Lest you quell at the warning of Thoreau that most of us lead “lives of quiet desperation,” the internet has brought us things that dreams are made of, The Brain Scoop being an example of two sets of peoples dreams: mine and theirs. And though your knees may not weaken at the mention of film history, quantum physics, TARDISes, and natural history museums (The Brain Scoop only concerning itself with this last item); you’ll not find it difficult to see why this YouTube series has garnered a significant fan base.
Enter young person (Emily Graslie), hopeful, creative, and intelligent with a passion for the uncommon and underfunded area of natural history, give her an internship at the University of Montana at Missoula’s Philip L. Wright Zoological Musuem. Add another young, hopeful, creative person with dreams and put said person (Michael Aranda) behind the camera, get friends and family to support them and Hank Green as executive producer, add the final touch of YouTube and you have the new form of success in the digital, recession/post-recession age. Not just for types like Justin Bieber but for all of us with dreams and passion, the internet has become a new way for us to find the fulfillment of following our dreams. There’s hope that we won’t be shackled to an office cubicle, following the orders of someone else who’s following the orders of…each time a little meaning being lost from the purpose like a game of telephone.
So, YouTube has provided the means for these clever young people to bring me regular doses of interesting behind the scenes revelations from the Natural History Museum world. And if you’re not faint of heart there may be a bit of wolf dissection though I promise there’s very little of that gorey business and you’ll be well warned by a gross-o-meter at the beginning of any episode. More often Emily answers questions and takes us on tours of collections which may sound horribly dry but IT ISN’T! These people are magical! It’s light, witty, and there’s a taxidermied raccoon who menacingly peers around corners.
Spoiler alert: through all of this hard work, Emily’s been offered a position at the Natural History Museum of Chicago––A REALLY BIG MUSEUM AND BIG DEAL––and the museum promises to continue to support the production of The Brain Scoop. So by following the channel on YouTube, not only do you get compelling insight into the sex lives of octopuses, you get to watch dreams unfold. Inspiring in many ways, no?
For your viewing pleasure, I’ve chosen a more introductory episode. I highly recommend them all, though, this is one of my favorite YouTube channels.
compendium of alternative media 
