We all want to seem smart around workmates and acquaintances, but we often don’t have the time to put in to further study to achieve this. Luckily, there are a few ways you can make yourself seem smarter with a minimum of effort. This is a list of the ten best tips for appearing smarter.

10 Learn a topic to debunk

The majority of “hot topics” are debated by people with very little knowledge of the subject. A good example of this is global warming – the majority of people you speak to on this subject will tell you how we must change our habits to prevent global warming, but few will know what “anthropogenic global warming” is. Spend a little time learning what the real experts on these faddish topics say and you simply can’t go wrong. Try to remember some of the names of authors so you can quote them.

9 Improve your Vocabulary

The simplest way to do this is to subscribe to a “word a day” emailing list. Remember to ensure that you memorize the correct pronunciation and spelling of the new word or phrase. Perhaps you can start with mesonoxian, or any of the words on the Top 10 Weird English Words.

8 Obscure Knowledge

By developing knowledge in a very obscure area, you are very unlikely to meet someone else with the same knowledge. This means you can wax lyrical for hours and it doesn’t matter how many mistakes you make – no one will know, and you will seem ultra-smart. You might, for example, spend some time studying the early Egyptian dynasties (or an interesting character like Smenkhkare,) or the writings of early Christian writers. You can be sure that even the most staunch Southern Baptist fundamentalist has never heard of most of the “fathers of the Church”, let alone read anything they wrote. Saint Igantius of Antioch is a good start; you can follow up with Athenagoras, Irenaeus, Origen, Novatian, and Polycarp. Great subject matter for the Atheist who wishes to debate against fundamentalists.

7 General Knowledge

This can be done very easily. Buy a Trivial Pursuit (Genus Edition) and memorize one card before going to bed each night. In no time you will have a fount of general knowledge so immense that no one will dare debate you at Friday night drinks. The other thing you can do to improve general knowledge is to read “This day in History” articles. Luckily, the List Universe prints a “Today in History” list on the right hand side of every page (underneath the latest 10 comments) with links to Wikipedia to get you started. Good Lord! I feel smarter just thinking about it!

6 Ask Questions

The best way to use this trick is to ask questions when you already know the answer. This is a form of Irony when used in the right way; when the person you are questioning answers, you can ask a related question which will make it appear that you have taken in what they said, absorbed it, and wish to clarify an aspect of the topic. Additionally, when you are discussing a subject with someone who clearly knows less about it than you, you can ask questions that you know will make them stumble. This is particularly good if you have a large audience as everyone will be in awe of you. Make sure you are humble when the person’s weakness shows.

5 Learn About Good Books

Sparknotes. I repeat, sparknotes. Use the short notes found on this site to get a broad overview of famous classic novels. You only need to learn enough to make it seem that you have read the book. For a decent classic you should be able to do this in 30 minutes or less. And who knows, you may find that you want to read the book and gain some real intelligence.

4 Watch Movies

Watch some classic movies that are both good and bad. These movies don’t have to be silent movies, black and white, etc. Just good movies, fulfilling movies. Also, watch some bad movies. Someone who can spout off one or two good movies will sound either smart or fake. But someone who can state both good and bad movies, and justify why each is classified that way, will sound intelligent.

3 Learn Quotes

A great writer once said: “Most people are other people. Their thoughts are someone elses opinions, their lives a mimicry, their passions a quotation.” – while this is amusing, it is not entirely correct when trying to appear smarter. People will be utterly in awe of you if you can quote a famous line from poetry, a great play, or a witticism by a literarary master. There are a million sites on the internet that will help you to find quotations. Learn one a day. If you wish to learn a few lines of poetry, I recommend starting with Plath, Ginsberg, or Whitman; everyone knows who they are, but few will be able to quote them. Oh – the quotation I used here is by Oscar Wilde.

2 Use Words you Know

Nothing makes you looks more like an idiot than fumbling language. Stick to what you know! People will argue that tapes and books can teach you new words, but you still risk a terrible mistake. Learning new words can broaden your thinking and amplify your ability to communicate. However, doing so will open you up to appearing stupid, so you should stick with words you are 100% positive of pronunciation and meaning. Even if it takes you an entire extra sentence to explain a concept that one word would have clarified instantly, it’s totally worth it.

1 Be Quiet

Quite simply, the less you say, the less you can say wrong. Oh, and smile and nod knowingly.

