Best Explainer Articles & Videos on the web • Discoverology

Explainers

Read the best explainer articles from around the internet, or watch the most insightful explainer videos from platforms like Youtube, Vimeo or leading publishers like the BBC, New York Times and many others.

How '1917' Was Filmed To Look Like One Shot

How '1917' Was Filmed To Look Like One Shot

Explainers Media Videos

“1917” stars George MacKay, Dean-Charles Chapman, Colin Firth, and Benedict Cumberbatch and was filmed to look like one continuous shot. Cinematographer Roger Deakins explains how he and director Sam Mendes did it, from digging up a mile of trenches to attaching cameras to cranes and drones.

The 10/10/10 Rule For Tough Decisions

The 10/10/10 Rule For Tough Decisions

Business Explainers Life Psychology

It’s good to sleep on it when there are tough choices to make, but you also need a strategy once you wake up–which is why you should employ the 10/10/10 rule. How will we feel about it 10 minutes from now? How about 10 months from now? How about 10 years from now?

No, You Don’t Really Look Like That

No, You Don’t Really Look Like That

Explainers Tech

Every digital camera uses algorithms to transform the different wavelengths of light that hit its sensor into an actual image. What makes the iPhone XS’s skin-smoothing remarkable is that it is simply the default for the camera. Snap a selfie, and that’s what you get.

What Do Political Databases Know About You?

What Do Political Databases Know About You?

Explainers Politics

American citizens are inundated with political messages—on social networks, in their news feeds, through email, text messages, and phone calls. If you live in the US, you’re almost certainly being tracked by political organizations. They know a lot about you—but some data is just guesswork.

How We’ll Forget John Lennon

How We’ll Forget John Lennon

Explainers History Media Psychology

The report, “The universal decay of collective memory and attention,” concludes that people and things are kept alive through “oral communication” from about five to 30 years. They then pass into written and online records, where they experience a slower, longer decline.

How Your Diet Affects Your Mental Health

How Your Diet Affects Your Mental Health

Explainers Health Life Psychology

Active people tend to overthink what food is doing for their body—Is keto good for endurance? What’s the perfect post-training macro spread? Butter or no butter in my coffee?—but underthink what it’s doing for their mind. Yet you’ve probably noticed that what you eat impacts what’s going on upstairs.

What To Say To Someone Who Lost A Parent Or Loved One

What To Say To Someone Who Lost A Parent Or Loved One

Explainers Life

There are many potential answers but all are derivative of the same goal: communicating empathy and offering assistance, empathizing with what a person is going through, understanding what a person might need from you, and knowing how to phrase sentiments the right way.

Virginia Mori

Inspiration
Virginia Mori
What Happens To Your Body After You Die?

What Happens To Your Body After You Die?

Explainers Science Videos

Whatever your beliefs, most people seem to agree that the body left behind when we depart this mortal coil is just a heap of bones and flesh. Assuming that nature is left to its own devices, our bodies undergo a fairly standard process of decomposition that can take anywhere from two weeks to two years.

It’s Not You. Phones Are Designed To Be Addicting.

It’s Not You. Phones Are Designed To Be Addicting.

Apps Explainers Tech Videos

Today’s phones are hard to put down. Push notifications buzz in your pocket, red bubbles demand attention, and endless distractions sit at your fingertips. It can feel impossible to pull away from. The 3 design elements that make smartphones so hard to put down, explained by Google’s former design ethicist.

Why Caviar Is So Expensive

Why Caviar Is So Expensive

Explainers Food Videos

Caviar is one of the most expensive foods in the world. Selling for up to $35,000 per kilo, it’s revered and relished by aristocrats across the globe. But it’s an acquired taste. Turns out, caviar wasn’t always so valuable.

The Economic Failure Of Venezuela

The Economic Failure Of Venezuela

Economics Explainers Videos

In terms of countries that had it easy Venezuela by all counts should be at the top of the list, it is home to the largest oil deposits in the world, easily beating out the typical oil giants like Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and the United Arab eremites. But they squandered it.

Use A 'Fake' Location To Get Cheaper Plane Tickets

Use A 'Fake' Location To Get Cheaper Plane Tickets

Economics Explainers

I can’t explain airline pricing but I do know some plane tickets can be cheaper depending on where you buy them or, even better, where you appear to buy them from. This is all about leveraging foreign currencies and points-of-sale to your advantage.

Why Do So Many U.S. Cities Have Gridded Streets?

Why Do So Many U.S. Cities Have Gridded Streets?

Cities Explainers Videos

Many U.S. cities were founded with a street grid. Why? This video describes the historic factors that contributed to the adoption of a grid. This includes influential city designs from Versailles, London, Philadelphia, New York, Chicago, and Reno.

