.
(My recommendations are not about tech or science, but these creators are all scientifically informed and/or technically advanced, regardless of the subject matter.)
Baumgartner Restoration shows us the meticulous and often surprising process of art restauration, shot and edited so beautifully that it feels soothing and nourishing - sort of like staring into a campfire. He describes what he's doing as he goes, also going into some technical details that make the work seem even more fascinating. There's a lot of repetition in the videos because many projects make use of the same techniques, but I seem to never get tired of watching. Some of the most interesting cases are when he fixes a painting that has been previously unprofessionally restored.
Heidi Priebe makes amazing self-help videos. The idea is to help people get more of the things we want out of life (and less of what we don't want!). Her material is well researched and she gives clear definitions for the terms she uses, as well as some research background when necessary. Unlike most self-help content out there, many videos offer practical and actionable advice. A lot of her older content is based on attachment theory but the framework doesn't really matter when the results are universally applicable. For example, I consider myself securely attached but I still benefit from her material a great deal. I particularly enjoy her logical style of expression - this could be a downside to some people because it makes for more elaborate sentences, but for logically oriented people, the clarity she can reach on complex topics is outstanding. Examples: How to stop wasting your life in the drama triangle, How to deal with getting projected onto
understitch, makes extremely well researched and well presented videos about the history of different fashion brands, focused on the business and marketing angles. Highly, highly recommended to anyone half interested in the topic.
Florian Gadsby runs a one man pottery studio somewhere in the UK, showing and explaining his process from start to finish. I enjoy his stylistic rigour and attention to detail, and I love just watching skillful hands do their thing.
Lab Muffin Beauty Science is a chemist whose work centers on the science of beauty products and debunking the false marketing claims that this industry is particularly saturated with, thanks to how easy it is to circumnavigate regulation. Products I refuse to use as a chemist
I can understand the disclaimer for the other channels, but Lab Muffin Beauty Science is absolutely about science!
Good catch! I stand corrected. :)
If anyone else is interested in the more technical details and history around motorsports and specific racing cars, a newish channel I'd recommend is Sam's the Pits. Hosted by Sam Collins, you've probably seen him in some F1 broadcasts before the race where he'll give some technical and strategic insights. He's now started his own channel and covers a wide variety of motorsports from F1, Indycar, Le Man's, Super GT, and many many more. He's got a really nice voice too so at times it feels like you're listening to a well-narrated audio book.
Alex Hibbert Originals - Engineering, Adventure, Arctic Survival
A lovely British dude taking on huge vehicle-engineering projects with the hope of taking them to the frigid north for adventure and science. He's currently working on an amphibious survey vehicle big enough for a team to ride inside. If you know anything about composite materials, electric drive-trains, or extreme ice-ready wheels, please watch some of the newer videos and chime in. He reads and replies to nearly all feedback. If you don't know anything about those topics, come watch to see how the build goes along. It's quite the ride!
Marco Reps - Electrical Engineering, Accidental ASMR?, Reviews & Teardowns
Soft talking German engineer with very dry humor, taking apart crazy equipment from CERN, trying out the newest laser manufacturing hubs, creating over-engineered DIY solar arrays, etc. It's nice sleepy-time TV for nerds.
Old Forge Creations - Craft, Pottery, Ceramics, Instructional
Self-taught ceramicist from the UK, shows off loads of really clever techniques and methods for making pottery and custom glazes at scale. One of the few potters on yt that doesn't come off as an ascetic or a zany magpie (both are fine for entertainment/relaxation but I've learned more practical "that's so clever!" things from this channel than all the others combined).
Jonathan Zaragoza - Food, Cooking, Oaxacan/Mexican Cuisine
Found this guy when I was gearing up for making Oaxacan Black Mole. He's funny, approachable, and makes some really solid stuff. His pork tinga poblana, "salsa falsa", and frijoles charros have been welcome additions to the recipe rotation last year.
Bonus points for the pep talk (actually needed) and the reoccurring bit about the cinnamon roll in his mole video.
Seconding Marco Reps! Awesome channel for those of us in Electronics.
Heather Cox Richardson
Heather Cox Richardson is a political historian who uses facts and history to make observations about contemporary American politics. If you want an objective look at what's unfolding in US politics this is a great place to get up to date information.