We live with animals all the time, and we mostly give them a decent amount of credit for intelligence. But the truth is, the credit we do give them probably isn’t enough. While they may not necessarily have a consciousness like ours, they do have complex communication abilities that are surprisingly advanced. And the fact is, when we teach them our communication, or better yet, start to better understand their methods of communicating, it’s quite astounding just how smart they turn out to be. 

10. We Have Taught Gorillas How To Communicate Using Sign Language

We have experimented with multiple gorillas when it comes to sign language, but the most well-known was Koko the gorilla, whose trainer managed to teach the great ape over 2,000 words. This training showed that the ape had a memory many people would have never expected, and the gorilla also showed some pretty serious complexity. Koko could regularly make long sentences that had as many as eight signs in a sequence. 

Now, apes have been tested a lot over the years to see just how close their intelligence is to ours, and it can be confusing. They have not been able to pass the mirror test, which involves putting a mirror in front of an animal to see if it understands that the mirror is itself. However, its complex language abilities are no joke, and some researchers say that those skills compare to that of our own young. This suggests that a gorilla is somewhere around the intelligence of a really smart human child who hasn’t quite reached the use of reason yet and gained a basic sense of self. 

9. Dogs And Cats Have Been Taught 100+ Words

Some may have seen the videos already, as they are quickly becoming a popular genre on YouTube. Cats or dogs are trained to press buttons that say a word, and people love watching the animals “talk.” While not as much training of cats has been done, at least one cat has been taught to use over 50 words in this way, and multiple dogs seem to have passed over the 100-word mark. Interestingly, cats and dogs interact differently with the buttons. Cats will often press just one button or two and tend to be very deliberate about what they want, and how they want it. Dogs, on the other hand, tend to use more button presses to explain themselves. 

However, researchers caution that we shouldn’t get too excited about our pets’ level of evolution, and to not anthropomorphize them too much. Experts agree that what is happening is cool, and very interesting, but that doesn’t mean the animal understands language in the same way or level that we do. The animal understands through your specific training that each symbol has an association with a certain thing, but this doesn’t mean that they are using language the way humans do. 

8. Crows And Ravens Pass On Their Hatred For You To Everyone They Know

You may have heard before that crows and ravens, which are both members of the same family of birds, can hold grudges for a lifetime. Now, this is not strictly speaking true, but as things often go, myths are usually based on at least some small amount of facts for them to spread in the first place. Crows and ravens, as far as scientists can tell, can actually only hold a grudge for five years total, however, that doesn’t mean you have been forgotten. You see, crows and ravens will pass on their hatred of you by word of bird mouth to all their friends and family. For this reason, it can appear as if crows and ravens literally hate you forever, and of course, this means they can pass on their grudge to another generation. 

Apart from being mean and good at hating you, some crows are also extremely good at using tools. The New Caledonian Crow which is found on islands East of Australia, is renowned for this skill, despite its tiny bird brain. It can make hooks and spears out of small sticks or twigs and then use them to help it hunt out and eat food. 

7. Elephants Hold Complex Funerals And Can Communicate Silently For Many Miles

One of the reasons so many people have called having elephants at the circus a cruelty over the years is because of how smart they truly are. These huge pachyderms are one of the smartest animals on the planet, and some studies even suggest that they find us cute (when we aren’t trying to poach them). They also have a communication system to relay their complex thoughts to each other over very long distances. Studies have found that their infrasound can reach as far as 10 kilometers away, but there are theories that under the right conditions, it may be heard from even further away. 

Elephants also hold extremely complex funerals and behave in a way that we would find normal based on our traditions. They will carefully bury their dead, cry over them, and mourn them as a group. Some elephants have even been observed visiting their relatives’ graves, to mourn them further. This shows a fascinating level of intelligence, as only a being with at least a somewhat complex mind could understand the permanence of death and loss. 

6. Cats Know Their Name, And Recognize Your Voice And Smell

Some people have called out to their cats for a long time and started to wonder if they really understand their name because the stubborn little furballs never come. In fact, for years many researchers assumed that cats were just not as smart as dogs because they did not seem to listen very much to commands. However, as anyone who has had a cat can tell you, cats know what you are saying just fine; they just have selective hearing. Studies have shown that cats understand that you are calling them by name, they just come when they feel like it. 

