The internet may be a dumpster fire. Much of it probably is. But there are still plenty of corners that haven’t been engulfed by the raging wildfire that’s laying waste to everything in its path.

For all our complaints about the internet—and many of those complaints are entirely justified—it remains one of the greatest places ever created, not just to have fun, but to learn.

Take YouTube. It’s easy to complain about the recommendation algorithm, clickbait, shorts, and the endless sludge it serves up. And again, a lot of those criticisms are warranted. But it’s also home to some extraordinary creators.

One of my favourite YouTube channels is the Royal Institution.

Lately, I’ve been geeking out over physics, cosmology, astronomy and astrobiology. I’ve been trying to understand our universe and our place in it. How did the universe begin? Why is there something rather than nothing? How did this little pale blue dot come into existence? How did life emerge from nothing more than hydrogen, helium and the laws of physics?

I’ve also been trying to wrap my head around quantum mechanics, and I can safely report that my feeble brain is barely capable of understanding the questions, let alone the answers.

But that’s part of the joy.

The Royal Institution has an incredible collection of talks by people who’ve spent their lives thinking about some of humanity’s deepest questions. Every time I watch one, I feel like a kid again.

Watching those lectures also made me think about something that is admittedly a rather banal observation.

The internet doesn’t have to be one giant rabbit hole of brain rot. Yes, these platforms are designed to keep us addicted, to maximise engagement and sell our attention to advertisers. That’s how they make money.

But we still have agency.

If we’re a little intentional about where we spend our time, the internet can still be an astonishing place. You can disappear into a rabbit hole that leaves you knowing less than when you started. Or you can disappear into one that teaches you something genuinely profound.

I’m not saying there’s no place for mindless entertainment. A little brain rot has its own charm. But the internet still contains an incredible amount of intellectual nourishment if you’re willing to look for it.

So if you’ve never come across it, I highly recommend the Royal Institution’s YouTube channel. It’s a garden of delights filled with brilliant lectures on physics, chemistry, mathematics, biology and much else besides.

People have been staring at the night sky ever since we first stood upright, asking the same fundamental questions about where we came from and why any of this exists. The remarkable thing isn’t that we’ve answered them all.

It’s that, after centuries of inquiry, so many of the most profound questions remain beautifully unanswered.

To me, that’s one of the best things about being alive.

at’s one of the best things about being alive.