

Kurzgesagt (German for "in a nutshell") is a Munich based design studio with a distinctive perspective on design and animation within the fields of education, science and commerce. Founded in 2012 by Philipp Dettmer & Stephan Rether, the studio engages in information design projects of all kinds. We love science, minimalism, colors and music. But most of all combining them to tell stories.

Kurzgesagt (German for "in a nutshell") is a Munich based design studio with a distinctive perspective on design and animation within the fields of education, science and commerce. Founded in 2012 by Philipp Dettmer & Stephan Rether, the studio engages in information design projects of all kinds. We love science, minimalism, colors and music. But most of all combining them to tell stories.
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E1 · How Evolution Works
The mechanisms of evolution explained in one video. The theory of evolution explains how the enormous variety of life could come into existence. How it is possible for primitive life forms to spawn th…
E2 · The Solar System — Our Home in Space
An info-graphic trip through the wonders of the Solar system.
E3 · Fracking Explained: Opportunity or Danger
Fracking explained in five minutes.
E4 · The Gulf Stream Explained
Learn about the role of the sea in global warming.
E5 · How the Stock Exchange Works (For Dummies)
Why are there stocks at all?
E6 · The History and Future of Everything — Time
How much time do you have left?
E1 · Three Ways to Destroy the Universe
How will the Universe die?
E2 · The Beginning of Everything — The Big Bang
How did everything get started?
E3 · Who Invented the Internet? And Why?
Nuclear war, cat gifs and reddit? Wait, what?
E4 · How Big Is the Moon? (MM#1)
The Moon might be much bigger than you think it is.
E5 · The Moons of Mars Explained — Phobos & Deimos (MM#2)
What do you know about the Moons of Mars? Nothing? They are super cool (and strange), promise.
E6 · How to Catch a Dwarf Planet — Triton (MM#3)
If Neptune didn't catch Triton we might have another Dwarf Planet in our Solar system -- maybe even another Planet or double system. We show how this could have happened.
E7 · Are You Alone? (In the Universe)
Are you alone? To answer this question we have to take a look what "you" are first. What are you made of and where you stand in this universe. Are you your body? Your atoms? And how are your parts con…
E8 · Iraq Explained — ISIS, Syria and War
The current crisis in Iraq explained in under 5 minutes.
E9 · The Immune System Explained I — Bacteria Infection
Every second of your life you are under attack. Bacteria, viruses, spores and more living stuff wants to enter your body and use its resources for itself. The immune system is a powerful army of cells…
E10 · Everything You Need to Know About Planet Earth
Planet Earth is this solid thing you are standing on right now. In your everyday life you don't really waste a thought about how amazing this is. A giant, ancient, hot rock. How did it come into exist…
E11 · Atoms as Big as Mountains — Neutron Stars Explained
Neutron stars are some of the strangest things in the Universe. Not quite massive enough to become black holes they are basically atoms as big as mountains, with properties so extreme it's mind-blowin…
E12 · Is War Over? — A Paradox Explained
We live in the most peaceful time in human history. Wait, what? Seriously? That can't be right, there are more wars than ever! Well, no and they're killing fewer and fewer people, even though the worl…
E13 · The Ebola Virus Explained — How Your Body Fights for Survival
What does the Ebola virus actually do in your body? Why is it so dangerous and why does it kill so many people? We take a look at the apocalyptic war that rages in the body after an infection by the E…
E14 · What Is Life? Is Death Real?
So what is the difference between you and a rock? This seems like an easy, even stupid question. But even the smartest people on Earth have no idea where to draw the line between living and dead thing…
E15 · The Ultimate Conspiracy Debunker
Most Conspiracy Theories are stupid. By the power of the internet they spread like wildfire and often poison discussions. But there is hope – we developed a way to debunk conspiracies in just a few se…
E1 · How Small Is an Atom? (Spoiler: Very Small)
Atoms are very weird. Wrapping your head around exactly how weird, is close to impossible – how can you describe something that is SO removed from humans experience? But then again, they kind of make …
E2 · Measles Explained — Vaccinate or Not?
Everybody is talking about Measles – but what does the virus actually do in the body? Is it really so harmful that you need a vaccination? We go deep into the body of an infected person and see what M…
E3 · Banking Explained — Money and Credit
Banks are a riddle wrapped up in an enigma. We all kind of know that they do stuff with money we don’t understand, while the last crisis left a feeling of deep mistrust and confusion. We try to shed a…
E4 · Nuclear Energy Explained: How Does It Work? (1/3)
Nuclear Energy is a controversial subject. The pro- and anti-nuclear lobbies fight furiously, and it's difficult to decide who is right. So we're trying to clear up the issue - in this video we discus…
E5 · 3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Terrible! (2/3)
Nuclear energy might be a failed experiment. In over sixty years the technology has not only failed to keep its promise of cheap, clean and safe energy, it also caused major catastrophes and enabled m…
E6 · 3 Reasons Why Nuclear Energy Is Awesome! (3/3)
Nuclear energy might have a lot of unused potential. Not only is it one of the best mid term solutions for global warming bit despite what gut feeling tells us, it has saved millions of lives. By inve…
E7 · The Fermi Paradox — Where Are All the Aliens?