What Exactly Is A Milkshake IPA?

What Exactly Is A Milkshake IPA?

Explainers Food

The milkshake IPA takes the chewy softness typical of the hazy IPA to the extreme. The addition of unfermentable milk sugars (lactose) adds a pillowy creaminess to the mouthfeel in the hopes of creating a smooth, delightful drinking experience–similar to the sensation you’d expect in a milk stout.

Matt Rota

Inspiration
Matt Rota
Mystery Solved: We Now Know What's Going On In Area 51

Mystery Solved: We Now Know What's Going On In Area 51

Explainers

While fanciful stories of alien spaceships continue to captivate the public, as recent internet memes attest, there’s little doubt that Groom Lake’s actual activities are of considerable interest—sufficiently so that in April 2019 Russia even dispatched one of its treaty-authorized Tu-154M Open Skies surveillance planes to spy on the base.

The Forgotten History Of How Automakers Invented The Crime Of "Jaywalking"

The Forgotten History Of How Automakers Invented The Crime Of "Jaywalking"

Business Crime Explainers History

If there’s traffic in the area and you want to follow the law, you need to find a crosswalk. And if there’s a traffic light, you need to wait for it to change to green. Fail to do so, and you’re committing a crime: jaywalking. It’s the result of an aggressive, forgotten 1920s campaign led by auto groups and manufacturers.

How To Optimize Your Life

How To Optimize Your Life

Explainers Life Videos

You’ve only got — on average — 78.53 years on this planet, total. And you’re likely already spending a precious 5 hours each day on email, not to mention the time spent waiting in line or stuck in transit. But what if there were ways to make more time out of time?

What We Get Wrong About Time

What We Get Wrong About Time

Explainers Life Psychology

“Time” is the most frequently used noun in the English language. Most of us tend to think of time as linear, absolute and constantly “running out” – but is that really true? And how can we change our perceptions to feel better about its passing?

What Great Listeners Actually Do

What Great Listeners Actually Do

Explainers Life

Good listening is much more than being silent while the other person talks. To the contrary, people perceive the best listeners to be those who periodically ask questions that promote discovery and insight. These questions gently challenge old assumptions, but do so in a constructive way.

What Happened To MoviePass?

What Happened To MoviePass?

Business Explainers Videos

MoviePass tried to change the moviegoing experience altogether, with a simple idea. For a monthly fee, subscribers could go to the cinema once a day, every day. Ironically, too many subscribers would eventually be a bad thing. MoviePass went from being a hit to entirely collapsing, in just 3 days. How?

How To Borrow Natural Light

How To Borrow Natural Light

Architecture Explainers Videos

With an increasing focus on sustainable design practices, the smart use of natural daylight in our homes is no longer a luxury — it has become a necessity. At the heart of any good daylighting strategy is a concept of “borrowed” light: the capture of light falling on the exterior of a home and transporting it to the spaces where it’s needed.

Lifetime Free 1st Class Air Travel Pass: A Disaster

Lifetime Free 1st Class Air Travel Pass: A Disaster

Business Explainers Videos

In 1982, American Airlines had an idea to offer a lifetime free first-class air travel pass to its wealthiest customers. The person holding this pass could fly on American Airlines at any time it wanted, to any destination it wanted, for as many times it wanted, for the rest of its life after paying a one-time fixed membership fee.

Joseph Ford

Inspiration
Joseph Ford
The Economics Of Cruise Ships

The Economics Of Cruise Ships

Business Economics Explainers

For decades, cruise companies have gone to great lengths to bypass US employment laws, hiring foreign workers for less than $2/hour. They’ve sheltered themselves as foreign entities while simultaneously benefitting from US taxpayer-funded agencies and resources.

How To Explain Anything To Anyone

How To Explain Anything To Anyone

Explainers Life Psychology

You were talking about something relatively complex and you could practically see the moment that your listener checked out. Not only is it uncomfortable but it’s also disheartening when what you’re saying is important, cool or valuable to the listener. Here are 4 steps to clearer communication.

How To Be Productive According To Ancient Philosophy

How To Be Productive According To Ancient Philosophy

Explainers Life Psychology

Productivity has been a topic of discussion ever since ancient eastern and western philosophy started. It’s a universal theme. I believe it’s in our nature to make better use of our time. Let’s start by learning the following 7 productivity lessons from the most well-known philosophers in history.

How Political Opinions Change

How Political Opinions Change

Explainers Politics Psychology Science

A powerful shaping factor about our social and political worlds is how they are structured by group belonging and identities. For instance, researchers have found that moral and emotion messages on contentious political topics, such as gun-control and climate change, spread more rapidly within rather than between ideologically like-minded networks.

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