The way we explain and understand science is being transformed by online videos, says Leila Johnston

Some of the best science communication is being done in online videos periodic videos

The people have spoken… about a lot of things lately. And let’s face it, it has usually happened in the echo chambers of social media. But throughout the political tumult of recent times where tears have been shed, family members blocked and dear pals unfriended, one forum of online expression has remained consistent, fun and quietly confident: videos.

Online video is free speech in every sense. It has happened so steadily we take it for granted, but it would be no exaggeration to view the growth of science “creators” (as YouTube calls them) as a sort of soft revolution – a triumph of defiant goodwill in the face of uncertainty, and of apolitical communication in a world of power games and gangs.

The more the mainstream media reveals of its wolfish agendas, the more charmed we are by the individuals who walk their own path barefoot as the broadcast juggernauts thunder past. The new science educators seem driven purely by raw enthusiasm for their material, and lacking a budget, studio, equipment or experience, find the most extraordinary workarounds.


It’s no secret that the production values on YouTube now regularly outstrip those on broadcast television, and YouTube has even begun facilitating this shift by investing in creators who want to monetise their videos. Science videos have had their share of success, but the subject matter brings its own challenges. How do you present intangible information? Who’s going to watch? The answers, for some at least, are “highlighter pens” and “millions of people”.

That’s certainly the case for Vi Hart. Across dozens of inky-finger-stained videos, she covers everything from “How to draw a spiral” to “The calculus of bad driving”, visualising abstractions through charming stop-motion papercraft and witty storytelling. Hart has over a million subscribers and her most-watched video (“Hexaflexagons“, from 2012) has clocked up 7 million views. Quite right too: it’s pure delight.

Physics postgrad Henry Reich’s channel, Minute Physics, has more than 3.5 million subscribers – the equivalent of the population of Moldova. Another inky-fingered creator, his stick figures tackle questions like “Why doesn’t time flow backwards?” and “Do cause and effect really exist?” over a couple of minutes and four or five coloured pens.

Animation clearly lends itself well to complex ideas, but it’s not all fast talking and felt tips. Munich-based Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell has a lovely Hitchhiker’s Guide vibe to it, with slick graphics, a seamless voiceover and surreal flourishes. It is science in the broadest sense – with mass surveillance, banking and conspiracies enthusiastically unpacked alongside videos on space, bees, malaria and nuclear energy.

Other YouTubers prefer to get in front of the camera and blow stuff up. Periodic Videos, featuring the wildly coiffed Professor Martyn Poliakoff, has bags of charm and will make you wonder why your high school science teacher never helped you make explosive Jägerbombs with potassium in the fume cupboard.

Sometimes there seems to be a positive correlation between the pointlessness of the enterprise and the engagingness of the video. Cody of Cody’s Lab films himself doing heavy duty science experiments, often outside and alone in the dramatic Utah landscape, like a benign Walter White from Breaking Bad. His version of the “Will It Flush” YouTube meme, “Flushing 240lbs of Mercury”, has had more than 3 million views – some compensation, at least, for the extraordinary effort invested in this short film. Cody bought a brand new toilet, built a wooden frame for it, and mounted the structure in a ruggedised tub. The effect is strangely regal even before the glittering chemical shows up. Fourteen minutes later, as the silver fluid spirals around the pan, you’ll realise something’s changed. Whatever this is, it is more than a science experiment. It might even be art.

Another creator taking science beyond the educational is Simone Giertz. You’ve probably seen her terrible lipstick robot (if not, do look it up). Giertz calls herself “The queen of shitty robots”, and her joyfully cartoonish family of ineffectual technology also includes a robotic arm that can’t make sandwiches and a constantly collapsing dog.

TV science has been a macho competition for the biggest explosions and the cleverest obscure facts, but through YouTube, something more personal and genuinely inventive is emerging. It’s in the confidence to have unruly fun with difficult ideas that we’ll find real inspiration.