Our thinking

How to explain

4 April, 2020

With a wealth, perhaps even a glut, of information about coronavirus out there, it can be difficult to get to the bottom of it all. Well-researched and well-written videos are sometimes the most simple and engaging ways to gain clarity.  

One of the most reliably high-quality sources of such videos is the Kurzgesagt ‘In a Nutshell’ YouTube channel. Their recent video on the mechanics of coronavirus and our response is informed by epidemiologists and quantitative bioscientists but communicated simply using (beautiful) animated ducks. Despite the sense of peril in the detail about how viruses work, it is one that older children will enjoy too. Also check out their myriad other fascinating videos on subjects from wormholes to plastic pollution to beauty. As they say in their introductory video, “everything around us is filled with complexity, but usually we don’t notice because being a human takes up a lot of time.”

For next-level coronavirus education, check out this mathematically-technical but fascinating video about the exponential spread of disease and how to know when we’re beating coronavirus. It’s heartening to know that, even for maths experts, being bombarded with virus figures in the news leaves you wondering if they are a good or a bad thing, what we expected or not. The video helps prepare us for the point at which we will know that there is light at the end of the tunnel.