Gigglebit: carbon is a tramp (video)

18 Aug 2014

Still from 'That's Why Carbon Is A Tramp: Crash Course Biology #1' by CrashCourse on YouTube

Gigglebit is Siliconrepublic’s daily dose of the funny and fantastic in science and tech, to help start your day on a lighter note.

Like any sector, technology has a serious side, and it is often issues within this serious side that make headlines or that organisations need to explore for their business. Malware! Data breaches! Cloud storage! Do I really need this software? Which candidate has the best IT skills for this job? And what the heck is fog computing?

With Gigglebit, we turn the spotlight on humorous and/or amazing content about science and tech, because sometimes the lighter side should be taken seriously, too.

Today, we’d like to introduce you to CrashCourse, a YouTube channel offering rapid-fire educational monologues, one 15-minute jolt at a time.

Subjects range from world history and literature to ecology and biology and your brain is helped along this informative road by the fast-talking VlogBrothers (or Green brothers, if you want to use the family name): John, who’s currently best-known as the author of The Fault in Our Stars, and biochemist Hank, who stars in our selected video.

The video below is the first instalment in a crash course on biology, which starts with a chemistry lesson. Confused? You soon won’t be. Instead, you’ll have a new-found knowledge and respect for the atoms filling the world around you, a mad genius named Gilbert Lewis, and one particularly accommodating element.

Elaine Burke is the host of For Tech’s Sake, a co-production from Silicon Republic and The HeadStuff Podcast Network. She was previously the editor of Silicon Republic.

editorial@siliconrepublic.com