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SciShow is good people making science content aimed at a general audience.
In addition to SciShow, PBS Eons is a good watch. Shout out to The Octopus Lady and The Monterey Bay Aquarium as well!
Simone Giertz
That link format is unfortunate because Lemmy thinks you're trying to link to a /c/ community.
This should work: https://www.youtube.com/@simonegiertz
Both work the same on Voyager/GrayJay
The queen of shitty robots!
Her new brand is more product design and inovation focused, but its all amazing (plus, Scrapps is adorable).
In addition to the others mentioned.
Kyle Hill
Steve Mould
Physics Girl
The Action Lab
Anton Petrov
Scott Manley
Veritasium
Minute Earth
Minute Physics
VSauce
SciShow
Hank Green
Cleo Abram
Hannah Fry is great too. Becky Smethurst as well.
I approve of your list but Anton Petrov is a bit much for a 12 year old, I think. Kyle Hill gets a bit dark for a 12 year old sometimes.
It certainly doesn't hurt to just start off on the right foot with Carl Sagan and Cosmos.
Ha, yeah. That’s true about some of those channels. Kinda forgot about the age aspect. Like a lot of Simone’s videos have a bit of language, though she is awesome. I see her as far more as a maker than a science communicator. Not entirely sure why she was suggested a couple of times.
God I can't stand Veritasium. Even the name is so fucking pretentious. Dude is in deep love with himself, I can't watch it. There's just something about narcissists, I get an allergic reaction listening to them.
I can see that. I, like you, appreciate the content, but I have found myself watching fewer of his videos. I guess that’s also because he seems to be farming out his content production now. I like the self-produced stuff more than larger-scale productions.
I'm shocked I'm not alone, I was prepared to endure the downvote enema, good to know I'm not way off in my judgment at least.
God I can’t stand Veritasium. Even the name is so fucking pretentious. Dude is in deep love with himself, I can’t watch it. There’s just something about narcissists, I get an allergic reaction listening to them.
Just call him Dirk instead, he makes good videos.
Yes yes I know, I like the content. I just can't stand him as a person. That's on me. I was brought up by narcissists so I have this spider sense about it and I get a visceral reaction.
Very Michigan-centric, but Alexis Dahl is wonderful, meshing history and science.
Some of those I wouldn't exactly trust as they're going to be mostly pushing agendas from the private equity firms that own them, eg. like Veritasium.
I have noticed that his videos over the last couple of years have bumped production quality but felt flat. I honestly only really enjoy his early stuff. How hipster-esque lame is that?
I have blocked a few that I don’t even remember the names of because sponsorships start polluting the content.
I try to take the content for what it’s worth and consider why they are producing the content/message. Starts sounding (externally) commercial, I generally stop watching. Some of these I haven’t watched recently, so I hope they are keeping it real for the most part. I partially blame the platform as well because it doesn’t pay to make the content like it used to. YouTube is pretty crap now for content creators in this genre
I'd recommend NileRed and NileBlue, if only some of his vids didn't involve things that would be seriously harmful for kids to mess with and that clearly are meant for adults learning chemistry to mess with, eg. like boiling sulfuric acid to purify it, which of course if that gets out of control, you got a massive disaster and easily severe skin burns, for example.
Otherwise, there should be plenty of science communicators which aren't sellouts that are also age-appropriate for kids to be following along with.
Technically more of an engineering / maker channel, but Xyla Foxlin is great. She does occasionally swear, but a 12 year old has probably heard those words before. Yeetmas, where she launches a Christmas tree rocket, would be a good place to start. (Not a Christmas tree themed rocket, a decorated pine tree on top rocket motor as long as your arm.)
Vi Hart is great. She hasn't made videos in a long while but her old ones are still around.
Snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake snake
Triangle
Since I didn't see many creators who are women, here are a few recommendations:
The Space Gal (Emily Calandrelli)
Emily the Engineer (content can be pretty rough - profanity and simulated danger)
Sometimes, I think science educators aren't political enough.
Cleo Abram's interviews with Nvidia's CEO, Zuck and Sam Altman are her only interviews to date, and they all paint them in a good light without being critical of their work. I get wanting to make it to the top, but simping for the capitalist elite is just not a good look in my book, especially when science communication should try to minimize bias.
I also remember her video about John Deere last year, giving the impression the company is only doing so much good in the world...
Yeah, she’s been doing more sponsored content lately, it seems like.
Yeah, she has faced a lot of criticism in the last few years; some of it undeserved, some entirely deserved.
Maybe NOVA?
pbs.org/nova
youtube/@novapbs
They cover a wide range of topics, show professionals at work & explaining their work (glimpsing a life/work of an actual scientists).
Also good for having a sense of the context the modern irl world exists in, not just the here & now of personal bubble experiences.
Lots of good channel suggestions.
But I would also nominate COSMOS.
Both the original hosted by Carl Sagan, and the new series with Neil deGrasse Tyson.
For me, they brought the epicness of reality, scientific history, and the vastness of the universe, into focus in a way nothing else did.
They made me feel a hopeful and powerful "humanity is fucking AWESOME, and can do INCREDIBLE things". It's not just informative. It lights a fire in you for the way humanity fights its way through the dark, using the scientific method as our guide.
Hank Green’s stuff?
Hank Green good.
Physics girl on YouTube, even though she hasn't made any content anymore for years due to long term Covid, she's still recovering, but her videos were always very inspiring, very happy and curiosity inducing
It’s not flashy but there’s plenty of great Richard Feynman lectures on yt. No one better at communicating science and math imo.
You're going to park a 12 year old in front of a Feynman lecture? Good luck with retention of the material.
Dr Becky (aka Dr Rebecca Smethurst) for Astrophysics / Space news.
Any of the channels run by Brady Haran like Numberphile and Periodic Videos.
Most of my other picks have been mentioned already or else lean into spectacle which might not be appreciated by a 12-year-old girl. (Quite a few of the chemistry channels I watch are like this. In order of decreasing silliness: Nile Blue / Nile Red, Labcoatz, Amateur Chemistry, Chemical Force... Actually CF is pretty good by comparison.)
But I'm not you or your daughter. Check them out anyway and see if either of you likes what you see.
Technology Connections
Periodic Videos
Computerphile
One Blue Three Brown
MinutePhysics
Kurgezagt (probably misspelled it, search for in a nutshell)
in german the z and s sounds are switched. and you missed the actual z. its Kurzgesagt (from the word "Kurz" (short) and the 3. person singular perfect of the verb "sagen" (to say), "gesagt" (said)).
(sorry but i couldn't not correct you and explain where the word came from)
If we're being pedantic (which I'm all for), the sounds aren't switched 1:1 exactly.
German z is usually a ts sound, like the tz in hertz.
German s is indeed commonly the same bu**zzing sound as English z (but it can also be a sharp hiss**ing **s**ound).
An approximation might be [koorts guh zaakt].
SciShow, PBS channels in general (although PBS Space Time might be too advanced for 12y old), anything with Hank Green
Edit: And of course Kurzgesagt
I really like physicist Dr. Angela Collier. Not all of her videos are about science, but at least the plurality are. Her videos are generally pretty casual, and she doesn't really script.
I also really like Practical Engineering for civil engineering stuff.
Dr Karl from Australia. has a weekly podcast/radio segment (Science with Dr Karl) on Triple J and has published a million books. He wears loud shirts and can be quite interesting to listen to.
He has been doing this for more than 25+ years... he'll also give a talk to your child's class anywhere in the world if you ask him
this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2026
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