3Blue1Brown
Who cares about topology? (Inscribed rectangle problem): Topology - Part 1 of 3
This is an absolutely beautiful piece of math. It shows how certain ideas from topology, such as the mobius strip, can be used to solve a slightly softer form of an unsolved problem in geometry.
TED Talks
Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor: Why it's so hard to talk about the N-word
Historian Elizabeth Stordeur Pryor leads a thoughtful and history-backed examination of one of the most divisive words in the English language: the N-word. Drawing from personal experience, she explains how reflecting on our points of...
TED Talks
TED: Racism thrives on silence -- speak up! | Dexter Dias
Racism thrives on your silence and apathy, says human rights lawyer Dexter Dias. Telling the story of a harrowing UK court case that spotlights the corrosive effects of injustice, Dias urges us all to speak out and expose toxic myths...
Crash Course
Lord of the Flies: Crash Course Literature 305
This week, John i s talking about one of his least favorite novels, The Lord of the Flies by William Golding. Lord of the Flies is a novel of ideas, and John doesn't agree with the central idea of the novel, which diminished his...
TED-Ed
How one person saved over 2,000 children from the Nazis | Iseult Gillespie
In 1943, Irena Sendler and Janina Grabowska froze when they heard Gestapo pounding on the front door. Knowing she was minutes from arrest, Irena tossed Janina her most dangerous possession: a glass jar containing the names of over 2,000...
Crash Course
Things Fall Apart, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 209
In which John Green concludes teaching you about Chinua Achebe's Things Fall Apart. You'll learn about the historical contexts of Things Fall Apart, including 19th century colonization and 20th century decolonization. We're going to...
Crash Course
Don't Reanimate Corpses! Frankenstein Part 1: Crash Course Literature 205
In which John Green teaches you about Mary Shelley's novel, Frankenstein. Sure, you know Frankenstein the cultural phenomenon, but how much do you know about the novel that started it all? You'll learn about the Romantic movement in...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: The Chasm | Think Like A Coder, Ep 6 | Alex Rosenthal
This is episode 6 of our animated series "Think Like A Coder." This 10-episode narrative follows a girl, Ethic, and her robot companion, Hedge, as they attempt to save the world. The two embark on a quest to collect three artifacts and...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: Why Shakespeare loved iambic pentameter - David T. Freeman and Gregory Taylor
Shakespeare sometimes gets a bad rap in high schools for his complex plots and antiquated language. But a quick peek into the rhythm of his words reveals a poet deeply rooted in the way people spoke in his time - and still speak today....
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read Dante's "Divine Comedy"? | Sheila Marie Orfano
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here... Inscribed above the Gate of Hell, this prophecy sets into motion an epic journey for salvation. Written over 10 years, Dante Alighieri's three-part narrative poem "Divine Comedy" is both an...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Who is Alexander von Humboldt? - George Mehler
Have you heard of Alexander von Humboldt? Not likely. The geologist turned South American explorer was a bit of an 18th century super scientist, traveling over 24,000 miles to understand the relationship between nature and habitat....
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How does your body know what time it is? - Marco A. Sotomayor
Being able to sense time helps us do everything from waking and sleeping to knowing precisely when to catch a ball that's hurtling towards us. And we owe all these abilities to an interconnected system of timekeepers in our brains. But...
TED-Ed
TED-ED: How did Dracula become the world's most famous vampire? - Stanley Stepanic
Over a hundred years after his creator was laid to rest, Dracula lives on as the most famous vampire in history. But this Transylvanian noble _ neither the first fictional vampire, nor the most popular of his time _ may have remained...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Silvia Moreno-García: Titan of terror: the dark imagination of H.P. Lovecraft
Arcane books of forbidden lore, disturbing secrets in the family bloodline, and terrors so unspeakable the very thought of them might drive you mad. These have become standard elements in modern horror stories. But they were largely...
Crash Course
Liberals, Conservatives, and Pride and Prejudice, Part 2: Crash Course Literature 412
This is it! The final episode of CC Literature season 4 is a deeper look at Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. Today we'll explore the novel's take on materialism, and we'll talk about whether the novel has a liberal or conservative...
PBS
Is Instagram Revolutionizing Photography?
With its ability to make boring cellphone photos look "vintage" and "artsy", the mobile application Instagram has exploded worldwide. Derided by its detractors as a tool for making bad photos worse, we take an alternate view and argue...
TED Talks
TED: Sex needs a new metaphor. Here's one ... | Al Vernacchio
For some reason, says educator Al Vernacchio, the metaphors for talking about sex in the US all come from baseball -- scoring, getting to first base, etc. The problem is, this frames sex as a competition, with a winner and a loser....
Crash Course
Was Gatsby Great? The Great Gatsby Part 2: Crash Course English Literature
In which John Green continues to explore F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby. In this installment, John looks into the titular Gatsby's purported Greatness. Gatsby's single-minded pursuit of Daisy, his checkered past, and his...
Crash Course
Candide: Crash Course Literature 405
John Green teaches you about Voltaire's hugely important Enlightenment novel, Candide. Candide tells a pretty wild story, but for the most part, it's about the best of all possible worlds. Which, spoiler alert, doesn't seem to be the...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: If superpowers were real: Super speed - Joy Lin
What if super speed wasn't just the stuff of epic comic book stories? Is it scientifically possible to be super speedy? In this series, Joy Lin tackles six superpowers and reveals just how scientifically realistic they can be to us mere...
PBS
Is Homestuck the Ulysses of the Internet?
If you're unfamiliar, Homestuck is a webcomic created Andrew Hussie that is over 5000 PAGES so far! In in its own weird way, Homestuck is a lot like James Joyce's Ulysses, where only the strongest, most dedicated readers make it through...
TED Talks
Odes to vice and consequences - Felix Dennis
* Viewer discretion advised. This video includes discussion of mature topics and may be inappropriate for some audiences. Media big shot Felix Dennis roars his fiery, funny, sometimes racy original poetry, revisiting haunting memories...
TED Talks
TED: Are China and the US doomed to conflict? | Kevin Rudd
The former prime minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd is also a longtime student of China, with a unique vantage point to watch its power rise in the past few decades. He asks whether the growing ambition of China will inevitably lead to...
TED-Ed
TED-Ed: Why should you read "One Hundred Years of Solitude"? - Francisco Diez-Buzo
Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude" brought Latin American literature to the forefront of the global imagination and earned Garcia Marquez the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature. What makes the novel so...