The universe is unbelievably big – trillions of stars and even more planets. So… there just has to be life out there, right? But where is it? Why don’t we see any aliens? Where are they? And more impo…
E8 · The Fermi Paradox II — Solutions and Ideas
Where are all the aliens? The universe is too big and too old, why have we not met aliens yet? Do they live in computers? Were they wiped out by an ancient super intelligence? Or are we just to primit…
E9 · The Death of Bees Explained — Parasites, Poison and Humans
In 2015 the bees are still dying in masses. Which at first seems not very important until you realize that one third of all food humans consume would disappear with them. Millions could starve. The fo…
E10 · What if There Was a Black Hole in Your Pocket?
What would happen to you if a black hole the size of a coin suddenly appeared in your pocket? Lets find out!
E11 · What Is Dark Matter and Dark Energy?
What is dark energy? What is dark matter? Well, if we knew exactly we would have a nobel prize – we know that they exist though. So what do we know about those strange things?
E12 · The European Refugee Crisis and Syria Explained
E13 · Addiction
What causes addiction? Easy, right? Drugs cause addiction. But maybe it is not that simple.
E14 · What Is Light?
We are so used to some things that we stopped wondering about them. Like light. What is light? Some kind of wavy thing, right? Kind of.
Facebook just announced 8 billion video views per day. This number is made out of lies, cheating and worst of all: theft. All of this is wildly known but the media giant Facebook is pretending everyth…
Where are the limits of human technology? And can we somehow avoid them? This is where quantum computers become very interesting.
Black holes. Lets talk about them.
E18 · What Is Something?
What is something? On the most fundamental level thinkable, what are things? Why are things? And why do things behave the way they do?
E1 · The Last Star in the Universe — Red Dwarfs Explained
The last star in the universe will be a red dwarf. Red dwarfs in general might be great places to look for aliens – or planets for humans to find a new home after our solar system has died.
E2 · Why the War on Drugs Is a Huge Failure
The war against drugs has been a terrible disaster for everybody involved. Why? And can we do something differently?
E3 · The Antibiotic Apocalypse Explained
What is the Antibiotic Apocalypse? What is it all about? And how dangerous is it?
So. Space elevators. Are they are thing that we should talk about?
Is there a border we will never cross? Are there places we will never be able to reach, no matter what? It turns out there are. Far, far more than you might have thought…
E7 · What Are You?
So. Are you your body? And if so, how exactly does this work? Lets explore lots of confusing questions.
E8 · What Happened Before History? Human Origins
Humans. We have been around for a while now. When we think about our past we think about ancient civilizations, the pyramids, stuff like that. But this is only a tiny, tiny part of our history.
E9 · Death From Space — Gamma-Ray Bursts Explained
There are cosmic snipers firing at random into the unvierse. What are they and what happens if they hit us?
E10 · Genetic Engineering Will Change Everything Forever — CRISPR
Designer babies, the end of diseases, genetically modified humans that never age. Outrageous things that used to be science fiction are suddenly becoming reality. The only thing we know for sure is th…
We have the choice to attack one of our oldest enemies with genetic engineering. But should we do it?
E12 · The Most Efficient Way to Destroy the Universe — False Vacuum
What if there is a way to destroy the universe so fundamentally that life as we know it will be impossible forever?
E13 · Fusion Energy Explained — Future or Failure
How does fusion energy work and is it a good idea?
E14 · The Most Gruesome Parasites — Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs)
There are a group of parasites extremely disgusting and mean. Humanity declared war on them.
E15 · A New History for Humanity — The Human Era
It is time to reframe how we think about our past. We need a new year 0 for humanity. But which one should we choose and why?
E16 · Overpopulation — The Human Explosion Explained
In a very short amount of time the human population exploded and is still growing very fast. Will this lead to the end of our civilization?
E1 · Why Earth Is a Prison and How to Escape It
We are trapped on Earth. Controlled by an ancient debt to the universe...
E2 · Do Robots Deserve Rights? What If Machines Become Conscious?
What shall we do once machines become conscious? Do we need to grant them rights?
E3 · Are GMOs Good or Bad? Genetic Engineering & Our Food
Are GMOs bad for your health? Or is this fear unfounded?
E4 · Is the European Union Worth It or Should We End It?
Should we double down or give up and go our separate ways?
E5 · The Last Light Before Eternal Darkness — White Dwarfs & Black Dwarfs
Everything will end. Even the universe. But in a future so far away that it defies description, there will still be light and therefore a chance for life. It will be around white dwarfs, the corpses o…
Automation in the Information Age is different.
E7 · Optimistic Nihilism
E8 · What Happens If We Throw an Elephant From a Skyscraper? (The Size of Life #1)
Size is the most under appreciated regulator of living things. Let us demonstrate that by throwing animals from buildings.
E9 · Why Black Holes Could Delete the Universe — The Information Paradox
Black holes are scary things. But they also might reveal the true nature of the universe to us.
What happens if we bring the sun to earth? No, seriously.
E12 · How Bacteria Rule Over Your Body — The Microbiome
What happens when microbes talk to your brain?
E13 · Why Age? Should We End Aging Forever?
If you could decide today... how long do you want to live?
E14 · How to Cure Aging — During Your Lifetime?
What if we could stop aging forever?
E15 · Emergence — How Stupid Things Become Smart Together
How can many stupid things combine to form smart things? How can proteins become living cells? How become lots of ants a colony? What is emergence?
E16 · Universal Basic Income Explained — Free Money for Everybody?
What is UBI? How would free money change our lives.
E17 · How to Make an Elephant Explode (The Size of Life #2)
E1 · Why Alien Life Would Be Our Doom — The Great Filter
Finding alien life on a distant planet would be amazing news - or would it? If we are not the only intelligent life in the universe, this probably means our days are numbered and doom is certain.
