Lost in YouTube Land

Hi, I'm Cat and I'm a YouTube addict.

They say the first step is admitting that you have a problem. Well I have a problem. For years I followed webcomics, collecting comics like they were postage stamps. I'd read the entire archive and then add them to my list of daily or weekly reading. Then I did the same with blogs. I still follow over 120 blogs and 30 webcomics and that's pared down from two years ago.

YouTube has been just as addicting, if not more so. At least when I finish one webcomic it doesn't instantly direct me to 30 or 40 more just like it. I can lose hours just clicking from one video to the next. Mostly I start with the channels I love (which I'll link to below) but then it just branches from there. And suddenly I've spent four hours watching 3 to 7 minute videos.

I blame Jeff. He got me started with a YouTube channel called Smarter Every Day. Destin Sandlin makes educational videos of the stuff he finds fascinating. Fortunately for us, it's really fascinating stuff. He tries experiments, he shows examples, and he makes videos with so much enthusiasm that you can't help but be intrigued by his subjects. Just watch a few of his experiments and I know you'll be hooked. It's incredible stuff. I learn something new with each video. But once I started watching Smarter Every Day, it opened up the doors to all the other educational videos out there.

Periodic Videos, created by Brady Haran, is a channel that focuses on chemistry. They started out by going through each of the elements in the periodic table. It is a mixture of narrative, experiments, and some of the wildest hair you'll ever see. I'm only halfway through their archive of 500 videos but I never get tired of watching their work.

CGP Grey creates very professional looking animated videos to discuss politics, geography, and sociology, among other topics. Each episode is meticulously researched. It's a great mixture of entertainment and education. Grey's wonderful sense of humor and personality keeps me riveted to subjects that would normally leave me cold.

MinutePhysics by Henry Reich uses drawings to explain incredibly complicated physics topics in a video that's only a couple minutes long. Henry manages to make the topics seem simple and understandable with his drawings and his easy explanation. I've learned more watching that channel then I ever did in my high school physics class.

Veritasium by Derek Muller also explains physics and science topics. Derek normally starts each video by presenting some of the misconceptions about that topic and then uses experiments to show the correct reason why things work the way they do. I find it both interesting and humbling to realize that I often have the incorrect assumption about how things work. All of his videos make me want to learn more about the topic at hand and even more importantly, make me want to try experiments of my own.

The Brain Scoop with Emily Graslie was one I wasn't sure how much I'd like at first. Emily started out presenting videos of her work in U of Montana's Biology Department. She dissected a wolf, taught us about pangolins (one of the coolest animals ever), and showed us the fascinating animals in the school's collection. She's since moved over to the Field Museum and her videos now cover that amazing museum, which is my favorite place in the world when we go to Chicago.

Recently I've started getting into Numberphile, also created by Brady Haran. Jeff started watching this mathematics video series a year ago or so, but I struggled with it at first. I've never considered myself very good at math but these videos are making me see that it's just a matter of looking at things in the proper light. Some of it may still go over my head but I'm started to see patterns, and deciphering the language that is math.

But it's not all educational. I listen to most of my music on YouTube. Even after I've bought the songs and they are on my iPod, I find myself pulling up the videos. YouTube allows me to jump from song to song, using the suggestions on the right side. I've found some great new music that way.

My current fascination is John and Hank Green, collectively known as the Vlogbrothers. I'm a little late to the party since they did their well known Brotherhood 2.0 years ago. But the video correspondence between the two brothers makes for both entertaining and educational watching. I had originally found John Green through his work with Mental Floss (even before I found out he was an author) and Hank as the creator of The Brain Scoop. But since discovering their year of video correspondence and other videos, I think I might become a full fledged Nerdfighter.

I know that I've barely skimmed the surface of what's available on YouTube. There's plenty of material that I try to stay away from. I'm not looking for stupid human tricks. And I only occasionally watch funny cat videos. But I know that there are plenty of other videos out there that will both entertain and educate me. There are creators making some of the most unique and fascinating material being produced right now. YouTube has become a classroom. And I'm so glad I've found so many ways to learn.

Big Bang Theory

A while ago I wrote about my love for geeky men. I'm the one drooling over the guy in glasses playing D&D until all odd hours. Dressing up as a Klingon for a convention is actually a plus rather than a minus. Most geeks I know are passionate about things and that's incredibly attractive. And so of course I've started watching The Big Bang Theory. And have completely lost my mind over the show. 