Most of my faves have already been mentioned, but I haven't seen Atomic Shrimp named yet, so I'll mention that channel. It's excellent, Mike is a kind individual with many interests and wonderful good humor. It's as if (and I mean this in the best possible way) a Hobbit spent years as an IT professional, then decided to spend his retirement making YouTube videos about cooking, nature walks, foraging, baiting Internet scammers, weird canned goods, gardening, and various crafts. I've watched him for years and never heard the slightest hint of a bad take. He just seems so wholesome, and watching him is the most relaxing thing I know of on YouTube. I can't recommend him highly enough.
Thanks for the recommendations everyone! I have plenty to catch up on, and lots look really decent!
cool worlds
PBS spacetime
Solid recommendations, a couple of extra additions:
What a great thread! In no particular order,
Alexander the ok: An engineer who produces video essays on engineering projects ranging from Oceangate to spaceplanes to the birth of satellite navigation. The focus is on governmental and frequently military-related programs with thorough research and an investment in production value. Patreon uploads include supporting content and bonus material.
Premodernist: Known for his video giving advice for time-travelers, this academic instructor makes easy to digest videos covering events dating back at least 250 years. I highly recommend checking out his Patreon as well for the trove of exclusive videos he's published there.
Dequitem: The leading producer of non-choreographed armored combat displays online imho. Knights, legionnaires, footsoldiers, gladiators, samurais, and duelists all have their fighting styles depicted in these cinematic and oftentimes jaw-dropping displays of technique.
Home RenoVision DIY: If you have a home improvement project or quick fix you're looking to do, this contractor's page is a good place to start for a step-by-step walkthrough of various renovations. No nonsense and some pretty good jokes keeping videos from feeling too dry.
Malcolm Guite: I found this channel looking for companion material for a LOTR readthrough and had to stick around for the genuine article for someone who's making videos about what they want to, when they want to, and how they want to. Very soothing material I could put on and listen to for hours if I'm in the right mood.
Matthew Gaston: This botanist has a deep voice and an academic knowledge of flora ranging from local scrub to exotic specimens to pokemon plant types. Good for if you're shopping for a new houseplant or just want to hear how the ecological landscape is formed and affected by certain types of plants.
Steevski: Remember the munchkin kitten that went viral on Youtube back in the 2000's? Her name is Munchie and you can watch her live a long and happy life through the periodic uploads on this channel! She's doing very well for her age and was last seen enjoying some cat grass just under a week ago at the time of writing this.
Cathode Ray Dude is fun, he's done videos on early PCs, telephones, video cameras and more
https://m.youtube.com/@OrdinaryThings
Ordinary Things - one of my favs period. Covers a lot of global topics from a perspective outside of the US
https://m.youtube.com/@CamJames
Cam James is a journalist living in Atlanta and often covers topics relevant to the BIPOC community. Very insightful and tries to be fair and non biased.
Not specifically engineering or science but has some overlap.
Check Lemmino.
Cracking The Cryptic got a very brief mention in thread one with very few votes and they're worth another mention. Some of the most wholesome and brilliant content I've ever seen.
Lady Hawk - edited "best of" nest cam shorts with some context in text captions. Example, rangers weight newly hatched 2026 royal albatross baby chick distilled from 24 hours of ....
Royal Albatross Cam - All day, all night, all albatross
Robert E Fuller and his land full of cute wild animals
For when I just want to only watch animals.
Love a lot of the recommendations here and looking forward to checking out some of these that I haven't seen before. Not that machining is the only thing I watch on youtube, but most of the other interesting channels I watch have already been recommended.
First and foremost, I have to recommend Hand Tool Rescue One of many restoration youtubers out there, but his humor is the best. Additionally, he tends to actually restore the antique tools he works on rather than just modifying and changing them to his whims. The standard videos (ex. Why did they stop making these?) tend to fall into the no talking (ASMR-ish) style, but he also does a series of old patent recreations where he talks through the ideas and work (ex. Patent Remake: 1909 Ratchet Wrench).
Similarly, another recommendation for the great jokes and sense of humor, This Old Tony. Though I'm surprised he wasn't recommended already, seems like he's been on youtube a long time. He does a fair amount of teaching machining techniques or showing off tools, but also just having fun most of the time. His older content tends to fall into the no talking ASMR-style, but I'd say a lot of the stuff I've watched released within 6 years leans toward the educational, talking-hands-style.
A channel I recently got into, but am enjoying for the pure information/exposure to new things is Torque Test Channel. Very informative and just well structured content about all things tools (though mostly torque testing those tools).