E2 · Homeopathy Explained — Gentle Healing or Reckless Fraud?
What are the principles behind Homeopathy and does it work?
E3 · String Theory Explained — What Is the True Nature of Reality?
Is String Theory the final solution for all of physic’s questions or an over-hyped dead end?
E4 · A Selfish Argument for Making the World a Better Place — Egoistic Altruism
Why should you care about the well-being of people half a globe away?
E5 · Time: The History & Future of Everything — Remastered
E6 · The Black Hole Bomb and Black Hole Civilizations
E7 · The Deadliest Being on Planet Earth — The Bacteriophage
A war has been raging for billions of years, killing trillions every single day, while we don’t even notice. This war involves the single deadliest being on our planet: the bacteriophage.
E8 · 3 Arguments Why Marijuana Should Stay Illegal Reviewed
We take a fair look at some of the best counter arguments for legalization and see how they hold up in review.
E9 · Plastic Pollution: How Humans Are Turning the World Into Plastic
Modern life would be impossible without plastic – but we have long since lost control over our invention. Why has plastic turned into a problem and what do we know about its dangers?
E10 · What If You Detonated a Nuclear Bomb in the Marianas Trench? (Science, Not Fantasy)
Did you ever wonder what happened if you detonated a nuclear bomb in the Marianas Trench? No? We neither! Let us find out together!
E11 · Wormholes Explained — Breaking Spacetime
Are wormholes real or are they just magic disguised as physics and maths? And if they are real how do they work and where can we find them?
E12 · How We Could Build a Moon Base TODAY (Space Colonization #1)
Did you know that we could start building a Lunar Base today?
E13 · Why Meat Is the Best Worst Thing in the World
Meat is a complicated issue. But also a delicious one. Let's talk about it.
E14 · Why Beautiful Things Make Us Happy — Beauty Explained
It’s hard to define what makes something beautiful, but we seem to know beauty when we see it. Why is that and how does beauty affect our subconscious?
E15 · End of Space — Creating a Prison for Humanity
Space travel is the most exciting adventure for humanity, but in an irony of history we may stop ourselves from going into space the more we do it. With every rocket launched we are creating a deadly …
E16 · How to Build a Dyson Sphere — The Ultimate Megastructure
If humans want to expand into space, it will take us incredible amounts of energy. How do we do that? Easy: we will just use the sun’s energy by realizing the most ambitious construction project in hi…
E17 · Aliens Under the Ice — Life on Rogue Planets
Out in the vast coldness of outer space, there are planets that travel alone through darkness without the boundaries of a system. Here’s how this can happen – and why these frozen deserts might secret…
E18 · Episode 18
E1 · Is Organic Really Better? Healthy Food or Trendy Scam?
Organic food is a huge trend: it promises a healthier and better life. But can Organic food really live up to the expectations or is it just baloney?
E2 · Building a Mars Base Is a Horrible Idea: Let’s Do It!
Humans love to explore. Strangely enough even horrible places – like Mars. Let’s see how building a Mars base could work and how insanely nerve-wracking exactly it would be.
E3 · Loneliness
Everybody feels lonely sometimes. But only few of us are aware how important this feeling was for our ancestors - and that our modern world can turn it into something that really hurts us. Why do we f…
E4 · The Origin of Consciousness — How Unaware Things Became Aware
Consciousness is perhaps the biggest riddle in nature. In the first part of this three part video series, we explore the origins of consciousness and take a closer look on how unaware things became aw…
E5 · What If We Detonated All Nuclear Bombs at Once?
What happens if make a huge pile from all 15,000 nuclear bombs and pull the trigger? And what happens if we make an even bigger pile?
E6 · The Most Dangerous Stuff in the Universe — Strange Stars Explained
Inside neutron stars we can find the weirdest and most dangerous substance in the universe: Strange matter. What is strange matter, how dangerous is it and what can it tell us about the origin of the …
E7 · The Side Effects of Vaccines — How High Is the Risk?
Vaccines are one of our best tools to prevent dangerous diseases, but they come with side effects. So would it be safer not to vaccinate?
E8 · Is the EU Democratic? Does Your Vote Matter?
Being a citizen of the European Union means that many aspects of our lives are regulated by a weird entity. It feels like a huge bureaucracy is making decisions over our heads. How democratic is the E…
E9 · Is Meat Bad for You? Is Meat Unhealthy?
Over the last few years eating meat has increasingly been associated with health risks, like heart disease, cancer and an early death. How unhealthy is meat really?
E10 · Could Your Phone Hurt You? Electromagnetic Pollution
Electricity is all around us, all the time. It makes our lives easier, safer, more fun and most of us never think about it. But is there such a thing as too much electricity? Electronic devices emit a…
E11 · Tiny Bombs in Your Blood — The Complement System
One of the key players of our immune system is the complement system. An army of millions and trillions of tiny bombs, which work together in a complex and elegant dance to stop intruders in your body…
E12 · The World War of the Ants — The Army Ant
Every day billions of soldiers fight a merciless war on thousands of fronts, that has been going on for over one hundred million years: the world war of the ants.
E13 · The Egg — A Short Story
The Egg, a story by Andy Weir, animated by Kurzgesagt. This video was more than 2 years in the making and is a little bit different than the others on this channel. We hope you like it.