Now that cats have been accepted as being a bit smarter than we thought, more studies have been done over recent years, and it has been shown that cats actually don’t pay much attention to faces. However, they do know your smell even if you put on cologne and take a shower, and they know your voice from all the other voices in the world. So, you could change your voice, put on a mask, and shower yourself in perfume, but your cat will still know it’s you. 

5. Octopuses Are Amazing Escape Artist And Hate Confinement

Octopuses are aquatic creatures, so of course we don’t tend to spend a lot of time hanging out with them, but if we did, perhaps we would find them more like us than we ever imagined. It is easy to imagine that a being with that many limbs could learn a thing or two over some time spent evolving in the ocean, and octopuses are known for being incredibly smart for animals especially, and marine creatures in particular. One thing smart beings don’t really like is being caged up, and unable to explore the outer world, and when it comes to this; octopuses are no exception. 

The fact is that octopus escapes and escape attempts are relatively common, and can range from the smallest octopus to the biggest imaginable. Despite their size, these beings just don’t like being locked up. In Seattle, a giant corpus was caught on video trying to escape from its enclosure, and the staff tried to say it was just hoping to explore a bit. In New Zealand, they had a cute little octopus named Inky who escaped and made his way back to the ocean all on his own. The clever little guy was only as big as a soccer ball, but he found his way home. 

4. Sloths Are Known For Being Slow, But This Does Not Extend To Their Intelligence

The hit movie Zootopia certainly made a lot more people pay attention to the sloth, and many people now like to aww about what cute critters they are. However, their reputation is still not one of being very smart. In the movie, their slowness is shown to a comical degree with the sloth taking absolutely forever to say anything. In real life, sloths may be a lot smarter than you think. Sloths may have a very slow metabolism, but this is something they evolved very specifically to survive against the Harpy Eagle, who could see the tiniest of movements from way up in the sky. 

However, while sloths are cute, and probably a lot smarter than you imagined, that does not mean they are human beings. A video has been passed around recently of a backpacker who picked up a sloth who was crossing the road and placed the critter in a tree. The sloth then appears to wave to the man in thanks. While this sounds adorable, the truth is quite the opposite of what people think is happening. According to behavioral experts on sloths, they raise their arms to make themselves look bigger when they feel threatened. 

3. Dory (The Blue Tang) And All Small Fish, Have Better Memories Than You Think

In Finding Nemo, one of the most important plot points is that the Blue Tang (Dory), has a terrible memory. She has to repeat a single address over and over and over again just to make sure she doesn’t forget it and is almost entirely hopeless. However, there is no reason to believe any of this is at all true. While we have not studied the memory of Blue Tangs specifically, studies that we have done on small fish suggest they have way better memories than most people assumed. 

It is more than likely that the entire Dory joke is based on the old belief that goldfish have terrible memories and can barely remember a few seconds ago. However, studies have shown we were totally wrong about goldfish and they can actually remember quite well. Depending on the context and what they are remembering, goldfish have been shown to remember for weeks, months, or even years. 

2. Dolphins Are So Smart They Do Drugs, And Get Accused Of Crimes By Humans 

Dolphins are already known for being incredibly smart creatures, but their habits can often be more human-like than you might have already imagined. Dolphins have been caught doing recreational drugs to enjoy themselves as they swim around in a pod together playing. You see, dolphins realized that if they suck on a poisonous pufferfish, they can get a really pleasant high from it.  They will get their fins on a pufferfish, and then, like a group of stoners, pass it around like a vape bag. 

More importantly, dolphins are known for being so smart, and engaging in so many behaviors that we would find questionable in our species, that they get accused of human-like crimes. Now, this can be a controversial subject, as it is hard to be sure just how much dolphins understand about what they are doing. Dolphins have been known to gang rape females, murder young porpoises, and even get sexually aggressive towards humans at times. However, the question is whether you can call it rape or murder when done by a dolphin, even if it appears that way by our standards. Regardless, there are very few animals that are so advanced in intelligence that we sometimes anthropomorphize their actions into crimes. 

1. Whale Communication Songs Can Be Heard For Thousands Of Miles

Of course it’s hard to interact with truly giant whales like the blue whale, so it is hard to say just how smart such beings really are. However, with how giant their brains are, it is easy to imagine that they could be far smarter than we know. What we do know, however, is that whales have complex songs for communication that are so well designed they can be heard by whales in completely different parts of the ocean. 

