Recent favorites: first recommended 2024–2026
Everything here cleared the usual bar (three people, three different months) within the last three years, which for a new video is a strong signal. 259 videos.
- Frequently recommended in autonomous vehicle and Waymo threads as the main counterargument, a long but worthwhile video essay on how self-driving cars could affect cities.
- HN treats it as the go-to visual introduction to transformers, and many say it finally made attention and embeddings click.
- HN's most frequent recommendation for a clear, approachable foundation in how LLMs work without heavy math.
- Better Software Conference talk recommended in 8 different months by 11 HN users, 2025–2026HN commenters recommend it for its source-based history of OOP, though some dispute its account of Alan Kay.
- HN recommends it as a gripping story of single-minded persistence against the herd, and as the back story behind modern LED lighting.
- The Movie Rabbit Hole explainer recommended in 6 different months by 6 HN users, 2024–2026Strongly recommended whenever HN discusses CGI, practical effects, or trusting behind-the-scenes footage.
- xDahl talk recommended in 6 different months by 6 HN users, 2024–2026HN commenters in memory management and language design threads cite it as the best explanation of group lifetimes versus per-object ownership.
- Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics talk recommended in 6 different months by 6 HN users, 2025–2026Recommended as a balanced take on AI and education, with the point that learning takes work that no technology can do for you.
- Praised as the clearest visual explanation of transmission lines, impedance and signal propagation, with several commenters saying it made it all click.
- HN cites it constantly in US manufacturing debates as a vivid demonstration of how much domestic industrial capability has been lost.
- HN repeatedly recommends it as an up-to-date, fact-focused case for solar and batteries that readers can cite on land use and costs.
- HN users recommend it as an excellent, accessible overview of how modern chips are produced and why EUV matters.
- Cool Bug Facts tutorial recommended in 6 different months by 7 HN users, 2024–2026HN commenters call it an internet classic that makes you a more proficient Excel user, and note it is still relevant despite predating newer functions like XLOOKUP.
- Jenny Nicholson documentary recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2024–2026HN people strongly recommend it as the best overview of the Galactic Starcruiser and a case study in misaligned incentives and poor guest experience, engaging despite its length.
- Offered as an accessible, well-made explainer to share in threads on scam texts, crypto fraud and scam compounds.
- HN people link it as the go-to explainer for grid and inverter stability, especially in threads about blackouts and distributed solar.
- HN people recommend it as the definitive, thorough guide to getting dishwashers to clean properly and often send it to friends.
- Recommended as the best deep dive on tokenizers, worth the two hours for anyone working with LLMs.
- ChimiChanga talk recommended in 5 different months by 4 HN users, 2024–2026HN cites it as one of the best talks on data-oriented design, applying struct-of-arrays and compact data layouts to a real compiler.
- HN recommends it as a detailed, pilot's-eye summary of the whole MH370 story and the case for searching again.
- HN people cite it in threads on vehicle size and safety as a clear explanation tying grille height to deaths.
- HN treats it as the go-to visual explanation of attention, recommended to people who find text-based transformer explainers hard to follow.
- tripflag demo recommended in 3 different months by 7 HN users, 2025–2026HN commenters call it a model demo video and the quickest way to see how much one developer packed into a self-hosted file server.
- HN recommends it whenever zip codes, addresses or geospatial data come up, as a clear explanation of the hidden pattern in post codes.
- The Ezra Klein Show interview recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2025–2026HN commenters recommend it as a data-driven explanation of the 2024 election and voter trends.
- Pointed to as the in-depth talk on exception mechanics and code size for embedded C++.
- Wes Bos explainer recommended in 4 different months by 4 HN users, 2024–2025HN points to it as the clearest frontend explanation of why McMaster-Carr feels so snappy, often contrasted with slow modern UIs.
- HN sends people here as the most straightforward and detailed starting point for understanding EUV lithography.
- runevision explainer recommended in 4 different months by 3 HN users, 2025–2026HN recommends it as the original explainer for a clever dithering technique and the go-to video in dithering threads.
- HN links it whenever the Moon's orbit comes up, as a concise explanation of why the Moon always curves toward the Sun.
- HN recommends it as an excellent inside look at Valve's history, its technology and the games industry of the time.