E14 · What’s Hiding at the Most Solitary Place on Earth? The Deep Sea
Sometimes the world feels boring. All the remote islands are visited, the arctic conquered, the dense jungles discovered. Except, there is still a place to explore: A wet deadly desert where mysteriou…
E15 · The Billion Ant Mega Colony and the Biggest War on Earth
In nearly every corner of the Earth, ants wage war against each other. Their weapons are what nature gave them. Some have strong armour, deadly stingers or sharp mandibles. And then there is this tiny…
E16 · What If We Nuke a City?
As you may have noticed, we like to blow stuff up on this channel. So when the International Red Cross approached us to collaborate on a video about nuclear weapons, we were more than excited. Until w…
E17 · Neutron Stars — The Most Extreme Things That Are Not Black Holes
Neutron stars are one of the most extreme and violent things in the universe. Giant atomic nuclei, only a few kilometers in diameter but as massive as stars. And they owe their existence to the death …
E18 · 1,000 km Cable to the Stars — The Skyhook
Getting to space is incredibly hard, expensive and needs a lot of resources. A more efficient way to get there is a Skyhook (or Spacetether), an ever rotating cable with a counter weight, that catapul…
E19 · An Antidote to Dissatisfaction
Everybody is familiar with the feeling that things are not as they should be. That you are not successful enough, your relationships not satisfying enough. That you don’t have the things you crave. In…
For most of our history, the human population grew slowly. Until new discoveries brought us more food and made us live longer. In just a hundred years the human population quadrupled. This led to apoc…
E21 · How to Move the Sun: Stellar Engines
Nothing in the Universe is static. In the milky way, billions of stars orbit the galactic center. Some, like our sun, are pretty consistent, keeping a distance of around 30,000 light years from the ga…
Over the last decade milk has become a bit controversial. Some people say it’s a necessary and nutritious food, vital for healthy bones, but others say it can cause cancer and lead to an early death. …
For years, you have been asking us how we make our videos. So let’s finally talk about it! From research, writing the script, illustrating, to animating, narrating and composing music, a Kurzgesagt vi…
E3 · Why Blue Whales Don't Get Cancer - Peto's Paradox
Cancer is a creepy and mysterious thing. While we tried to understand it, to get better at killing it, we discovered a biological paradox that remains unsolved to this day: large animals seem to be im…
E4 · The Coronavirus Explained & What You Should Do
A huge thanks to the experts who helped us on short notice with the video. Especially “Our World in Data”, the online publication for research and data on the world’s largest problems – and how to mak…
E5 · Why Are You Alive – Life, Energy & ATP
At this very second, you are on a narrow ledge between life and death. You probably don’t feel it, but there is an incredible amount of activity going on inside you. And this activity can never stop. …
In September of 1940, an 18-year-old mechanic named Marcel Ravidat was walking his dog, Robot, in the countryside of Southwestern France when the dog disappeared down a hole. Robot eventually returned…
E7 · Could Solar Storms Destroy Civilization? Solar Flares & Coronal Mass Ejections
The sun. Smooth and round and peaceful. Except when it suddenly vomits radiation and plasma in random directions. These solar flares and coronal mass ejections, or CMEs can hit earth and have serious …
Since the Industrial Revolution, humans have released over 1.5 trillion tonnes of carbon dioxide or CO2 into the earth's atmosphere. In the year 2019 we were still pumping out around 37 billion more. …
E9 · What Is Intelligence? Where Does it Begin?
Humans are proud of a lot of things, from particle accelerators, to poetry to pokemon. All of them made possible because of something humans value extremely highly: intelligence.
E10 · What Do Alien Civilizations Look Like? The Kardashev Scale
The observable universe is a big place that has been around for more than 13 billion years. Up to two trillion galaxies made up of something like 20,000 billion billion stars surround our home galaxy.…
E11 · Unlimited Resources From Space – Asteroid Mining
Getting rare materials from the ground into your phone is ugly. The mining industry is responsible for air and water pollution and the destruction of entire landscapes. But what if we could replace th…
E12 · The Warrior Kingdoms of the Weaver Ant
Deep in tropical jungles lie floating kingdoms ruled by beautiful and deadly masters: They are sort of the high elves of the ant kingdoms: Talented architects that create castles and city states. But …
E13 · The Largest Star in the Universe – Size Comparison
What is the largest star in the Universe? And why is it that large? And what ARE stars anyway?
Climate Change is just too much. There is never any good news. Only graphs that get more and more red and angry. Almost every year breaks some horrible record, from the harshest heat waves to the most…
E15 · When Time Became History - The Human Era
For the fifth time, we present to you the Human Era Calendar for the year 12,021 – this time it is all about the journey of humanity, beginning tens of thousands of years ago, leading into the revolut…
E16 · Geoengineering: A Horrible Idea We Might Have to Do
By the end of the 21st century, humanity is becoming desperate. Decades of heatwaves and droughts have led to unusually poor harvests, while the warming oceans yield fewer fish each year. In the tropi…
E17 · How Large Can a Bacteria get? Life & Size 3
In and out, in and out. Staying alive is about doing things. This very second, your cells are combusting glucose molecules with oxygen to make energy available, which keeps you alive for another preci…
E18 · What If Earth got Kicked Out of the Solar System? Rogue Earth
The night sky seems peaceful and orderly. But in reality, stars are careening through the galaxy at speeds of hundreds of thousands of kilometres per hour. Not bound by static formations but changing …
E19 · Can You Upload Your Mind & Live Forever?
The desire to be free from the limits of the human experience is as old as our first stories. We exist in an endless universe, only bound by the laws of physics and yet, our consciousness is trapped i…
E20 · What if We Nuke the Moon?