Trying to avoid sharing channels I've already seen mentioned in the thread:
Film & Media
The Morbid Zoo
Curious Archive
Accented Cinema
Economy & Politics
The Plain Bagel - A full time hedge fund manager who gives good factual non-dramatised perspectives on financial and economic topics
Net Loss - Complete opposite vibes. A former owner of a financial firm doing chaotic freeform topical rants into a face tracking camera, often inside a literal abandoned warehouse.
Urgently Firing - A former college admissions and/or career counsellor who talks about society with a slant toward university education and the job market. Has had some surprising takes that have really got me thinking.
Munecat - One of the only lefty video essayists who I didn't see linked already. Has a musical flair.
History
MiniMinuteMan - Half his videos are fascinating lessons about human prehistory, the other half use debunking conspiracy theorists as a jumping-off point for fascinating lessons about human prehistory.
Stefan Milo - High quality channel on history and prehistory.
Esoterica - An academic presentation on the history of fringe religious practices in europe, including occultism, esotericism, pre-christian pagan philosophy etc. etc. Explains the philosophy and worldview of them in an even academic way.
Edenicity - An experienced permaculturist taking a data-driven approach to how we can realistically adjust society to halt ecosystem destruction. This means urban planning and efficient land use, not homesteading.
Adding my favourites that have not been mentioned yet.
BobbyBroccoli - Long documentaries on mostly the history of physics.
Alpha Pheonix - Guy doing genuinely interesting physics and engineering related stuff.
CGP Grey - How has none mentioned this guy?! One of my favourite channels deep diving into obscure subjects. Should definitely watch "Someone Dead Ruined My Life… Again." and How New York Stole Staten Island from New Jersey.
Defunctland - History of amusement parks. Mostly Disneyland. Especially during the last 3 years has his documentaries increased in quality and scope.
Jacob Geller - Video game essays.
MegaLag - Investigative youtuber exposing big scams.
Paralogical - Few videos so far, but seems to focus on interesting statistical analysis. Hasn't uploaded in a year, but his last video was so good I hope for more.
TheMovieRabbitHole - Started with a 4 parts series (turned into 5) on debunking "No CGI" movie claims.
The Thought Emporium - Crazy biology and gene editing. Is trying to create a meat brain that can play Doom.
Tod's Workshop - Medieval engineering and weapons. Has a series testing period-accurate bow effectiveness vs armour.
Alternative Cuts - Entertainment rather than educational. Just funny high-quality edits of movies and TV shows.
My absolute favorite YouTuber in the last year has been Tor's Cabinet of Curiosities. Feels like early days YouTube in a good way, with stories told just because Tor wanted to tell them, presented with an unapologetically quirky bent.
Moth Light Media, biology/natural history : https://www.youtube.com/@mothlightmedia1936
Miles K. Donahue, philosophy, podcast style but high quality : https://www.youtube.com/@mileskdonahue
Levi McClain, music theory (microtonal mostly) : https://www.youtube.com/@LeviMcClain
2swap, 3blue1brown style videos, the topics are maybe a bit esoteric but the production is amazing : https://www.youtube.com/@twoswap/videos
It is worth noting, that it is January so smaller creators tend to take a break in January. This is due to January being a low month for ad revenue. So some creators start uploading less for the month of January and take a much needed break without losing too much in potential income
I’m very happy with a back catalogue, most of this stuff doesn’t age quickly!
I've gotten a lot of enjoyment out of @TomStantonEngineering
My favorites are his drone and bike builds powered by "unconvential" means. He also does a good job of walking through the engineering process!
Wow, I'm surprised by the overlap between this thread and my own youtube subscriptions. I do have a couple of channels that haven't been shared yet:
Diffraction Limited - Very high quality videos on optics and other light related topics, along with in depth build videos for related open source tools and machines. A relatively young channel with a sparse video catalog, but each and every one of them is of great quality.
Hyperspace Pirate - Lab equipment and tech-projects build cheaper than what is probably advisable. JW Telescope inspired cryocooling, a remote controlled arc-furnace, homemade dry ice, an xray machine. All of the videos fall squarely into the category of "don't try this at home kids, even if it is practically possible", and I can't vouch for the soundness of what they build. But it is undoubtedly impressive.
SuperfastMatt - Follow one mans dream of going very fast, and his reality of actually building that dream. The core of the channel is currently the building of a sleek land speed racer, what will let Matt go Superfast (and get a hat). But this project is surrounded but other vehicle adjacent tomfoolery like remote controlling a mini and driving an old camper van off of a cliff. Ah, and making an off road dodge viper.