The largest whale, the blue whale, only reaches up to about one thousand miles with its song, at least under known and testable conditions, but the Humpback whale, known more for their pods and mating songs, can communicate much farther. The humpback whale’s song has been observed as reaching as far as 10,000 miles away which is just plain staggering. This kind of distance means that theoretically, humpback whales could communicate with other pods with no problem from an entirely different section of the ocean.

Social media and the internet has a bad reputation for spreading false information. Anyone with a fringe theory or a conspiracy theory can reach millions. Bad ideas can spread like a virus. But the internet is also the most powerful tool ever invented for the dissemination of knowledge. Not everyone has the time to study subjects in depth but luckily there are clever people out there who put their time into distilling a lifetime of learning into fun videos for anyone who is interested.

Here are ten YouTube channels that might make you a bit smarter for watching them.

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10 PBS Space Time

Let’s start with the hardest thing in the universe to understand – the universe itself. Though the universe is also technically the only thing we can understand. PBS Space Time is a channel that takes on almost every physics topic you can think of in its effort to make the big topic of the universe just a little more understandable.

It also takes on everything from the beginning of the universe (the Big Bang and before) to the potential end. You will also find out what time is, why it is, and what happens if you reverse its direction. Sometimes the topics might get a bit complex for some viewers (I’ll never properly get the geometry of space-time) but they are always fascinating.

Want to know if the expansion of space will eventually rip apart every atom in existence? Then this is the channel to you.

9 Wisecrack

Pop culture is always brain-rotting right? Turns out film and tv can actually be pretty smart. You just need to look at it the right way. Wisecrack is a channel that examines the philosophy behind all of your favourite shows.

Whether it’s nihilism in BoJack Horseman or the cosmic pessimism of Rick and Morty you’ll find out how these shows interact with some of the deepest philosophy ever written. They even do a series of videos called ‘Deep or Dumb’ that will help you work out whether something really is profound or just pretending to be.

They also tackle real world subjects like why democracy is hard and how adverts try to get into your head. At the very least you’ll learn that you are not alone in your existential crisis – everyone is struggling to find meaning.

8 SciShow

SciShow is one of the best short science video channels on YouTube. Think of an area of science and they are sure to have done series on it. Want to know how a beetle can survive being eaten by a frog and crawling out of its backside – there’s a video for that. Want the latest news on the coronavirus – they read and summarise the latest scientific studies.

As well as biology they cover physics and chemistry. Put those three subjects together and you have pretty much everything covered. By looking at some very niche subjects they can open up great big topics. Ever wondered why it is that humans have hair on their butts?

If you have a more cosmic turn of mind then there is their sister channel SciShow Space that covers all things interstellar. From the solar system to the edge of the universe there is something here for everyone.

7 Objectivity

Museums can be static places. Sometimes all the glass cases can make you feel distant from the fascinating objects they house. There are also millions and millions of objects that a museum just has no space to display. Objectivity is a channel that gets behind the glass and into the archives to bring an item’s story out into the open.

Want to know about the Pope’s collection of space rocks? Then there is a video about his chunk of Mars and all his meteorites. You don’t just get to see the collections – you find out the tales behind them. Just how do you pick a piece of moon rock to give to the pope?

As well as incredible science you’ll find more human stories. You can find out which pages of his books Sir Isaac Newton turned down the corners on because he was interest in them. And if you need to clean a mummy then you’ll need a curator with a lot of saliva.

6 Periodic Videos

Not everyone has access to a laboratory so if you want to get a look inside one then you couldn’t do better than watching Periodic Videos. Featuring the magnificent hair of Professor Sir Martyn Poliakof, as well as his decades of chemistry experience, the videos started as just brief explainers of all of the elements in the periodic table. Since then Brady Haran, who also produces the Objectivity videos, has covered some of the strangest reactions in all of chemistry.

Professor Poliakof has an infectious delight in seeing things happen in the lab. Viewers have even taken to sending him samples so that he can carry out weird experiments. If you want to see a metal spoon melting in a cup of tea then there is a video for that.

The team have also visited some great places outside of the lab. For those with a taste for precious metals and diamonds then there are videos of how those are produced. You’ll find out how hard it would be to steal anything though – the lab coats people wear in these facilities don’t have pockets to stop you slipping anything out.

