As the most popular video platform in the world, YouTube certainly has no trouble keeping everyone entertained with cat memes, song covers, or whatever rabbit hole the “algorithm” decides to send you down.
Cool cats aside, if you’re a fan of fascinating science facts, the algorithm will continue to keep you entertained.
To learn more about supermassive black holes, the depths of the human psyche, or the latest medical advances — hit that YouTube search bar and look for some great science animations!
Or, for your convenience, check out our recommendations below for some of the best science animation YouTube channels out there (in our humble opinion and in no particular order 😉).
Roll 👏. Out👏. That👏. Red👏. Carpet👏.
Have you ever felt something similar to love at first sight?
Because that’s exactly what we feel every time Kurzgesagt comes out with a brand new science animation.
Kurzgesagt, which is German for “In a nutshell”, is an animation studio based in Munich whose creative interests are centred around science, technology, history, and philosophy. While a large chunk of their videos do have a scientific focus, you can also learn a cool thing or two from the humanities.
But their animation style is definitely one of the biggest things they’re known for. Using clean vector-style designs, gradients smoother than silk, and characters with a “bubbly” texture, their work can be instantly recognised and distinguished from other studios. They also have their own channel mascots, which you’ll see in almost every video as several small birds.
We also have a profound respect for their central ethos, which is that nothing is boring if you tell a good story. Every video manages to find just the right narrative with the right metaphors (an important SciComm technique!), even for the most obscure of topics.
If you’re up for binging their channel, make sure to grab some popcorn! You’re in for quite a ride.
The graphical capabilities of animators these days simply astound me.
And animations rendered in crisp 3D would make anyone’s jaw drop. Several times. With every video.
Random42 Scientific Communication (formerly Random42 Medical) is a London-based animation studio who create engaging 3D animations for the pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device industries. So if you’re looking for a channel with a deep medical focus, or just interested in learning more about the human body, look no further!
With a keen attention to detail, every cell, tissue, or organ depicted in their animations has been carefully crafted with precise input from scientific experts. As such, their narration focuses on communicating accurate science, with less emphasis on metaphorical or colloquial storytelling.
But let me tell you, they know what they’re doing with their cinematography. An epic fight between the immune system and an invading pathogen has never looked as cool as this!
Fun fact: The “42” in their name was inspired by the book “The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy”, where in the book a supercomputer was asked about the meaning of life and the purpose of the universe. To which its simple answer was…. 42.”
Looking for diversity in animation styles and topics?
TED-Ed’s got you covered.
TED-Ed, which is a subsidiary of TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design), creates animations for all sorts of topics spanning science, geography, politics, ancient mythology and… well… just about everything!
Their breadth of reach is owed greatly to the wide range of animators involved with TED-Ed as part of their collaboration program. In fact, you can even nominate an animator through the TED-Ed website and they might send an invitation their way. You’ll also find the names of the animator(s) in the title of every video if you’d like to find out more about a particular artist.
So if you’re curious about why cats have vertical pupils, or why pigeons are pretty much everywhere across the world, you’ll have plenty of scientifically-focused videos to watch.
I’d better start making a playlist…
There’s a new player on the field.
While every channel we’ve discussed so far has been around for decades, Koranos has been making its mark only since late 2020.
Koranos is run by an American studio, of which there’s very little on the Internet documented about their identity. Such a mystery! 🤔
And on the topic of mysteries, that’s exactly what their channel intends to address. What are the mysteries hidden beneath the oceans? What’s the world in for when artificial intelligence becomes too powerful? What would humankind look like on a planet that’s 10 times larger than Earth?
Mind. Blowing. Theories. 🤯
Hypothetical scenarios based on the wildest scientific theories are what Koranos likes to animate best. And you know that scientists simply love making the wildest hypotheses.
You can expect some great growth coming out of Koranos as this is just their beginning!
And of course, we wouldn’t be able to walk away without a shameless self-plug 😉
But who are we exactly?
Animate Your Science is an award-winning animation studio based in South Australia whose mission is to empower scientists to change the world by communicating in an effective and accessible way.
We’re run by a team of PhD-trained science communicators as well as artists who work to ensure that research maintains its integrity while also maximising its impact. As such, our animation speciality is in creating video abstracts as “movie trailers” for scientific publications, and explainer videos for clients across 32 countries on ALL continents!
You can bet that includes Antarctica! ❄️
So if you’re keen to learn more about cool research topics (without having to open up a heavy manuscript 📑), check us out!
And if you like what you see…
Your research could also be on YouTube! 🤩
As part of our service, we promote our clients’ video abstracts far and wide across the internet. This includes YouTube, Twitter, Instagram, FaceBook and LinkedIn. We want the world to share your work, and there’s no better way to do that than with a shiny and sparkly video! ✨
You can learn more about the process of creating your video abstract with us by watching our process below.
Contact us today to discuss putting your work on the big screen! 😉
Until next time!
Authors
Dr Miguel Balbin
Dr Khatora Opperman
Dr Tullio Rossi