[People Make Games]
Apart from those, I'd also really like to second these two channels, even though they've already been mentioned:
Benn Jordan - Do you like music? Do you like technology? Do you like applied science? Do you think that our modern power structures merit critical scrutiny? Benn Jordan's channel definitely has music as it's core subject, but his techno-anarchical bend has led to him visiting other topics, especially recently. There are videos on sound cameras, using birds as physical storage, the safety of privatized mass survailance and of course AI antagonistic music production.
Thought Emporium - A Mad Scientist Makerspace homegrowing meat grapes, glow in the dark spider silk, bio-computers and much much more. The primary focus is what I'd consider bio-engineering - splicing genes, growing cells, making them produce different materials - but they also branch out into other projects like playing with electroplating, making lasers with highlighter ink and growing opals. They have a current longterm goal, AFAIK, of growing neurons on chips to create bio-electric computation. It's fun stuff, and well explained.
Not even a car guy but I've fallen for Baked Beans Garage - https://youtube.com/@bakedbeansgarage
If anyone has any interest in learning 3D modeling or game-dev pipeline/workflow stuff, I want to recommend the channel PzThree. I've learned so much from this channel. He is a smaller creator, but gives some of the most in-depth, useful tutorials for blender and related software.
I was gonna direct link to all these but decided it’s way too much hassle to get links for each thing. I’ll probably keep adding to things as I go over the day, but this is a start.
History and Geopolitics:
Cooking
These first two have heavy overlap with the previous one ha.
Sketch Comedy
Game Streamers and Gaming
These are basically all Starcraft personalities, some of whom have branched out and others haven’t.
Lifestyle/Culture
This is sort of an “Other” category for things that don’t really fit anywhere else.
Learning Stuff:
Music and Performing Arts
This Does Not Compute restores and talks about old tech and the history behind them with chill vibes and great production values. His mini-doc on the MiniDisc format is a great point of entry.
The Royal Institution is great for technical and scientific talks. They produce a huge volume of videos. To get started, here is a link to their top videos. The video on quantum mechanics by David Tong is probably my favourite, but there are videos on a huge array of topics. If you're interested in science, there's probably a video just for you!
Shef_Phoenix - Shortform Cooking
Alec Steele - Blacksmithing
BigTime - Automotive
Anti-Chef - Cooking
BlueJay - historical animations that uses dark comedy
Casual Geographic - animals
Mish Mash! - mini fig tutorials and kitbashing
Paper Skies - aviation history, mainly the Soviet Union's
Speeed - mostly car stuff, but they do other things
The Thought Emporium -
madscienceTimothy Cain - one of the creators of Fallout, behind the scenes of video game creation along with stories of when they were developing Fallout at Interplay
cakejumper - cooking and video games
Chris Spargo - general information, generally for the UK (still interesting from someone outside there)
Some of my favorites that I don't think I saw mentioned:
Miranda Goes Outside!! Hiking and backpacking content from an ex-REI employee. Miranda goes backpacking a lot in the PNW (where I am) and further afield. She and her producer Rainer have an infectious enthusiasm that makes me want to get outside more often.
Eric Hanson Some overlap with Miranda. Eric is based out of Arizona and does a lot of solo backpacking there.
Hiking Hansen Mr. Hansen is based in Lillehammer, Norway and shows what backpacking there is like (hot tenting, skiing, pulling a sled, etc.). This is a small channel but his videos are very well made.
Pepper Steps Pepper goes backpacking and shares knowledge of her surroundings. She can be a little fakey/inauthentic-feeling at times but generally solid content.
Softroading The West Donald started his channel showing how he could get just about anywhere he wanted to go off road with his Subaru Forrester. That car was totaled so he got a Nissan Frontier and built it into a camper. He does "softroading", sticking to forest service and logging roads to go camping. He's based out of Eugene, OR and drives around my general area. His channel is the polar opposite of the majority of "overlanding" channels hosted by Instagram models in vehicles that cost more than a house shooting sponsored content in exotic locations.
Matt's Off Road Recovery Matt is an insanely knowledgeable guy who rescues vehicles that get stuck on off road trails in Utah and beyond. Very funny and generally wholesome content that features his employees and family as they build vehicles (he's a Corvair nut) and recover all manner of things that get stuck in the desert. I'm probably underselling this one.
LGR Clint loves retro technology, especially from the late 80s through the early 2000s. He thrifts a lot and shows off the weird stuff he finds. This is a nostalgia-bomb for nerds of a certain age (mine).
der8auer Roman owns Thermal Grizzly, a German company that produces cooling products for PC enthusiasts. His channel covers tech products and offers insights into his company.