What would happen if we were to detonate a very very powerful nuclear weapon on the moon? Would the explosion knock its orbit towards earth, causing tidal waves and misery? Could the moon be destroyed…
E1 · How Many People Did Nuclear Energy Kill? Nuclear Death Toll
Nuclear energy creates an uneasy feeling of danger for many people: ancient and dangerous minerals are concentrated to awaken seemingly unnatural powers, creating toxic elements that, if they escape, …
E2 · What if the World turned to Gold? - The Gold Apocalypse
Let us explore the scientific mystery of what would happen to you, if Earth suddenly turned into gold! The “Midaspocalypse”, based on the ancient tale of King Midas who was cursed so everything he tou…
E3 · Do we Need Nuclear Energy to Stop Climate Change?
Do we need nuclear energy to stop climate change? More and more voices from science, environmental activists and the press have been saying so in recent years – but this comes as a shock to those who …
E4 · The Ultimate Guide to Black Holes
What would happen if we were to detonate a very very powerful nuclear weapon on the moon? Would the explosion knock its orbit towards earth, causing tidal waves and misery? Could the moon be destroye…
E5 · TRUE Limits Of Humanity – The Final Border We Will Never Cross
Is there a border we will never cross? Are there places we will never reach, no matter how hard we try? It turns out, there are. Even with sci-fi technology, we are trapped in a limited pocket of the …
E6 · What Are You Doing With Your Life? The Tail End
Wrapping your mind around your life is pretty hard, because you are up to your neck in it. It's like trying to understand the ocean while learning how to swim. On most days you are busy just keeping y…
E7 · The Day the Dinosaurs Died – Minute by Minute
66 million years ago, maybe on a Tuesday afternoon, life was the same as it had been the day before or a thousand years before or pretty much a million years before. Things were good for our feathered…
E8 · How To Terraform Venus (Quickly)
Leaving earth to find new homes in space is an old dream of humanity and will sooner or later be necessary for our survival. The planet that gets the most attention is Mars, a small, toxic and energy …
E9 · The Largest Black Hole in the Universe - Size Comparison
The largest things in the universe are black holes. In contrast to things like planets or stars they have no physical size limit, and can literally grow endlessly. Although in reality specific things …
E10 · How The Immune System ACTUALLY Works – IMMUNE
The human immune system is the most complex biological system we know, after the human brain, and yet, most of us never learn how it works. Or what it is. Your immune System consists of hundreds of ti…
E11 · This Virus Shouldn't Exist (But it Does)
Hidden in the microverse all around you, there is a merciless war being fought by the true rulers of this planet, microorganisms. Amoebae, protists, bacteria, archaea and fungi compete for resources a…
E12 · Can YOU Fix Climate Change?
Never before in human history have we been richer, more advanced or powerful. And yet we feel overwhelmed in the face of rapid climate change. It seems simple on the surface. Greenhouse gases trap ene…
E13 · What Dinosaurs ACTUALLY Looked Like?
The past is a vast and mysterious land that begins at the big bang and ends in the present, expanding with each passing moment. It is the home of everything that came before, the key to understanding …
E14 · You Are Immune Against Every Disease
You are not a person, you are a planet, made of roughly 40 trillion cells. There is so much of you, that if your cells were human-sized, you would be as big as 20 Mount Everests. For your creepy-craw…
E15 · Is Meat Really that Bad?
Food is arguably the best thing about being alive. No other bodily pleasure is enjoyed multiple times every day and never gets old. It is an expression of culture, our parents' love and a means of cel…
E16 · ...And We'll Do it Again
Kurzgesagt is lying to you, in every video, even in this one. Because our videos distill very complex subjects into flashy ten minute videos and unfortunately, reality is, well, complicated. The quest…
E17 · Why We Should NOT Look For Aliens - The Dark Forest
The Universe is incredibly big and seems full of potential for life, with billions of habitable planets. If an advanced civilization had the technology to travel between the stars, at just 0.1% of the…
E1 · What Happens if the Moon Crashes into Earth?
Today we are answering an age-old very scientific and important question: What if the moon crashes into earth? It’s more interesting and weird than you probably think. Let's start with the basics: Why…
E2 · Are There Lost Alien Civilizations in Our Past?
When we think about alien civilizations we tend to look into the vastness of space, to far away planets. But there is another incredibly vast dimension that we might be giving too little thought to: t…
E3 · We WILL Fix Climate Change!
Our home is burning. Rapid climate change is destabilizing our world. It seems our emissions will not fall quickly enough to avoid runaway warming and we may soon hit tipping points that will lead to …
E4 · The Most Horrible Parasite: Brain Eating Amoeba
A war has been going on for billions of years that breeds well armed monsters who struggle with other monsters for survival. Having no particular interest in us, most of them are relatively harmless, …
E5 · You Are Not Where You Think You Are
Look around you. Where are you? Where is this place you are occupying? Somewhere in a room, maybe in a city on a continent on a planet orbiting a star in a galaxy among billions. But… where is all of …
E6 · Change Your Life - One Tiny Step at a Time
If you are like most people, there is a gap between the person you are and the person you wish to be. There are little things you think you should do and big things you ought to achieve.