I'm late to the party as usual. The show already has five seasons under it's belt and I've just started watching. When it first came out, everyone raved. I knew people who wouldn't go out on Mondays so they could catch it. It was all the rage. So of course I refused to watch. It has only been since the reruns have started in syndication that I've become hooked on the show. Okay not hooked, addicted. Obsessed. I watch numerous episodes a night and am still disappointed when the programming changes. I've been debating buying whole seasons even if I haven't seen half of the episodes (rare for me). It's just so cleverly written. The dialogue sparkles, the retorts are witty, the jokes are funny, and the cast is just fantastic. Even the science is good (so good I have to look things up a lot). 

 And of course I love the boys. Not just because of the rounds of Klingon Boggle or Halo nights. Or because of the way they are passionate about their work. I love their geekiness. Their comic-loving, cosplay-dressing, board-gaming playing selves. I have a mad crush on Leonard although that doesn't surprise me since I had a crush on Johnny Galecki when he was on Rosanne years ago. Nothing has changed there. Except the glasses are a little better and the clothes are definitely better. But what startles me is how much I adore Sheldon. He's meant to be irritating. He's meant to be frustrating. And yet I still find his odd idiosyncrasies adorable. And I find his arrogance hot. I'm not sure why. Perhaps that odd mix of arrogance and fragility makes me want to protect and throttle him at the same time. Either way I know that eventually I'll buy at least one or two of the seasons. It's too good not to own. And watch over and over. I'm a geek after all. 

Bodies...at Rest

I have an incredibly strong stomach for medical maladies. As the daughter of a pathologist, dinner conversations occasionally centered around what Dad had cut up that day. "Oh so the appendix was pus-filled. Wow, that's so cool. Hey pass the alfredo sauce." I would leaf through Dad's medical journals, both horrified and fascinated by skin lesions, tumors, and the occasional surgery. I've never sat in on an autopsy, but I've wanted to.

Even having said that the first time I saw a head, stripped of skin, and cut in half, I was a little taken aback. For a second I was nervous. And then I was fascinated. While Jeff and I were down in St. Louis we had the option to go see Bodies--The Exhibition. This incredibly displays shows each of the different systems of the body, using real bodies. The skeleton exhibit was like any anatomy class you may have taken. There was a sternum bone, some tiny ear bones, a full rib cage (with muscles still attached), and a full skeleton. The bones were beautifully preserved.

Stepping 10 feet over brought you to the muscles section, and that's where I had my first and only moment of uncertainty. The half head, used to display the muscles of the jaw, tongue, and neck, was just a little too off-putting for me. Strangely the entire body, posed as if kicking a soccer ball didn't give me pause at all. The body, stripped of skin, showed muscles, bones, nerves, and veins. It was incredible to think of how all the parts fit together. But that was nothing compared to what I was going to see. After that we walked downstairs and into the sections covering the digestive, respiratory, reproductive, nervous, endocrine, and circulation systems.

Bodies--the Exhibition uses actual cadavers to show off body systems. Bodies (or parts) are injected with liquid silicone rubber which replaces the water in the organs and tissues, making them impervious to rot. I had read about the technique in Stiff, Mary Roach's book about the uses of medical cadavers; and I was excited to see it in person. I had seen some images of other body exhibits but the focus of this exhibition seemed much different from the circus like images I'd seen. This exhibit focused on promoting health. We saw parts that were diseased alongside healthy tissues. An enlarged spleen was at least four times larger than its healthy counterpart. The lungs damaged by smoke sat right next to a healthy set of lungs and a box where you could drop your cigarettes.

The image that I will take away forever from this exhibition was a male body standing in the back of the room. The cadaver still had all its skin and had been cut into five different slices, from head to toe. Each section showed all the bones, internal organs, and muscles that made up the human form. We could peer into the sliced heart, and see the mess that makes up our intestines (not quite as orderly as I expected). Only the brain and the liver had been kept whole and hung out of the section that it had been cut from. I was in awe of how compact the human body really is. And I was truly fascinated.

There are no pictures for this post. First I didn't feel that it would be appropriate for my readers with less strong stomachs. And secondly (and more importantly) because the exhibit doesn't allow photography, a request that I applaud. In fact the exhibition was far more tastefully done than I was expecting. I think I had been prepared for a bit more of a circus sideshow feel rather than the very medical and educational exhibit we walked through. Jeff, Jeff's dad, and I all went and I think we could all say that the exhibit was far more informative than we had expected. I walked away with a better idea of how bodies fit together. I was also thinking of how important health is. I've seen the alternative. And its not pretty. But the bodies I saw that day were amazing. And beautiful in a bizarre way. More than anything I was glad I had gone. Informative and interesting.

Animated Chemistry

As I'm sure I've mentioned before I've become completely addicted to Neatorama. I've added it to my news bookmarks and go there daily for a bit of inspiration, entertainment, or education. It's just like the magazine Mental Floss, which my sister has been working (and succeeding) on getting me to read.

