Binging with Babish became famous for making foods from famous shows and then teaching viewers how to make them. Babish became so successful, as a matter of fact, that he started another series called “Basics with Babish,” in which he teaches viewers the basics of cooking. In this installment, he goes through all of the things a successful home cook needs in his or her pantry to make most dishes and to cook regularly at home.

Iceland was one of the worst nations in the world in terms of deforestation. A thousand years ago, the Island was twenty-five to forty percent forest. But now, it’s largely without forest. For the first time in a thousand years, though, Iceland is now growing new forests. This short video chronicles how Iceland was deforested and the work it takes to regrow the nation’s forests. At the very least, there are lots of beautiful shots in this video. 

There are tons of YouTube channels developed to film criticism. They may all seem like super educated film-school graduates, and it may seem like you’ll never be able to make that kind of intelligent criticism about movies. But this short, eleven-minute video will teach you to criticize movies using the movie Aliens. Give this video a watch, take some notes, and then give your own criticism a try. Then give us some criticism of your favorite movie in the comments. 

With the Winter Olympics coming up, it’s time to start thinking about speed skating. It may seem like a boring sport to you, but it’s actually really amazing. If you are having a hard time getting into it, take a look at this Great Big Story video. In it, you follow a world-class speed skater as he trains for his sport. The level of intensity this takes is mind-blowing, and you’ll have a hard time wrapping your head around it.

Everyone wants to be respected. But there are different ways to go about getting respect. Imagine a Navy SEAL walking into your house––obviously you respect this person, but only because you know that you could wind up dead if you don’t. Now imagine Mr. Rogers walking into your house. You’re under no threat, but you immediately respect him. This video explains how you can be a Mr. Rogers and earn respect without bullying your way into it.

Jordan Peterson recently went viral (again) for an interview he did on UK television. The interviewer came at Peterson with ferocity, but Peterson didn’t take the bait and didn’t fall for the interviewer’s rhetorical traps. This video analyzes those traps that Peterson so deftly avoided and explains how to avoid them yourself. If you can follow these tips, you’ll be able to survive even in a super hostile argument.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s essay “Self-Reliance” is one of those few essays that can be said to define America. Reading it is like reading the ethos of our nation. This Academy of Ideas video examines the psychology of “Self-Reliance,” both in terms of the Emerson essay and in terms of what it psychologically means. Don’t be fooled by the title––self reliance neither means being closed off to others or others’ suggestions nor living an isolated life in the woods.

Do you like riddles? We’re not talking about a simple “where do they bury the survivors” kind of riddle you tell your preteen cousin to light her up. We’re talking about an intense, brutal, mind-bending riddle. Here’s the set up (without all the fluff, which you can see in the video). There’s a big ol’ stack of coins. One side of those coins is gold, the other is silver. In aforementioned big ol’ stack, there are twenty silver-side up coins. Your task is to divide the stack into two equal stacks with an equal number of silver coins per stack without being able to see the coins. 

We have all heard the complaints about millennials. They’re lazy. They’re entitled. They’re ruining every conceivable industry. So what is the deal with everyone hating on millennials? Actually, there’s some science behind it. This Sci Show Psych episodes describes juvenoia, the exaggerated fear of social change on the youth. It’s a condition that has been around since, well, pretty much forever. Learn more about the condition in this video, and why it’s not actually that true for millennials.

If, like many people, you were first exposed to animals through cartoons, chances are you internalized a lot of misconceptions. You probably think, for example, that cats love milk. Though it’s unlikely that you could pinpoint where exactly you learned this. Same with bears and honey. Thanks to Winnie the Pooh, you probably think that bears love honey. Well, we have some bad news for you––lots of what you’ve internalized through popular culture is just straight up wrong.

There’s something inherently fascinating about ancient Rome. Maybe it is that Rome’s government (before it became an empire) was a republic, just like the United States. And, since before the United States even began, the American colonists were fearful about the future of their experiment. Once the United States was born, Americans were perpetually fearful of threats to their republic. So perhaps that’s why we love Rome, because it offers a lesson in what not to do.

Here’s the thing about the Mad Max: Fury Road screenplay––there was no screenplay. Think about it, this movie was so intensely visual with each object or character layered with details. If you tried to write out all of those details the screenplay would be impossible long, and it would probably fail to convey the same imagery that the movie wound up conveying. That’s because the writing process for Mad Max: Fury Road was different. This video explains how it was written and what writers can learn from that process.