E7 · The Last Human - A Glimpse Into The Far Future
The future of humanity seems insecure. Rapid climate change, political division, our greed and failings make it hard to look at our species with a lot of optimism and so many people think our end is i…
E8 · The Deadliest Virus on Earth
In the 1970s thousands of Chickenheads rained from the sky in Europe, making foxes and other wildlife confused and very happy. Why? They were filled with a vaccine to fight the deadliest virus known t…
E9 · Is Civilization on the Brink of Collapse?
At its height, the Roman Empire was home to about 30 % of the world’s population, and in many ways the pinnacle of human advancement. Rome became the first city in history to reach one million inhabit…
E10 · Why You Are Lonely and How to Make Friends
Friends make life good. They provide the scaffolding that makes it not just bearable but fun. They give us a sense of meaning and purpose and are a source of security, self esteem and happiness. Almos…
E11 · Let's Travel to The Most Extreme Place in The Universe
The universe is pretty big and very strange. Hundreds of billions of galaxies with sextillions of stars and planets and in the middle of it all there is earth, with you and us. But as enormous as the…
E12 · What Happens if a Supervolcano Blows Up?
The Earth is a gigantic ball of semi-molten rock, with a heart of iron as hot as the surface of the Sun. Titanic amounts of heat left over from its birth and the radioactive decay of trillions of tons…
E13 · Why Don't We Shoot Nuclear Waste Into Space?
Here in the Kurzgesagt labs we test very important ideas to see what happens when you blow things up or play with black holes. Many of you suggested that we look into an idea that sounds reasonable: S…
E14 · The Most Extreme Explosion in the Universe
Supernovae are the most powerful explosions in the universe, unleashing enough energy to outshine galaxies. We have no real metaphor for their power – if the sun were to magically go supernova it woul…
E15 · The Horror of the Slaver Ant
Everything changed when the slaver nation attacked. What used to be a thriving colony is now a captured country. Slaves do the work, serving their new masters until they die, only to be replaced by ne…
E16 · How To Terraform Mars - WITH LASERS
Mars is a disappointing hellhole lacking practically everything we need to stay alive. It looks like we’ll only ever have small crews spend a miserable time hidden underground. Except, we could terraf…
E17 · Black Hole Star – The Star That Shouldn't Exist
Black hole stars may have been the largest stars to ever exist. They burned brighter than galaxies and were Larger than any star today or that could ever exist in the future. But besides their scale, …
E1 · The Most Complex Language in the World
You are cells. Your muscles, organs, skin and hair. They are in your blood and in your bones. Cells are biological robots. They don’t want anything, they don’t feel anything. They are never sad or ha…
E2 · What Actually Happens When You Are Sick
There is this idea floating around that what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger. That surviving a disease leaves you better off. And it seems to make sense because we have all experienced this. Whe…
E3 · How We Make Money on YouTube with 20M Subs
In 2023, Kurzgesagt has existed for 10 years (which is insanely long in internet years). We are among the largest sciencey channels on Youtube and still a bit of a black box to people. So let us tal…
E4 · Why Aliens Might Already Be On Their Way To Us
The universe is magnificent and vast. Hundreds of billions of galaxies, trillions of stars, and even more planets. If even the tiniest fraction are habitable, then the Universe should be teeming with …
E5 · Your Body Killed Cancer 5 Minutes Ago
Somewhere in your body, your immune system just quietly killed one of your own cells, stopping it from becoming cancer, and saving your life. It does that all the time. The vast majority of cancer cel…
E6 · The Black Hole That Kills Galaxies
The universe isn't just a vast empty ocean sprinkled with galaxies – most of the atoms are actually drifting in between, in the intergalactic medium. If we look closely, we can see who is in charge h…
E7 · The Reason Why Cancer is so Hard to Beat
An undead city under siege, soldiers and police ruthlessly shooting down waves of zombies that flood from infected streets, trying to escape and infect more cities. This is what happens when your body…
E8 · The Most Dangerous Weapon Is NOT Nuclear
A breathtaking scientific revolution is taking place – biotechnology has been progressing at stunning speed, giving us the tools to eventually gain control over biology. On the one hand solving the de…
E9 · The (Second) Most Deadliest Virus on Earth
Few of the monsters that evolution created have been so successful at hurting us as the variola virus, responsible for smallpox. The carnage it caused was so terrible and merciless that it compelled h…
E10 · What Happens If You Destroy A Black Hole?
Black holes can destroy everything – but can they be destroyed? What happens if we push physics to the absolute limits, maybe even break it and the universe in the process? Let’s create a tiny black h…
E11 · How A Nuclear War Will Start - Minute by Minute
Mr. President! Nuclear missiles will strike our country in 14 minutes. I know it’s your first day in office so I’m going to walk you through it, but you’re the only one who can authorize our nuclear r…
E12 · We Did The Math - You Are Dead!
Absolutely everything you think about yourself and the universe could be an illusion. As far as you know, you are real and exist in a universe that was born 14 billion years ago and that gave rise to …
E13 · Why Korea is Dying Out
Every two years one million Japanese disappear, China’s population will halve by the end of the century, the median age in Italy has reached 48. All around the world birth rates are crashing – Is huma…
E14 · Ancient Life as Old as the Universe
Life has existed on one planet for about 4 billion years, for all we know. But it might have started right after the Big Bang, when the universe was much stranger and more fantastic than today. A univ…
E15 · 4.5 Billion Years in 1 Hour
Earth is 4.5 billion years old - which is approximately the same amount of time it took us to create this video. We’ve scaled the complete timeline of our Earth’s life into our first animated movie! …
E16 · How to Win an Interstellar War
Could aliens destroy us from light years away? Another day at Kurzgesagt Labs, where we answer the most important questions with science. Today: how might civilizations wage war across light years? W…
E17 · The Last Thing To Ever Happen In The Universe
The universe today is happy and healthy, with exciting things going on – but at some point the night will turn dark. Everything that once was, will peacefully sleep forever. But what is the last thin…
E18 · The Internet is Worse Than Ever – Now What?