- Curt Jaimungal interview recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025–2026HN recommends it as a fascinating, mind-expanding interview on bioelectricity and non-reductionist biology.
- OUTDOORS55 tutorial recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025–2026Recommended by commenters who say its practical, scientific explanations finally taught them how and why sharpening works.
- MangoJelly Solutions for FreeCAD course recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025HN users recommend MangoJelly's thorough tutorials as the best way to learn FreeCAD properly, since trial and error doesn't work.
- Ruby on Rails talk recommended in 3 different months by 6 HN users, 2024–2025HN commenters point to it as a primer on modern Rails and as a rebuttal to cloud 'learned helplessness', worth watching even by non-Ruby developers.
- HN people recommend it for a first-hand view of how Tor holds up in practice, from someone who had to rely on it.
- Polylog explainer recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users, 2024–2026Recommended as an intuitive, animated explanation of P vs NP framed around reversing computation.
- HN commenters call it the best explanation of how holograms work, and one says it transformed their understanding.
- Recommended as a well-made documentary explaining Nortel's rise and the index-fund and bubble dynamics around it.
- HN readers recommend it as an intuitive explanation of neural networks that shifts how people think about AI and language.
- HN commenters recommend it as the accessible deep-dive on EUV lithography and why chip manufacturing is so hard.
- S3 | Science, Startups, & Stories explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2024HN commenters point to it as a clear, short tour of Terraform's synthetic fuel approach and goals.
- HN recommends it whenever 'why don't you just...' comes up as an example of arrogant, dismissive advice.
- HN commenters recommend it as a catchy, accurate piece of science edutainment, and admire its footnote practice.
- Peter Attia MD podcast episode recommended in 3 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2026HN commenters point to it as a detailed primer on why US healthcare is expensive and where the money goes.
- Recommended as a good, accessible explanation of PFAS, its low safe limits and why regulation matters.
- HN recommends it as a sobering counterpoint to the Feynman myth for people whose view comes from Surely You're Joking.
- Recommended as a nuanced, up-to-date account of human prehistory from a leading researcher in ancient DNA.
- Noodle explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025–2026HN recommends it as an entertaining deep dive on CRT versus LCD rendering of retro games and the case for CRT shaders.
- !!Con talk recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users, 2024–2026Recommended as an amazing blind-debugging story with deep detail on 1970s spacecraft computing.
- Sasha Rush lecture recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2024HN commenters recommend it for building intuition about state space models and the tradeoffs between transformer and SSM layers.
- Jane Street talk recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2024–2025Recommended as a fascinating technical account of the optimizations behind uv's speed.
- Recommended as high-quality physics communication and as an introduction to Noether and energy non-conservation in cosmology.
- Matthias random stuff explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025Used as evidence that CPU speed for branchy, dependent code has improved only modestly in 15-20 years, so software optimization matters.
- Recommended as a rare detailed look at how 3b1b videos are made, including live debugging of his rendering engine.
- Business Insider documentary recommended in 3 different months by 2 HN users, 2025–2026Cited in threads on AI infrastructure as evidence of the water, power and community costs of data centers.
- HN recommends it as a methodical argument that many US city pairs make economic sense for high-speed rail.
- Dubmood music video recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2026HN commenters point to it as an impressive showpiece of the demoscene and a nostalgic career retrospective of a legendary group.
- Projects With Everyday Dave demo recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2024–2025HN points to it as real-world, side-by-side data on vertical versus angled panel orientation.
- HN commenters recommend it for changing how they think about distributions and for showing how criticality shows up across earthquakes, wildfires and other fields.
- Harvard Business Review tutorial recommended in 3 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2026HN commenters share it as a short, practical resource for people who struggle with small talk.
- Eager Space explainer recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025–2026Recommended in orbital data center threads as a thorough, numbers-based assessment.
- HN recommends it as a long but worthwhile way to demystify how language models work technically.
- Cathode Ray Dude - CRD documentary recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2025HN recommends it as an excellent history of the famous ABIT BP6 board.
- Aging Wheels explainer recommended in 3 different months by 4 HN users, 2025–2026HN cites it as data-backed evidence that weight has little effect on EV range while air resistance from trailers does.
