Hello!

Yesterday, as part of the Complexly Learn-a-thon, I interviewed four people who work at Complexly about how we make videos. Some things occurred to me, while talking to these people about ancient lead, invisible bio-geographical barriers, and fighting for every bit of attention we can get from a student in what must be the most distractable era in all of human history. Here are some of those things:

1. Telling stories isn't just a really powerful tool, it is SO FUN. I love telling stories on a stage (which, btw, I will be doing in just two Thursdays at the Last Best Comedy Festival in Bozeman). I am so happy that I get to have a job where I tell stories for a living, but we all tell stories for our lives. It's just so good...

2. "The Truth" is harder than everyone thinks. Intuition and gut feelings are powerful and simple, but the truth is complex and hard-fought. It's very hard to be in touch with this if you aren't in a profession where you are always in the weeds of trying to get to the truest possible version of "true." But, regardless of how hard it is, that work is VERY IMPORTANT.

3. What makes something "interesting" is very different from what makes something true, which is a really powerful force that pulls us away from the truth in society. And I just want to say, that isn't something that's evil about people. I think it makes perfect sense, but it is a problem, which is why it's so cool to get to work on teams that have developed a ton of expertise in how to make true things feel interesting. Trying to make interesting things feel true is a lot easier and a lot worse.

I hope you've all had a great week,

Hank

You can always email us at [email protected]

This Week in Stuff

• Kurzgesagt told us the story of time travel.

• Nature Cam brings animal live feeds from YouTube to one convenient place, and when you refresh the page new live feeds will appear. Nature Cam was made by a We’re Here reader named Aaryaman!

• Veritasium explained why democracy is mathematically impossible.

• You can go on a wholesome adventure through a storytelling quiz to find out what type of vegetable you are.

• Hank made a 29-minute vlogbrothers video on Google’s use of YouTube videos for training generative AI.

Please send us stuff you think we should feature to [email protected]

The number of identified exoplanets has dramatically increased thanks to the “transit method”

Edouard Mathieu

Exoplanets are planets that orbit stars other than the Sun. Their existence was first confirmed in 1992 when astronomers Aleksander Wolszczan and Dale Frail identified two exoplanets orbiting a star located 2,300 light-years from Earth.

As shown in this chart, from 1992 to 2005, scientists discovered two hundred more exoplanets. They primarily used a method called "radial velocity". This technique works by detecting small changes in the color of a star due to the gravitational pull of a planet orbiting it.

But starting in the mid-2000s, the "transit method” vastly accelerated the pace of exoplanet discovery. This method detects tiny dips in a star’s brightness when a planet passes in front of it. This dimming can reveal a planet's presence and provide information about its size and orbit.

As is often the case with technological change, what was once a unique scientific achievement has become a much more frequent occurrence. The advancements in detection methods now allow us to discover hundreds of exoplanets each year.

Adding up all methods of identification, more than 5,500 exoplanets have been found by scientists worldwide, according to data from NASA's Exoplanet Archive.

Our World in Data is a UK-based non-profit organization that publishes research and data to make progress against the world’s largest problems. You can find more of their data insights here.

This Week at Complexly

The Complexly Learn-a-thon continues next week! So far, the Learn-a-thon has raised over $35,000 in support of Complexly's mission to continue creating accessible and educational videos and podcasts. There are four more days of events left, including a revival of SciShow Quiz Show and a Complexly trivia event, hosted by Hank!

Some Games to Play!

Metazooa

SpellCheck.xyc (by Answer in Progress.)

Download Gubbins on iOS or Android!

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Our Best Thinking Spots

Last week, we asked where you go to do your best thinking. Thanks for sharing your best brainstorm locations and activities with us!

And that’s the end of the newsletter!

If you’re up for it, send us a self-portrait! It could be a detailed painting, a doodle, or even something you think represents you. We can’t wait to see you soon!

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We're Here is the newsletter of Nerdfighteria; the community of people that sprung up around Hank and John Green's YouTube videos. That community has many focuses and has spawned many projects but the overarching theme is that hopelessness is the wrong response to imperfection. What makes the world better is groups of people trying to understand and solve problems, and people can only do that for an extended period if they're having at least a little bit of fun.