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5 Veritasium

Veritasium is one of the biggest science channels on YouTube and he draws people in because he is willing to throw his whole body into his experiments. Can you swim in a pool of small balls? Derek Muller will try it to find out. Can a centimetre of aerogel stop the heat produced by a flamethrower? Muller will literally stand in the line of fire to see if the flames make it through.

But once the eye catching experiment is over you get the science explained. If you ever wanted to know how to use grapes in a microwave to make plasma then Veritasium will show you, explain why you can do it – and maybe why you shouldn’t.

Plus it is always a joy to see scientists get into nerdy fights. So, at the risk of starting another argument, which really is better: turbulent flow or laminar flow?

4 True Facts

Zefrank who produces a series of videos about various animals has perhaps the best voice of any naturalist – sorry Sir David Attenborough. No one says “Babby” like Zefrank. The tone of his work could not be more different from a traditional nature show however.

While introducing lesser known groups of animals, like the nudibranch, Zefrank will have a bit of fun. You’ll learn about their toothy tongues called a radula – and also why you should not French kiss them.

There is no better way to accidentally learn about the evolutionary groups of the octopus than hearing how one of them looks like “an alien got freaky with a weather balloon.” Zoology has never been this interesting.

3 Minute Physics

Wouldn’t it be great to just be able to watch minute long videos and learn about some of the toughest topics in physics? Yeah, unfortunately Minute Physics is mostly built on a lie. Not many of these videos actually are a minute, but that’s a minute nitpick.

Using cool, hand drawn illustrations this channel explains how everything from subatomic particles to galactic clusters work. You’ll find out how to actually achieve Cold Fusion at room temperature and what shape the universe really has.

It also tackles more every day problems like why is the sky blue, how do bikes work, and just how far can Legolas really see with his elf eyes?

2 Numberphile

Maths can be a dry subject. Pure maths can seem pointless with its abstract ideas that have nothing, seemingly, with our lives. Yet it turns out that maths can be used to push forward our knowledge of the universe in some crazy ways.

Want to learn whether you can avoid spilling a beer stored in a four-dimensional bottle? As well as dealing with things that are impossible in reality they deal with the reality of mathematicians as human beings. You’ll learn how a mathematician earned a billion dollars or why a mathematician turned down a million dollars.

The videos also show some of the joy in pure mathematics. The video describing a duel between two philosophers to find the largest possible number is like a Royal Rumble for nerds.

1 Kurzgesagt

Kurzgesact produces videos to describe big topics in a nutshell. And when they say big they mean big. One video examines the biggest stars in the universe and they make our sun look like a speck next to them.

Some of the videos might spark a sense of existential dread. The video dealing with the idea of the false vacuum explains how just one fluctuation in the fabric of the universe might end up destroying it. But don’t worry, there probably isn’t a wave of nothingness expanding at the speed of light that will erase everything…

No need for panic however as Kurzgesagt provides some philosophical videos to help cheer you up after some of their bleaker works. One video explains optimistic nihilism – though how optimistic you find it may be in the eye of the beholder.

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So it is the New Year and you’ve decided you want to get smarter. New Year, new you. But looking at the state of the world around you it might seem like a good idea to stay curled up in your bed. Luckily for you there are dozens of incredibly smart people making informative and entertaining videos on YouTube. Without leaving your bed you can stare at your phone and feel just a little bit cleverer.

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10 OverSimplified

Ask any historian and they will tell you that the world is pretty complicated – to say the least. Any time you try to write down history you have to leave things out to construct the story that you want to tell. All history is an act of simplification, it’s just that most histories don’t tell you that they are simplifying. At least the YouTuber OverSimplified admits what he is doing from the outset.

In a series of videos about various historical topics OverSimplified sets out to make history a bit more understandable. In the video dealing with the prohibition of alcohol in the United States you’ll learn both the broad strokes of a complex sociological movement and the fun details. Did you know about a little old lady called Carrie Nation who travelled around smashing up saloons with her hatchet?

As well as big world events OverSimplified also tackles lesser known topics – like the time Australia went to war with Emus, and lost.

9 Legal Eagle

Law can seem like a pretty impenetrable topic to research. Latin phrases, arcane procedures, and historical precedents all serve to make law a weird world. Legal Eagle tries to make it all make sense.

