1. The Nerdwriter
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What You'll Learn: Basically a crash course in Art Philosophy 101.
The Nerdwriter's video essays are all about "cultivating a worldview" through the art we create and observe. If you'd like to get a little more educated about movies and paintings but don't care for pretentious jerks, this is a great place to start.
2. The King of Random
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What You'll Learn: How to make everything from Lego gummies to a micro crossbow.
These "experiments, life-hacks, and random weekend projects" will put all your DIY to shame. This engineer has some awesome, risky, and occasionally delicious tricks up his sleeve.
3. Sexplanations
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What You'll Learn: Super important facts about sexual behavior, health, and culture.
Taught by an actual doctor of human sexuality, this "sexedutainment" channel will teach you all you've every wanted to know about sex that isn't covered in the classroom or in The Talk.
4. In A Nutshell
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What You'll Learn: Quick, fun summaries about the physical and social building blocks of life.
In A Nutshell (aka Kurzgesagt) attempts to explain our weird little existence in about six minutes or less. The videos are wonderfully animated and cover topics like evolution, space, and global energy.
5. Every Frame A Painting
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What You'll Learn: How to critique and review movies like a pro.
Tony Zhou is a badass editor with an eye for film. He takes pictures and sound to a whole level, revealing themes and techniques about movies you've seen a hundred times, as well as lesser-known art house flicks you should definitely check out.
6. Scam School
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What You'll Learn: Easy-to-follow magic tricks and pranks that will impress everyone.
Award-winning magician Brian Brushwood shows you his best bar tricks, cons, pranks and scams. These are not your grandpa's party tricks, and if you stack up your bar bets right, you may never have to pay for another drink again.
7. Extra Credits
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What You'll Learn: All things gaming: From development and design, to history and social impact.
If you LOVE video games or are just curious about how they're made, this is the channel for you. And don't shy away from their random history lessons; the Punic Wars series is bomb.
8. Laura in the Kitchen
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What You'll Learn: How to cook delicious Italian recipes and indulgent deserts.
Whether you're a cooking n00b or a seasoned chef, Laura has some awesome recipes that are adaptable to all kinds of kitchens and resources. Her steps make it easy to follow, and you can get even more tips on her website.
9. MinutePhysics
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What You'll Learn: Physics, yeah, but about stuff you're actually interested in.
This channel firmly believes that "if you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough." These folks actually manage to reduce what took your Physics professor half a semester to teach to just a couple minutes.
10. Mental Floss
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What You'll Learn: Answers to big questions and random facts that have plagued you your whole life.
The YouTube channel of the magazine, this is where you should study up before your next bar trivia night. A random, interesting, and often surprising collection of knowledge that any trivia junkie will love.
11. Growing Your Greens
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What You'll Learn: Everything from starting your first garden to composting to ensuring your perennials thrive.
Who knew gardening could be so cool? This channel will help you put your green thumb to work in pretty much any environment, and do it sustainably and efficiently.
12. Yoga with Adriene
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What You'll Learn: How to do yoga at your own pace in a way that feels good for you.
You know yoga is good for you, but trying classes that tell you to "release your hips" and "sync your breath" can be intimidating and confusing. Thankfully Adriene is super down-to-earth, allowing you to get flexible and centered from the comfort of home.
13. Crash Course
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What You'll Learn: Way more fun and consolidated versions of all your high school classes.
Hosted by the Brothers Green and other YouTube stars, this channel is like retaking high school with internet celebs and hilarious graphics. Super informative and easy to follow, these crash courses will make you better at petty much everything.
14. Numberphile
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What You'll Learn: How math can help you do literally anything more efficiently.
Did you know there are illegal numbers? Or that math can help you win at Rocks, Paper, Scissors or cut a cake better? If you had known this back in school–or had videos this entertaining–you might have actually paid attention!
15. FitnessBlender
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What You'll Learn: Quick, straightforward workouts for every fitness level and equipment setup under the sun.
No annoyingly peppy or ridiculously complicated workouts here: Just easy-to-follow full-length workout videos, with a new one every week. It's also great knowing they're not sponsored or anything; they're just in it to help you break a sweat.
16. You Deserve A Drink
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What You'll Learn: Original cocktails inspired by pop culture celebs and happenings.
Not only are these cocktails delicious, but they're totally original and usually feature funky flavor combos. Host Mamrie often invites equally hilarious friends to join her for a drink, and there's a drinking game built into every episode, so come prepared.
17. Woodworking with Steve Ramsey
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What You'll Learn: The basics and techniques of woodworking applied to some projects you can actually use.
Steve is probably the most enthusiastic carpenter you'll ever encounter, and he really makes you believe you can build anything. His tips and instructions are so thorough and well-diagramed that you'll be building shelves and beds in no time.