- HN recommends it as an accessible introduction to Gaussian splats, made by people who understand the subject.
- Australian Phoenix CyberOps documentary recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2024–2025Recommended as a documentary telling the early hacking and spy-hunting story, with the original people involved.
- HN points to it in Colorado River and water-use threads as an accessible explainer of why the Western water shortage keeps getting worse.
- HN readers point to it as an example of Tom7's ridiculous-but-brilliant programming projects, here tied to license parody and typesetting.
- HN people point to it for intuition about why some games are hard to navigate and for its Rush Hour and graph visualizations.
- HN recommends it as an excellent explanation of how we know cosmic distances.
- HN commenters recommend it as the physical-machine take on replicating handwriting, with plenty of explained iteration.
- HN people link it in threads on big vehicles and road safety as a comparison of US and Dutch fire department approaches.
- Recommended as detailed math on rent versus buy, showing the choice is often roughly a wash.
- Loved for its zoom-out tour of physical scales and recommended alongside other paper-size and scale-of-the-universe discussions.
- HN points to her videos as a counterpoint to popular dark matter discussion, framing it as the discrepancy that needs explaining.
- HN recommends it as the best starting point for understanding the Wasm Component Model and WASI direction, straight from its designer.
- HN commenters find the hypothesis elegant and the channel consistently thought-provoking, and point to it in threads on light, particles and wave functions.
- Jim Lill demo recommended in 3 different months by 3 HN users, 2024–2026Recommended as a systematic, surprising experiment, often cited in audio and gear-obsession threads.
- Recommended in regreening and desertification threads as an optimistic, constructive example of land restoration.
- Moon Channel commentary recommended in 2 different months by 1 HN user, 2024–2026HN commenters recommend it, along with its sequel, as an enlightening explanation of the economic and cultural roots of gender friction in South Korea.
- Recommended as a compact, practical summary of enterprise SaaS sales for technical founders.
- Pointed to in threads on CS skin economy and Valve as an investigation arguing Valve is complicit in underage gambling.
- HN recommends it as a gripping look at what nation-state attackers can do, used as the primary source in threads about iPhone security and Kaspersky.
- The New Yorker video recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2025–2026HN brings it up in threads about captchas, bots and AI agents as an excellent short film about being a robot.
- Recommended as a clear, evidence-backed introduction to the economics of animal welfare in meat and egg production.
- Curt Jaimungal interview recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2026HN commenters point to it as a credible, clearly explained alternative take on quantum foundations from a Harvard physicist.
- fasterthanlime commentary recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2025Pointed to in GitHub Actions threads as a well-argued critique of how brittle and confused the platform is.
- HN cites it for the argument that LLMs capture language form but not meaning, and for how the brain's language network works.
- Fallopium Films commentary recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2026HN recommends it as the best video essay on the film's use of Pale Fire.
- HN points to it as an accessible explainer of AlphaFold and as an example of narrow, specialized ML delivering real scientific breakthroughs.
- Dr Geoff Lindsey explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2026HN points to it as an expert correction of myths about vocal fry, showing it is a normal speech pattern across groups.
- WeberAuto explainer recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2025HN recommends it as a clear explanation of a mind-blowingly simple power-split hybrid design.
- Commenters send it to people asking how engines survive such temperatures, and call it fascinating and worth watching.
- Recommended as a fun, informative rediscovery of a lost film-effects technique.
- Flight Software Workshop talk recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2026Commenters recommend it for the remarkable remote reverse engineering done on decades-old hardware with no simulator.
- HN cites it in LLM randomness and number-picking threads as evidence that humans are also biased and predictable when asked for random numbers.
- HN fans point to it as a fun, nerdy crossover of bird song acoustics and technology, and the story itself got its own thread.
- Alexander the ok documentary recommended in 2 different months by 2 HN users, 2024–2025HN commenters recommend it as an amazing overview of the technical feats and history behind Elite, and cite it for what the 6502 could do.
- HN mentions it mostly as a source for the argument that sugar is toxic, though some commenters push back on claims like fructose being addictive.
Showing the 100 best-scored of 259. Use search to find the rest.