While mainly focused on United States law Legal Eagle’s videos serve as a good basis for understanding how any legal system is supposed to work. Recently, for obvious reasons, he has produced a lot of videos on election law that help both Americans and gobsmacked foreign observers comprehend the twists and turns of the 2020 election.

Some of the most ‘fun’ videos are in his True Crime series – from the time the Police blew up a house (and who should pay for the damage) to the famous Leopold and Loeb murder case he tracks how the legal system dealt with each event.

8 Crash Course

No one can know everything. If you ever fell asleep in class you’ve missed at least some of the facts out there. Luckily for you there is always a video out there for whatever class you snoozed through. And most of them can be found on Crash Course’s channel.

If you need to brush up on your biology then everything from DNA to evolution is covered. If you want some history then you can watch videos going from pre-history to how our media consumption is changing our brains. Yes, even the media put our by Crash Course.

After 2020 you might be feeling depressed, stressed, or anxious. Maybe Crash Course’s Psychology series might be a good place to start…

7 Journey to the Microcosmos

Okay, some topics are just too big for the human brain to comprehend. Unfortunately even when you look at small things things can get a bit complex. And Journey to the Microcosmos studies things that are really small.

It turns out that every drop of pond water is brimming with activity. Tiny single-celled organisms are milling around in their millions and fighting life or death battles that most of us never get to see. To focus on the struggle going on all around us Journey to the Microcosmos turns powerful microscopes on these hidden creatures.

As well as revealing beautiful mini wonders the presenter may just have one of the most calming voices YouTube has to offer.

6 Tier Zoo

If you prefer the animals you look at to be a bit more visible to the naked eye then Tier Zoo is the channel for you. As well as looking at weird and wonderful animals this channel does it in a way that will appeal to gamers. By treating the natural world like a game he examines the abilities evolution has developed.

Are Tardigrades playing the game of life on God Mode? Should Dinosaurs be unbanned? And have sloths had their stats Nerfed? Tier Zoo will let you decide. It will also help new players decide which starter animal they should really pick – cat or dog?

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5 Vsauce

Vsauce is one of the biggest science YouTubers out there, and for good reason. While there are plenty of websites out there that promise pictures of hot people (I’m told) only Vsauce will reveal the hottest things in the universe. And most of them you will definitely not want to get intimate with.

As well as physics Vsauce has videos covering why we find things creepy (thing Sonic the Hedgehog with teeth) and why curse words are though of as bad (but don’t say them if you don’t want to get banned).

Some of the more entertaining videos on the channel deal with fun hypotheticals like what would happen if the Earth stopped spinning. And aside from being a logistical nightmare what would be the consequences of everyone jumping at once?

4 Ted Ed

TED Talks have a bit of a mixed reputation. There are those who view the glossy presentations as insightful and a great way to communicate research and ideas to a wider audience. There are also those who think that TED leads to oversimplification and the commercialisation of knowledge. Both may be right. But TED Ed is a channel that produces short introductions to great topics you might want to research further for yourself.

As well as retelling some of the great myths of world culture with stunning animations they tackle topics ranging from the opioid epidemic to common logical fallacies. We could probably all do with a brush up on spotting the tricks other YouTube videos use to convince us of untruths. Or we might end up walking off the edge of the flat Earth.

3 CGP Grey

While there are lots of YouTubers out there who have incredible animation skills they are not always required to make great videos. CGP Grey may not have the most visually stunning videos but they are always interesting and informative. Where else will you find out how to become Pope in five minutes?

Among other topics you’ll find covered on his channel are things like the difference between the UK and Britain, why you actually have two people in your brain, and why domesticating Zebras is a bad idea.

He even did videos explaining Brexit, which even lots of British people might need help with…

2 Sabine Hossenfelder

If some channels can be accused of dumbing down complex topics that is not a charge that can be levelled at Sabine Hossenfelder. Hossenfelder is not just a YouTuber – she is a physics researcher working on quantum gravity, itself a field that scares other theoretical researchers. So she knows what she is talking about.

Luckily for those intimidated by quantum gravity Hossenfelder tackles ideas in a huge range of fields in physics, and sometimes beyond. You can find out the current thinking on whether there is a smallest size in the universe, how to travel faster than the speed of light, and even if you have free will. Don’t worry, even if you don’t have free will you will want to watch these videos.

And though complex equations often pop up on the screen Hossenfelder will hold your hand as she walks you through them.

