Space, crazy experiments, nature, the human body: science is fantastic. Fortunately, there are many YouTube channels that make popular science even more popular. We list 10 popular science YouTubers that you should definitely follow.
1. Mark Rober
Mark Rober once worked at NASA and now runs a very successful YouTube channel to which no fewer than 48.5 million people are subscribed. You may not like his presentation voice, but Rober teaches you fun things every episode that all relate to popular science. He enjoys it and also has a successful company to get kids excited about science, so we’re all for that.
2. Kurzgesagt
Kurzgesagt is German for ‘in short’ and that’s exactly what you get on this YouTube channel: an animated video about science every month or so. There are hundreds of videos to choose from, which is impressive for such a labor-intensive way of creating videos. Some topics will appeal to you more than others, but they have written down a wide variety of scientific topics very cleverly and in a fun way.
3. Veritasium
Veritasium is run by Dr. Derek Muller and it addresses remarkable scientific topics that you may never have thought of. Sometimes it goes more into physics, sometimes into psychology: it is always a surprise what you will learn and that makes Veritasium a popular channel.
4. CrashCourse
This YouTube channel has been around since 2006 (!) and was started by John and Hank Green, who clearly wanted to teach the rest of the world something. 15.5 million subscribers now follow this channel, on which a large number of topics are explained in more detail, sometimes in an overly American way, including fun animations, but also with real people who tell you something. Sometimes it is not entirely clear whether it is for adults or children, so we leave that up to you to decide:
5. AsapSCIENCE
In addition to receiving an explanation about popular science, would you also like to hear about something new that has just been discovered? The people behind AsapSCIENCE know how to provide some kind of explanation in addition to the news, and that also makes it very current, relevant science. The Canadian Mitchell Moffit and Gregory Brown do it nicely and use marker drawings to tell you more, which is surprisingly soothing to watch.
6. SmarterEveryDay
Have you always loved Mythbusters? Then SmarterEveryDay is a channel to keep an eye on. Here Destin Wilson Sandlin does all kinds of fun experiments, such as lighting a match with a bullet. The nice thing is that he also makes it a bit more personal: it’s not all that slick and that makes it a very authentic whole.
7. Dr. Becky
If you would like to know more specifically about space, Dr. Becky has come to the right place. There is of course an innumerable amount of information to be gleaned from the universe, but it is still impressive how many videos she has already made on this subject. She is a bit more serious and doesn’t come with frills and sound effects, but she does teach you a lot about space.
8. TKOR
What we like about The King of Random is that the channel’s creator, Grant Thompson, comes up with all kinds of science experiments that you can do at home. Sometimes it doesn’t, but then it’s nice that it does and we can just watch without having to go to the Gamma.
9. MinuteEarth
MinuteEarth should be included in this list, because the channel always comes up with original perspectives that are explored in video form in a funny animation. We look at what is discussed on the internet, but especially at what crazy ideas there are about scientific topics. Very nice.
10.Backyard Scientist
There are many YouTubers who want to get people into popular science by coming up with some kind of nonsensical inventions of their own. Or sometimes very sensible, because we like to look at it. TheBackyardScientist often makes things – or does experiments – that you would not easily approach yourself, but would like to see. Kevin Kohler says it himself: I do it, then you don’t have to do it. Thanks Kev.
