World Science Festival

The World Science Festival is run by the World Science Foundation, a non-profit organisation based in New York City. Its YouTube channel shares recordings of its events alongside shorter films, with the aim of bringing science to a general audience.

The channel covers nearly every area of science, including physics, space, maths, biology, the brain, robotics and engineering. Many videos are full-length panel discussions, often an hour or more, in which leading researchers discuss a topic with a host. There are also shorter explainers and interviews, such as a breakdown of each year’s Nobel Prize in Physics.

Some highlights include:

A discussion of the James Webb Space Telescope, the engineering behind it and what it has revealed about the early universe.

A panel on Einstein’s work and quantum entanglement, one of the strangest ideas in physics.

A debate on why maths describes the physical world so well, and whether it reveals something deep about reality.

The channel has over 1.4 million subscribers.

These are long, demanding videos, so they suit students already keen on physics, maths or space. They show how scientists and engineers think, argue and share ideas, and they connect to aerospace engineering, physics research and space science. Listening to experts explain their work is also good preparation for university interviews. Picking one panel on a topic from class is an easy way to start.