1 Tom Scott

Ever wanted to see a nerd pass out in a giant centrifuge? Of course you have and Tom Scott is a YouTuber willing to push his body to the edge in the name of science education. While there is fun in watching the expression on a person’s face as their blood is forced out of their brain and into their buttocks it is also a teaching opportunity. Just what is G-force? And jerk, it turns out, is not just an expression of greeting in online comments.

As well as the science of things like batteries that still work after 176 years and why getting brain eating amoebas in your nose is a bad idea Scott also looks at social issues. Why do Americans find it weird when British people start conversations with “You alright?” And how should GIF be pronounced?

The further you delve into these videos the more topics you discover that you never knew you never knew about. And that is what makes for a great YouTube channel.

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Everyone knows the stories of crows that place rocks into glasses to get access to the water within, but did you know there are many other animals which are more intelligent than you may realise. Scientists have long found the research of animal intelligence to be a challenging task, as comparing animals to humans (or even animals to other animals!) means you may miss out on some clever techniques they have used to survive in their surroundings. The way animals have learned to adapt to their surroundings is nothing short of incredible, and it may surprise you how smart their solutions to problems actually are.

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10 Chimpanzees with better memory than humans?

The intelligence of chimpanzees is relatively well known, and as such they are common target for study by scientists. One way a chimp’s memory has been studied is through hiding food under colored boxes in front of them. The chimps then had to point at a box, and if it contained food, they received it. After this, the memory part comes in, and the boxes are hidden for 15 seconds, after which they can make another choice. On average, chimpanzees were able to remember 4 items, with the best remembering up to 7. Now this does not sound too impressive, but it turns out it is very similar to how humans do on similar tasks!

But a chimp’s memory does not stop there. ‘Ayumu’ the chimp surpasses humans on some cognitive tasks! A series of numbers are shown on a screen, and then after a short amount of time (just one fifth of a second) they are hidden by white boxes. Humans performing this task often fail to remember all the numbers, but Ayumu has no trouble with it, being able to successfully memorize sequences of 9 numbers. Not to worry though, we are still a way off ‘Planet of the Apes’!

9 Elephants understand the power of teamwork

The fact elephants are smart is no surprise. Their brain is three times larger than a humans, which means they have three times the number of brain cells too! In fact, elephant intelligence is well-studied, with evidence that they can learn by mimicking, compassion, and even caring for other elephants less fortunate than themselves. These are all traits not often seen within the animal kingdom, as many animals look after only themselves.

What is most interesting about elephants’ is that they can cooperate to achieve a goal. Scientists tested this by putting food in a box, and the only way for the elephants to get the food out is for two elephants to simultaneously pull on two separate ropes. Elephants were able to do this and even more impressively, after the elephants had learnt they needed to work together to achieve their goal, they didn’t try pulling the ropes unless another elephant is nearby. So, if you ever need a helping trunk, just find a nearby elephant!

8 Parrots can do more than speak

Everybody knows that parrots can reproduce human language, but what is less well known is that some are believed to be able to understand what they are saying also. The best example of this is Alex the Parrot, an exceedingly smart parrot whose name was an acronym for ‘Avian Language Experiment’. Alex was so smart that he was able to correctly answer questions made for human six-year old’s, and because of this has been called the “Einstein of parrots”.

Alex was able to identify both colors and shapes, and answer questions about objects presented to him. He knew how to identify a variety of objects by name, as well as compare them using terms such as ‘bigger’ and ‘smaller’. When the researchers worked with the other parrots in the lab, Alex would often answer for them, and tell the other parrots to ‘Say Better’. Even crazier, the researchers believed that he had the emotional level of a two-year-old. Unfortunately, Alex died unexpectedly at the age of 31, with the researchers stating that they do not believe Alex had reached his potential yet.

7 Dolphins can mimic human actions

That title probably sounds a bit strange; you may be wondering how an animal without arms and legs is able to mimic us, and that simple fact is what makes it impressive. You may have been to a zoo and have seen chimps mimicking you or those around you, but they have the ‘correct’ limbs to be able to do this.

It turns out dolphins can do this too, using their flippers and tail to attempt to mimic what humans are doing. If a human were to float on their back in the water, the dolphin can copy them, if they cross their arms, the dolphin can mimic that also with their flippers. What is even more impressive is a dolphin’s other senses are so advanced, they can even mimic human actions if they are ‘blindfolded’, which for dolphins means having ‘eyecups’ placed over their eyes.

