Popular Science is relaunching its YouTube channel with help from a notable pair of educational creators. Kevin Lieber and Matthew Tabor, who grew Vsauce2 into one of the biggest STEM hubs on the internet, have taken creative control of PopSci‘s YouTube home.
Lieber and Tabor became familiar faces in the YouTube community after joining Michael Stevens‘ Vsauce brand more than a decade ago. By producing curious, clever, and insightful explorations of scientific concepts, Lieber and Tabor attracted 4.5 million subscribers on Vsauce2 and pulled in more than 780 billion lifetime views.
Vsauce2 began to change last year, when Lieber announced that the channel would undergo a transition. “The old YouTube is gone. Everything is different now,” Lieber said at the time. “I just feel like making my style of educational content sustainably is impossible, so this channel as you know it is done. It’s just time that I do…something else.”
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Lieber’s “something else” turned out to be a gig at PopSci. He and Tabor will produce a quartet of video formats for the 152-year-old publication. Pieces on technology will explore inventions past and present (such as the “Butler in a Box“) while animated “visualizations” and multi-part “stories” will contextualize scientific concepts. Lieber and Tabor have already released the first of a series of documentaries: A look at the bizarre practice of trepanning (i.e. drilling holes in human skulls).
In an introduction published on the PopSci website, editor-in-chief Annie Colbert welcomed the two creators to the team and praised the exuberance with which they relate to the scientific world. “Kevin and Matt love Popular Science as much as you do,” Colbert wrote. “[They] share that giddy enthusiasm and will be bringing you videos that capture the spirit of why we’ve maintained a loyal audience for more than a century.”
With the Vsauce2 vets on board, PopSci will reorganize its YouTube presence. Lieber and Tabor will take over the brand’s primary channel, while it’s library of video podcasts will be moved to a dedicated hub.
