Ones to Watch: Infotainment and three innovative creators educating us online

Curated by Megan Collins, Cultural Anthropologist, Generational Expert and contributor to the MTD blog.

School may be out for summer but that doesn’t mean that learning stops. In fact, we’re seeing large companies like Discovery and TikTok continue to invest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, math)-based “edutainment.” Earlier this year, TikTok launched a dedicated STEM feed emphasizing their investment in the space. They promised that the feed is “a new viewing experience that will give our community a dedicated space to explore a wide range of inspiring, entertaining, and enriching videos related to science, technology, engineering, and math.”

In 2023, screentime is a necessary part of the schooling experience whether that’s through remote learning or encouraging educational content or taking a page out of Ms. Rachel’s book and prioritizing “good screen time” over junk or nonsense content.

We’re highlighting 3 that we love for their innovation and making topics that could feel unapproachable fun & watchable.

Mark Rober 

A YouTuber re-engineering edutainment

Longtime YouTuber, former NASA Engineer, and Apple collaborator Mark Rober is one of the beacons of the STEM community online. He has over 24 million followers on YouTube where he conducts experiments and engineers niche objects like an impossible to hit baseball and porch-pirate-thwarting glitter bombs. The YouTuber has recently partnered with Discovery Channel on a TV, Revengineers. Meanwhile his engineering subscription box company Crunch Labs, is hosting a weekly virtual summer camp for “the least boring summer ever.” Mark, is an exemplary creator continuing to find success through authentic brand building. 

Casual Geographic

Fun animal facts that live up to their name

Animal content is an internet staple and Mamadou Ndiaye (aka Casual Geographic) is the current king of animal facts. With 2.93M subscribers on YouTube and a whopping 15.9M on TikTok he highlights interesting facts through quick hit videos. One minute he’s telling you about an Australian Hawke that uses fire to catch it’s prey the next explaining why it’s a bad idea to beef with a scorpion. Last year, the hobbyist zoologist released an book bearing his distinct internet tinge sense of humor: 100 Animals That Can F*cking End You. Blending added educational value with humor, he’s connecting to the extremely online & the extremely curious. 

Sinead Bovell

The futurist who helps me make sense of AI

Sinead is a Futurist specializing in technology. The former model has made a name for herself on TikTok (@sineadbovell) amassing 281k followers. She’s given a Ted Talk, contributed to magazines like Vogue, and appeared on TV networks such as CNN to explain potentially difficult to grasp concepts. Recently, her insights and updates have been especially helpful in keeping up with the ever-changing world of social media and technology’s next frontier, AI. I highly recommend following her for a nuanced and humanistic perspective on the latest in AI.