6 Some birds can plan for the future

The ability to plan for the future is something that sets humans apart from many animals, we are able to effectively choose long-term rewards over short-term rewards, meaning we choose actions that benefit us more in the future than ones that benefit us less now. A certain species of bird, the western scrub jay, is able to do this as well.

Scientists tested this by allowing these birds to access and eat food, and then give them a period of time to allow the birds to store some food for the future. The birds could eat first so that their current emotional state (hunger) would not impact their decision to store food. The birds chose to store food for the next morning, showing they do not just think about the here and now, but also are able to make decisions that benefit them in the future.

5 Pigs can use mirrors

Mirror use is often used as an assessment of whether an animal is able to identify themselves in a mirror, and surprisingly few animals are actually able to do it. If you have a pet, try placing them in front of a mirror and see how they react, some may even get angry another animal is in their house! Pigs on the other hand, are able to use them for slightly more complex tasks.

Pigs were left with a mirror in their enclosure for around 5 hours, so they could get used to it and how it works, and after this period a food bowl was placed in a spot that the pig could only see through the mirror. Almost all the pigs tested were able to find the food quickly. This is impressive, as it means they were able to not only identify the food in the mirror, but also use the mirror to identify features within their environment and understand that it is a reflection of the real world. Pigs are one of the smartest animals, learning to distinguish random scribbles from those they have seen before, and also move a cursor on a screen using their snout, so perhaps it should be no surprise they are able to use mirrors so effectively.

4 Bonobos can learn to communicate

Just like chimps, Bonobos are also able to perform activities beyond what would be expected of them. What makes bonobos particularly interesting is the wide variety of skills some of them have been able to learn. One specific Bonobo worth mentioning is called Kanzi, who was able to learn sign language and symbols to communicate. Even more impressive, Kanzi was able to learn some of his sign language just from watching a video of another intelligent animal, Koko the Gorilla. With the symbols, he can communicate with researchers just based on the symbols that he has learnt.

Kanzi can not only communicate however, but he has also learnt how to sharpen rocks to cut ropes to access food. Kanzi, as well as some other Bonobos, have also managed to learn to ‘cook’ using an oven, without being shown or instructed by researchers. This adds some credence to the idea that animals can not only learn to cook, but also delay their eating to improve its quality. It also suggests advanced tool use beyond use of sticks and rocks may also be possible in animals.

3 Cows are natural learners

It may come as a surprise to see a second farm animal on this list, especially cows, an animal not known for their intelligence. When you see cows in fields it looks as if they are just mindlessly wandering around and eating grass, and for the most part that is what they are doing. But what may come as a surprise is that cows have social circles, and avoid cows that have not treated them nicely, and become friends with ones that have. An interesting finding as it shows cows may actually understand more about social circles than some humans!

Another fascinating finding about cows is that when researchers reward cows with a treat for doing well on a task that they were improving on they had increased heart rate and were more vigorous in their movements than when they were just given a reward for no reason. This implies that, similar to humans, cows prefer being rewarded for what they have done, rather than just randomly.

2 Octopus Mimicry

Octopuses are a bit different to all other creatures on this list, mainly due to them not being mammals, but invertebrates, but do not let that affect your view on them. In fact, octopuses are by far the worlds smartest invertebrates, using their strangely shaped body to solve problems in unique ways. For example, an octopus can grip onto a jar and use its extremely flexible arms to open it so that it can eat the contents. This may not seem like it requires much intelligence, but an important point to remember is that jars are designed to be opened by hands with thumbs, something octopuses lack.

This is not the limit to their intelligence however, as mimic octopuses are able to successfully copy other animals to scare off other predators. This means that if they see a creature, they can adapt its body to match that other creature. This is a skill that requires both knowledge of their own body, but also the ability to learn what other creatures look like.

1 Rat Mazes

Everyone knows about rats in mazes, the classic experiment where you put some cheese at one end and the rat at the other and see if they can solve this, but did you know this shows quite a high level of intelligence? To do this, rats must process a large number of sensory cues and analyze their surroundings to make their way out of complex spaces. Even more amazing, like elephants, rats show altruism, helping other members of their species. So next time you see one, just remember it may be on its way to help a friend!

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