YouTube: Channel Recommendations

Below I list some of my most favorite YouTube channels. Maybe there's something you'd enjoy as well. :) In any case, they are all of an educational nature, so surely they are a 'more useful' alternative to Netflix. :) Just FYI I list the number of subscribers for each channel. Last updated early April 2022. (Ordered more or less by recommendation or by my estimate of what my website visitors (mostly my students I guess) could be interested in the most.)

English Channels

  • Kurzgesagt: An amazing YouTube channel covering all different kinds of scientific topics, most are related to physics and the Universe, but they cover other topics like medicine/vaccinations and many more. The name is German for "in a nutshell", but the content is English! It's all animated with really cute graphics, a pleasure for the eyes! (18.2 mio subscribers)
  • DoctorMike: Also such a cool channel! A young, smart, and super-nice doctor who busts medical myths or comments on wrong or stupid medical advice that's distributed via TikTok or Facebook etc., or on injuries in modern/popular movies etc. So much worth being watched! It feels as 'funny'/quick as TikTok, but is actually valuable medical advice or education. (9.1 mio subscribers)
  • Last week Tonight: A comedy/entertainment show, but all the content covered is of an educational nature. Much of it is tailored to the USA, but many topics generalize. (8.8 mio subscribers)
  • Adam ruins everything: Like Last week tonight, this is clearly entertainment and comedy, yet again the covered content is pure education. The show explains common myths, i.e., wrong every-day "knowledge" (and provides citations for the clarification). It also shows where certain traditions come from - most of the time "ruining" them for those enjoying them so far. :) (not its own channel)
  • Visual Politics: A channel focusing on politics (which clearly involves history). Even when not interested much in politics (which I believe today pretty much can't be the case anymore, sadly), this channel is really interesting, i.e., far from "dry"! (1.17 mio subscribers)
  • VSauce: Another absolutely amazing YouTube channel! :) It covers so extremely many topics that it's hard to even describe it in the first place. They even cover technical topics like number theory, but also every-day topics like the placebo effect. What stands out is how entertaining it is despite explaining everything on a scientific level while still being easy to grasp. (17.7 mio subscribers)
  • Veritasium: Basically somehow like VSauce, as it covers a huge range of different topics. All of them investigate some topic in a scientific way. One of my favorites is on Logic and Computability. (11.5 mio subscribers)
  • Ted Talks: Some "private people" give an interesting talk about what they personally care about (in an interesting and entertaining way). Many are scientists or Professors, others are entrepreneurs, or just "normal" people with an interesting life story due to exceptional events in their life. A very few people just seem to be self-promoters who like hearing them talk^^ (really embarrassing), but the vast majority is actually quite good, interesting, and often educational. (21 mio subscribers)
  • Cool Worlds: A channel by an astronomer (scientist) talking about many topics related to 'the universe', such a alien life, interstellar travel, and much more. It's not esoteric, but scientific insights presented in a ... "dreamy" :) and exiting way. While many insights are based on solid math (i.e., most episodes are much more mathematical than those of Kurzgesagt), they are presented in an easy to grasp fashion. (492 k subscribers)
German Channels
  • Visual Politik: Basically the same as mentioned above, but its German variant. Actually, this has twice as many subscribers as the English one, so either Germans are more political or this channel came first. :) Anyway, as written above, it's not just educational, but also interesting, i.e., far from being "dry"! (2.76 mio subscribers)
  • Kurzgesagt: That's the German variant of the one mentioned above. Although the name (German for "in a nutshell") and production studio is German, the English variant actually came first, so the German one has only a subset of the main channel's videos. Regarding content it's of course the same as the other, i.e., it covers all different kinds of scientific topics, most are related to physics and the Universe, but they cover other topics like medicine/vaccinations and many more. It's all animated with really cute graphics, a pleasure for the eyes! (1.72 mio subscribers)
  • Simplicissimus: A real pity that this is available only in German, as it's a real great channel covering many different topics, most of which are political in a more broader sense, but it pretty much covers 'modern topics' from all areas of life (people cheating in games shows, policies of major companies, recent achievements of Elon Musk's companies, and many more). (1.08 mio subscribers)
  • Dr. Whatson: A general channel covering many different topics. So in spirit maybe like the one listed above, but less political and more focused on science and technology. (244 k subscribers)
  • Kanzlei Wilde Beuger Solmecke: A German lawyer explaining German and International law (the latter sadly being more relevant than ever at the moment), mostly based on changes of laws (or the public discussion or announcement of such changes) or due to concrete cases. If you think that sounds dry, then you are very, very wrong! The content is super interesting and the speaker a very approachable person. :) He said that he regularly gets feedback that some of his subscribers started studying law (German: Jura) because of his channel. I'm not surprised at all! (845 k subscribers)