In 2022 nearly half of Americans expected a civil war in the next few years, one in five now believes political violence is justified. And it is not just the US but around the world. People increasing…
E19 · How To Destroy The Universe
The universe is going to die one day, and a fight between two titans will decide our cosmic fate. On one side of this galactic battlefield, we have all the matter in the universe; on the other side, …
E20 · Your Tattoo is INSIDE Your Immune System. Literally
Your tattoos are inside your immune system, literally. With each very tasteful piece of art, you kick start a drama with millions of deaths, grand sacrifices and your immune system stepping in to prot…
E21 · You Are The Center of The Universe (Literally)
You are in the middle of everything in the Universe. Let us go on a fantastical journey together - to the impossibly small and the incomprehensibly large!
E1 · Did The Future Already Happen? - The Paradox of Time
Is your future already written? Do your past, present, and future all exist right now? Surprisingly, the answer could be yes. Let's take a look at what time is and how it works – in our first video o…
E2 · What Happens AFTER Nuclear War?
A nuclear bomb is the most devastating explosion ever created. One bomb can end tens of thousands of lives immediately and hundreds of thousands through the radioactive aftermath. However, the worst p…
E3 · The Paradox of an Infinite Universe
What is outside of the universe? We know that the universe had a beginning 14 billion years ago and that it has been expanding ever since. But something that is expanding should also have an edge, ri…
E4 · How The Dinosaurs Actually Died
A ruthless murder was committed! Someone killed the dinosaurs and we have the murderer! Witnesses say that an Everest-sized asteroid hit Earth, devastated the planet and caused a mass extinction. A si…
E5 · There Are Thousands of Alien Empires in The Milky Way
We often assume that advanced technology will make it easy for aliens to colonize space. But what if space exploration is always difficult, no matter how advanced you are? Let’s travel back in human …
E6 · Smoking is Awesome
We need to have an honest conversation about smoking: The problem with smoking is that it is way more than just a physical addiction. Smoking creates a temporary problem and offers an instant solutio…
E7 · This Black Hole Could be Bigger Than The Universe
Black holes might create infinite universes while destroying time and space. Everything in existence could be black holes, all the way down. We might live inside a black hole that is inside a black ho…
You may think you have free will and can choose what you do, but this might be an illusion. Your body is made up of particles that blindly follow the laws of physics, with every outcome already predet…
E9 · This Disease is Deadlier Than The Plague
The white death has haunted humanity like no other disease following us for thousands, maybe millions of years. In the last 200 years it killed a billion people – way more than all wars and natural di…
E10 · A.I. ‐ Humanity's Final Invention?
Humans rule Earth without competition. But we are about to create something that may change that: our last invention, the most powerful tool, weapon, or maybe even entity: Artificial Super intelligenc…
E11 · Fever Feels Horrible, but is Actually Awesome!
Fever feels bad. So we take medication to suppress it – but is this a good idea? It turns out fever is one of the oldest defenses against disease. What exactly is a fever, and how does it make your i…
E12 · We Traveled Back in Time. Now Physicists Are Angry.
Time travel is possible. In fact, you’ve been doing it since the day you were born. But what if we told you there’s a way to hack the universe and manipulate time itself? We just have to do two simpl…
E13 · We Need to Rethink Exercise (Updated Version)
Exercising doesn’t help you lose weight. In fact, it barely changes your daily calorie burn. Welcome to the workout paradox! Let’s dive into the science of how your body actually handles calories an…
E14 · Why Scientists Are Puzzled By This Virus
You’ve got trillions of viruses inside you – right now! But these aren’t the viruses you fear. Some of them are your body’s secret protectors, keeping deadly bacteria in check and even killing cancer …
E15 · This Video Might Save 58 Lives Next Week
58 of you watching this video right now will not be alive next week. And it’s not because of some freak accident or rare disease. It’s because of everyday actions you probably think are harmless. Let’…
E16 · There Is Something Hiding Inside Earth
We’ve found a new planet, home to octillions of the most extreme beings living in the most absurd and deadly hellscape. In absolute darkness, crushed by the weight of mountains, starved of oxygen, coo…
E17 · Tired of Doomscrolling?
Being a human in the 21st century often feels frustrating. We are clearly at the high point of our species, while at the same time life is incredibly hard! We are divided, unable to solve our problems…
E18 · We Fell For The Oldest Lie On The Internet
“Your blood vessels stretch a staggering 100,000 kilometers, enough to wrap around Earth twice!" Sounds amazing, right? We spent over a year trying to confirm this claim, and let's just say – things a…
E19 · The Most Insane Weapon You Never Heard About
At the height of the Cold War, a terrifying concept emerged: a bomb so powerful it wouldn’t need to be dropped. Known as Project Sundial, this doomsday device would have left a 400-km radius in flames…
E20 · We Have To Talk About Weed
Cannabis is finally being decriminalized in more and more places around the world. And for very good reasons! Compared to other legal drugs such as alcohol, cannabis is pretty mild and most users enjo…
E21 · Vaping Is Too Good To Be True
Vaping is marketed as the “safe” alternative to smoking, but it’s far from being harmless. Unregulated ingredients, hidden toxins, and extreme nicotine levels mean we’re conducting a massive experimen…
E22 · Black Hole's Evil Twin - Gravastars Explained
Gravastars could change how we think about the universe. These cosmic objects solve black holes’ biggest problems without breaking physics. From their ultra-thin shell to their energy-filled core, gra…
E23 · Is The World Getting More Violent?
