How To Write The Future

140. Favorite Science Explainers on YouTube (Part 1)

• BETH BARANY • Season 1 • Episode 140

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“As you may have noticed, these are all women science explainers and scientists, because I really want to highlight women doing science.”


In the latest How To Write the Future podcast episode, host and science fiction author Beth Barany shares her “Favorite Science Explainers on YouTube (Part 1)” and the types of science they share including physical experiments and educational demonstrations. 


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  • SHOW PRODUCTION BY Beth Barany
  • SHOW CO-PRODUCTION + NOTES by Kerry-Ann McDade

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https://bethbarany.com/

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140. Favorite Science Explainers on YouTube (Part 1)

[00:00] Introduction to the Podcast

Hey everyone. Beth Barany here with How to Write the Future Podcast. I am a science fiction and fantasy writer, as well as an editor and book coach for science fiction and fantasy writers. I run this podcast because I really believe that we can shape. Our futures with creativity. 

[00:21] The Importance of Inspiration

Today, I'm gonna talk to you about some of the places I go to for inspiration.

I think inspiration is a very important part of being a creative person. So every day I like to listen and watch YouTube videos. It is my go-to place for learning. 

So today I'm gonna share with you a few of my favorite science explainers. 

[00:43] What is a Science Explainer?

What is a science explainer? 

A science explainer is someone who is often either a journalist or a scientist, and they spend their time talking about science to the lay person in a way that's interesting and fun. 

Now, of course, science explainers might be speaking at a high school level or a college level, or sometimes science for kids. You can find any kind of science explainer on YouTube. 

So today I'm gonna highlight a few, and this is in no particular order. 

[01:15] Highlighting Sabine Hossenfelder

So the first one I wanna talk about is Sabine Hossenfelder.

She has a PhD in physics and is the author of the books Lost in Math, How Beauty Leads Physics Astray and also Existential Physics. A Scientist Guide to Life's Biggest Questions. She does a wonderful job bringing humor into her explainer videos. She talks about science, she talks about technology. She's wonderful at the straight talk. She even says on her YouTube channel, "no hype, no spin, no tiptoeing around inconvenient truths," and she's German. She has a wonderful approach and humor and also perspective on the cross section between science and politics and policy. I really enjoy listening to her show. 

[02:05] Exploring Physics Girl

Next up, I'm gonna talk about.a channel called Physics Girl. It's a YouTube channel created by Diana Cowern, and she talks about the physical sciences with experiments, demonstrations, and new discoveries. Now, she's been on hiatus for the last few years because she's been dealing with long COVID, but she has a very active fan base and she is recovering from Covid, which is so wonderful, slowly but surely.

Her videos are always hands-on, adventurous and fun, and also down to earth.

[02:39] Discovering Geo Girl

Alright, the next channel I'm gonna talk to you about is Geo Girl. This channel is by Rachel Phillips. She has a PhD in Geoscience and so she posts educational videos for people interested in geoscience and the related fields-- the history of the earth, geology, geochemistry, paleoclimatology, bio geochemistry, paleontology, and much, much more. Her videos are really fun and I highly recommend them, if you wanna know anything about geoscience. 

[03:13] Meet Dr. Becky

Next I want to talk about Dr. Becky. She is a British astrophysicist. Her full name is Dr. Becky Smethurst. She's an astrophysicist at the University of Oxford. 

I really enjoy her weekly videos. She's always so enthusiastic and she focuses not just on what we know, but how we know. And she talks often about the James Webb space telescope, and her day job is researching how super massive black holes affect the galaxies that they live in.

And her latest book is A Brief History of Black Holes. I really enjoy her videos quite a lot. 

And the last YouTuber science explainer. 

[03:57] Space Weather with Tamitha Skov

I wanna talk about today is so interesting because she is a space weather physicist. Her channel is called Tamitha Skov. She's also known as Space Weather Woman, and 

She's appeared on TV shows like for the History Channel, the Weather Channel. She's been featured in Popular Science Magazine and featured on some other really wonderful YouTube science channels. Her mission is to open all of our perceptions around a new kind of weather- space weather. 

It's fascinating how the sun affects the earth atmosphere, and of course, satellites, emergency radio communication, disaster relief services, and so much more. So she is really bringing space weather forecasts into our lives with her weekly space weather forecasts on YouTube. 

[04:49] Future Episodes

So that's it for today in highlighting some of my favorite YouTube channels. I mentioned six here today. This is part one. I'm gonna do at least one other episode soon on some more channels. 

[05:02] Women Scientists and Science Explainers

And as you may have noticed, these are all women science explainers and scientists, because I really wanna highlight, women doing science. I was. science oriented from a young age, and now I write science fiction as well as fantasy.

And I love, love, love learning about science, and I hope you will check out these wonderful science explainers and scientists, and maybe you'll find some wonderful inspiration for your stories. 

So that's it for this week, everyone. Write long and prosper.