When I was growing up, we had discovery channel. That sparked my intrinsic curiousity. My daughter has that intrinsic motivation as well, but only for k-pop now. She likes youtube videos and she likes when I tell her about science stuff. Maybe I can combine that by recommending her some good youtube channels.
Cleo.
She’s not a scientist but a journalist, but a pretty good one, like, my top 1. She always covers science and engineering and always communicates extremely well.
Fraser Cain, universe today.
Slop for my horses. Used AI to parse the comments and make a cohesive list with it’s best shot at links
Then hand checked the links, fixed any broken ones I could find.
The classifications to the right are AI generated, feel free to comment and have me change things.
- 3Blue1Brown (Grant Sanderson) — math; advanced
- Alexis Dahl — science/history; kid‑friendly
- AlphaPhoenix — physics/engineering; advanced
- Amateur Chemistry — unable to locate this.
- Anton Petrov — astronomy/space; kid‑friendly but dense
- Atomic Frontier — physics/engineering; kid‑friendly
- Beakmans World — general science; kid‑friendly, high‑energy also Internet Archive
- Becky Smethurst (Dr Becky) — astrophysics; kid‑friendly
- Bill Nye — general science; kid‑friendly also archive
- Bob MacDonald (Quirks & Quarks) — general science; kid‑friendly
- BobbyBroccoli — science history/controversies; sometimes heavy topics
- Carl Sagan (Cosmos) — astronomy; kid‑friendly
- Chemical Force — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- Chubbyemu — medical case studies; sometimes intense
- Computerphile — computer science; kid‑friendly
- COSMOS (Neil deGrasse Tyson) — properly on Netflix, astronomy; kid‑friendly
- Crash Course — general education; kid‑friendly
- David Butler (HowFarAwayIsIt) — astronomy/cosmology; kid‑friendly
- Dr Angela Collier — physics; advanced
- Dr Iain Stewart — geology/earth science; kid‑friendly
- Dr Karl Kruszelnicki — general science; kid‑friendly
- Dr Pamela Gay astronomy; kid‑friendly
- Emily Calandrelli (The Space Gal) — space/engineering; kid‑friendly
- Emily the Engineer — engineering/maker; mild language possible
- Explosions and Fire — chemistry/physics; dangerous experiments
- ExTrAcTiOnS aNd IrE — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- Fascinating Horror — disasters; not science education; sometimes intense
- Fraser Cain — astronomy/space news; kid‑friendly
- Gutsick Gibbon (Erika) — biology/evolution; kid‑friendly
- Hannah Fry — math; kid‑friendly
- HowFarAwayIsIt (David Butler) — astronomy; kid‑friendly
- Hyperspace Pirate — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- Isaac Arthur (SFIA) — futurism/space; advanced
- James Burke (Connections) — history of science; kid‑friendly
- Jeremy Fielding — engineering/maker; kid‑friendly
- Jeri Ellsworth — electronics/engineering; advanced
- Journey to the Microcosmos — microbiology; kid‑friendly
- Kyle Hill — physics/pop‑science; sometimes dark topics
- Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell — general science; sometimes heavy existential topics
- Labcoatz — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- Laura Kampf — maker/engineering; kid‑friendly
- Mark Rober — engineering/science; kid‑friendly
- Medlife Crisis — medicine; adult themes possible
- MinuteEarth — earth science; kid‑friendly
- MinutePhysics — physics; kid‑friendly
- Monterey Bay Aquarium — marine biology; kid‑friendly
- Mr. Green Guy — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- Mr. Wizard (Don Herbert) — general science; kid‑friendly
- Myron Cook — geology; kid‑friendly
- MythBusters — engineering/physics; occasional mild violence HULU and MAX
- NileRed — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- NileBlue — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- NOVA (PBS) — general science; kid‑friendly
- Numberphile — math; kid‑friendly
- PBS Eons — paleontology/evolution; kid‑friendly
- PBS Space Time — physics/astronomy; advanced
- PBS Terra — climate science; sometimes heavy topics
- Periodic Videos — chemistry; dangerous experiments
- Physics for the Birds — physics; kid‑friendly
- Physics Girl (Dianna Cowern) — physics; kid‑friendly
- Practical Engineering — civil engineering; kid‑friendly
- Rational Animations — math/logic; kid‑friendly
- Richard Feynman (lectures) — physics; advanced
- SciShow — general science; kid‑friendly
- Science and Futurism with Isaac Arthur — futurism/space; advanced
- Science Max — general science; kid‑friendly
- Scott Manley — space/rocketry; kid‑friendly
- Sebastian Lague — computational physics; kid‑friendly
- Simone Giertz — engineering/maker; mild language