Ten years ago, in 2014, we released a video titled "Is War Over?". Back then, the question didn’t seem so naive. It seemed violent conflict was on the decline and the world more peaceful than ever. B…
E24 · The Real Reason Why You Have Allergies
Allergies are more than just overreactions – they might be an evolutionary relic from a time when worms invaded our bodies daily.
E1 · Alien Whales On Planet Nimbus - What Aliens Might Look Like
Humans assume aliens look human. But why would they? Let's explore what life might actually look like in strange, distant worlds.
E2 · This Is NOT An Anti Meat Video
Most of us love animals but also eat meat. Unfortunately, most animals we eat live in truly horrible conditions. We don’t torture them for better meat, just for cheaper meat. If we all paid just a bit…
Reality is not real. Your world is a prediction. Every sight, sound, and touch you experience is the result of calculations your brain makes before reality even reaches you. It fills in gaps, fabricat…
South Korea is heading toward a demographic collapse unlike anything the world has seen before. With the lowest fertility rate ever recorded and a rapidly aging population, the country faces a future …
E5 · Your Time Machine Broke - At The Worst Time In History
What happens when your time machine breaks and you end up stranded millions of years ago? You’ve landed in a world that’s nothing like today, facing deadly storms and unbearable heat, breathing toxic …
E6 · We Finally Answered the MOST Important Question
Can jellyfish power Tokyo? What would happen if it rained bananas for a day? We're taking two of your most absurd (and brilliant) questions and answer them with real science.
E7 · Why Does Fentanyl Feel So Good?
Fentanyl is the deadliest illegal drug in US history by far. It’s often described as the ultimate high, but it’s actually an inferior, short-lived, and brutally addictive version of heroin. In this vi…
A war has been raging for decades in the jungles of Panama, as we fight one of the most terrifying parasites on Earth. It is so relentless that our best defense is to drop 100 million radiation-blaste…
What happens when the immune system meant to protect you becomes your worst enemy? This is the betrayal of autoimmune diseases like Type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, celiac disease, lupus, Crohn’s …
No matter how likely your death is, there will always be a version of you that survives. At least according to one of the most bizarre interpretations of quantum mechanics, known as Quantum Immortalit…
E11 · Alcohol is AMAZING
Alcohol kills more people each year than wars, terrorism, homicides, and car accidents combined. It destroys bodies, relationships, and lives. Yet we toast with it at weddings, sip it at parties, and …
From study sessions to dance floors, amphetamines can feel like a shortcut to superhuman focus and energy. Why do they work so well? What happens to your body once you take them? And what toll does it…
The ocean sunfish, or Mola, is one of the strangest animals alive. A massive, flat, derpy giant that eats jellyfish, drifts aimlessly, and carries parasites that even have smaller parasites of their o…
Some killer asteroids were found only days before flyby. If they had struck Earth, the power of thousands of nuclear bombs would have flattened cities and killed millions. What if we spotted a 100-me…
Pregnancy is not gentle. Babies begin as invaders, growing a brand-new organ inside another human. For months, they sap energy, hack the immune system, and fight for survival. Out of this struggle eme…
Can we survive the heat death of the universe? One day, the last star will die, galaxies will dissolve, and black holes will evaporate. The universe becomes a cold, empty void where nothing happens. …
AI-generated content is flooding the internet, from videos and music to news and books. On top of that, generative AI is making false information look more convincing than ever. We're entering a new …
Weed is often seen as harmless, and in some cases, even helpful. But for many people, it can slowly become a serious problem, especially as they approach their twenties or thirties. Today, we take a c…
Stress is a biological superpower that helped your ancestors outrun predators, fight off enemies, and survive extreme situations. In the past, it helped us survive, but today, it’s quietly damaging mi…
Fat is not just stored energy, it’s a complex organ that controls crucial hormones and communicates with your brain, immune system, and metabolism. It's one of the most powerful organs, but it can be …
E21 · Trees Are So Weird
Trees are among the most extreme and successful forms of life on Earth. They build their bodies from thin air, move water with pressures that would crush a human, and grow using a fascinating system o…
Our best theory of the universe might be breaking apart! The new data we're receiving from space telescopes is creating more and more cracks in our current understanding of the universe, and some scie…
Modern humans have been around for around 200,000 years. With Earth being 4.5 billion years old, this might seem like only a small speck of time, yet our story is long, rich, and full of transformatio…
Getting a tattoo itself might be a dramatic event for your immune system, but things get even crazier when you try to remove them! From intense lasers, to shockwaves and exploding cells, laser removal…
E1 · Trees Are Even More Crazy Than We Thought
Trees are among the most fascinating life forms on Earth, but what makes them truly fascinating is hiding underground! They are able to break solid rocks with hydraulic roots, all while working togeth…
Losing weight is hard, and obesity is one of the unhealthiest things that can happen to your body. It increases your risk of diabetes, heart attacks, cancer, and can lead to a series of other health c…
Most of the universe is not made of stars, galaxies, or beautiful glowing nebulae. Instead, the majority of it is what seems to be vast, silent emptiness. Huge cosmic voids stretching hundreds of mill…