The last couple of days or so, Neatorama has featured animation from some young animators. And after watching today's feature, I simply had to share. The image above is from Oxygen, the story of a young oxygen molecule trying to make friends at his elementary school, with some odd, and very funny results (click the link for the full 2 minute animated film). My favorite part was his interactions with Barium. If my chemistry class had been as funny as this short was I probably would have paid better attention in class. The animation is the work of Christopher Hendryx and was his graduation project for Ringling College of Art and Design. This is a must see for any science fan, or heck, anyone who likes to laugh (and learn). Short, sweet, and very funny.

Tool Use

For the last couple decade the definition of being human (and separate from animals) has relied on the concept of tool use. Humans use tools, animals don't. After our definitions which were based on language, culture, and emotions were thrown out, we had to settle on tool usage. When it was determined that chimpanzees use tools to gain access to food, we started to lose what little ground we had. Over the past several decades we have found species after species that uses tools to make things simpler or gain access to resources. So this definition will eventually be busted as well.
British scientists have been working with rooks (same family as crows) for many years and are amazed by their clever use (and even invention) of tools. These are not trained behavior but are the result of problem solving. I watched a video recently where a rook lowered a hooked piece of plastic that it had been given into a beaker in order to snag a tiny little bucket with treats. The scientists were impressed by this. The rook then carried the bucket to the top of it's cage to eat the treat. When it couldn't reach it with it's beak, it hopped back down to the hook and fished the food out with that. Impressive tool use and understanding of how the tool worked.

This past week, scientists found evidence of tool use in octopuses. Divers took video of an octopus finding and unburying a coconut shell. It hollowed the shell out and then carried it along the ocean bottom. If attacked it will overturn the shell and hide under it. Or if it finds two shells it will bring them together to form a protective ball. Octopuses have long been known for their intelligence but the use of tools had not been documented in the species before. Another crack in the human/animal definition. This video has been circling the internet for a couple days now, partially because of it's amazing discovery but mostly because it's pretty funny to watch the octopus run. If nothing else I hope it reminds people that animals are far smarter than we give them credit for. And tool use is no longer a valid difference.

Image by Roger Steene (courtesy of BBC)

Cicadas and struggle

Okay I am officially one of the biggest geeks I know. I spent 25 minutes this afternoon, most of my lunch hour, watching a giant cicada as it crawled its way to the grass. It was way too beautiful a day to be in so I grabbed my book, lunch at Arby's, and headed out to the state capitol to enjoy the view of downtown and the park. I found a good bench in the sun and opened my book to an interesting essay on reinvigorating interest in science through children's books. (Really, I find that kind of thing interesting). 

I was interrupted though by an odd buzzing. I looked up but couldn't tell where it was coming from. The general location seemed to be a rather large leaf on the ground. Until I realized that it wasn't a leaf. It was a giant cicada. These are some cool looking bugs. They're about 3 inches long which is pretty huge (for bugs) with these beautiful clear wings. Well one of this guys wings was damaged. He was trying occasionally to fly only to flop over on his back and have to right himself. So he started crawling. 

It was painful to watch. He could only get an inch or so before stopping. Two of his legs on one side were damaged so he couldn't just walk straight. Now I am a huge anthropomorphist. And I feel sorry for everything. I kept wondering if I should/could help him. If I left him on the sidewalk the birds would get him. If I tried to pick him up he would freak out and may hurt himself more. So I sat and watched and wondered which fate was worse, getting eaten by birds or starving to death. Cheerful huh?

But what I really found myself doing was rooting for him. Here was this little bug that was struggling so valiantly to survive. It was dragging itself inch by painful inch to get to cover and shade. And I thought about how "life finds a way". (yah its a jurassic park quote. I told you I was a geek.) And how the urge to survive is so strong. 

When he finally made it to the grass I silently cheered for him. (Okay maybe I even verbally cheered for him. But no one was around.) Then I went back to reading my chapter and realized how now I was interested in learning about cicadas. I didn't know much about them, particularly their lifecycle. So I went back to the office and spent a bit of time reading up on them. Did you know that cicadas live for four years underground as immature insects, emerge on their fifth year, mate, and then die. Or that they sing in choruses. They are some of the loudest insects on earth. Perhaps we don't need children's books to remind us how interesting science and nature is. Sometimes it just takes a valiant little bug and a little free time. 

For those who don't know, here is a giant cicada. That looks similar to what I saw although mine was probably an inch to an inch and a half smaller. I'm sorry to say I have "borrowed" this picture. It was just such a beautiful shot and showed the size of them perfectly.