- Smarter Every Day (Destin Sandlin) — physics/engineering; kid‑friendly
- Stand‑up Maths (Matt Parker) — math; kid‑friendly
- Steve Mould — physics; kid‑friendly
- Stuff Made Here — engineering; kid‑friendly but complex
- Styropyro — lasers/physics; dangerous experiments
- Technology Connections — engineering/tech history; kid‑friendly
- The Action Lab — physics/chemistry demos; sometimes dangerous experiments
- The Crash Course — Large educational project, cross disciplinary; kid-friendly
- The Octopus Lady — marine biology; kid‑friendly
- The Royal Institution — general science; kid‑friendly
- The Thought Emporium — DIY science/biology; dangerous experiments
- This Week in Science — science news; kid‑friendly
- Up and Atom (Jade Tan‑Holmes) — math/physics; kid‑friendly
- Veritasium (Derek Muller) — physics/general science; kid‑friendly
- Vi Hart — original channel gone, linked to someone re-uploading, quality is marginal, math; kid‑friendly
- VSauce — general science/philosophy; sometimes heavy concepts
- Xyla Foxlin — engineering/maker; mild language
- Ze Frank — biology/nature; kid‑friendly but sometimes emotionally heavy
Added from posts: Fraser Cain, The Crash Course, Beakman’s World
Added from my own list: nile blue, my green guy, hyperspace pirate, smarter every day, jeremy fielding, stuff made here, laura kamph, jerri ellsworth
Carl fucking Sagan.
Space and physics stuff: David Butler - https://howfarawayisit.com/
Well I was closer to 6 and 7, but I grew up with Mr. Wizard. He was probably Bill Nye’s inspiration. Unpatronizing, simple, and straightforward science for kids. Man was a national treasure.
Crash Course is great. https://thecrashcourse.com/
I dont really know whats age appropriate for a 12 year old but BobbyBroccoli has some good science controversy videos. He has a good series of videos on a physics scandal and a video on another physics scandal. He uses some cool visualizations and I like how he talks about the science and the people involved. Theres also cold fusion. One of the fusion videos has a title thats worrying but no one dies, its making a point.
Too dark at her age probably but maybe good as a teenager. I listen to Fascinating Horror who covers various disasters in 15 mins or less. I liked that the videos arent sensationalized. He always says the victims names and backgrounds, the circumstances leading up to it and the fallout. Like theres a video about a woman who was rushed the hospital and made the staff sick. Theres a lot of videos calling her the toxic lady. His video refers to her by name, mentions that moniker doesnt match how positive and loved she was, and her prior medical issues that likely caused her desperation.
you tube has pbs space time, nova, terra and the sci show along with others.
Seconding this. PBS has a TON of YouTube channels for all kinds of interest areas. Not all are going to be geared to a middle school audience, but much like the TV stations themselves, at least you don’t have to worry as much* about the potential content as a parent (in terms of quality or appropriateness) vs random YouTube channels.
*I would say all their stuff is high school appropriate, but some of the more local/news-related stuff could be a bad fit for younger audiences depending on the kid, only because we don’t live in a world that’s child-friendly. Also channels like PBS Terra do a lot of videos about how fucked we are re: climate change (not in so many words of course) and although they do try to put an optimistic spin on it, sensitive kids might get freaked out by how bad things are (which would be an accurate response of course, so it depends on how much you’ve been trying to shelter your kid from this kind of thing I guess).
Oh my God I love the fact that you are using Lemmy for this! :D
#lemmy4everything
Dr Iain Stewart has some good documentaries, Earth: The Biography and How The Earth Changed History
I was about 12 or 13 when my parents taped a series from TV called “Connections” featuring a historian called James Burke. I’ve probably watched it over 30 times since and have shared it with my daughter (then about 8, now 13).
Anytime she’s home sick from school, that’s what she wants to watch with me now. Highly recommended.
Found it streamimg on curiosity stream. $3-4 isn’t much to try the service for a month and see if it’s worth it to us.
Thanks for recommendation.
I would have loved this when I was 12, I get to enjoy it now though https://youtube.com/@zefrank
Haven’t seen Dr. Pamela Gay’s name in this thread. So her.
Myron Cook is the Bob Ross of Geology. His channel is a treasure:
