Crash Course transcripts
Educational courses on science, history, literature and more, from the series John and Hank Green started. Each transcript comes with an AI summary, key points and chapters, and plays the episode from any word you click.
-
How do we Mine Minerals?: Crash Course Geology #22
This Crash Course Geology episode explains how minerals underpin modern technology and the four main mining methods used to extract them: underground, surface, in situ, and placer mining. It argues that mining causes serious environmental and human costs and that growing demand for critical minerals like lithium and cobalt makes responsible sourcing, efficient design, and e-waste recycling essential.
-
Is the Electoral College Broken?: Crash Course US Government #5
The video explains the Electoral College, the group of electors that formally chooses the US president, and why it can let a candidate win the presidency without winning the national popular vote. It traces the system to 1787 compromises, explains winner-take-all rules and how small states get outsized weight, and concludes that the system works roughly as the Founders intended, leaving open whether it serves voters today. It also covers reform options like the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact and the 2022 Electoral Count Reform Act.
-
What is Geothermal Energy?: Crash Course Geology #21
This Crash Course Geology episode explains how fossil fuels formed from ancient organisms and why they are non-renewable and environmentally harmful. It presents geothermal energy from Earth's internal heat as a renewable, emissions-free alternative that is abundant but hard to access in many places.
-
Why Don’t More People Vote?: Crash Course US Government #4
This Crash Course episode asks why nearly 90 million eligible voters skipped the 2024 presidential election, despite record turnout overall. Host Kushan Avidar argues that individual motives like expressive choice, rational choice, and civic duty only partly explain non-voting, and that voting rules and structural barriers in the US system play a major role. The conclusion is that voting is a personal choice made within a system whose inequalities are often by design.
-
Where Does Campaign Money Really Come From?: Crash Course US Government #3
This Crash Course episode explains where US campaign money comes from and where it goes, noting that about $14 billion was spent on federal campaigns in 2024. Direct contributions are capped, but independent spending by super PACs and dark money groups, enabled by Citizens United and SpeechNow.org, has grown into a major and largely unlimited funding channel. The video concludes that big donors gain influence in ways that may not serve the public, while ordinary voters can still counterbalance money through their voices and votes.
-
How Often do Asteroids Hit the Earth?: Crash Course Geology #20
Crash Course Geology explains what asteroids, meteoroids, meteors, and meteorites are, and how rarely large asteroids strike Earth. It recounts the Chicxulub impact that helped end the dinosaurs about 66 million years ago, and describes how NASA now tracks asteroids and tested deflection with the DART mission. The conclusion is that dangerous impacts are extremely rare and detection and defense are improving.
-
Why Does the US Only Have Two Major Parties?: Crash Course US Government #2
The video explains why the US has effectively a two-party system despite many voters identifying as independents and wanting a viable third party. It argues the cause lies in institutional factors like first-past-the-post, single-member districts, and Duverger's Law, plus voter behavior, with the spoiler effect pushing people toward the lesser of two evils. Reforms like rank choice voting could open space for third parties.
-
The Future of Glaciers: Crash Course Geology #19
This Crash Course Geology episode explains how glaciers form, move, and shape landscapes, and why they matter as climate records and freshwater sources. It concludes that glaciers are in trouble from warming, and that cutting carbon emissions is the most practical way to protect them.
-
Why Are US Politics Today So Divisive?: Crash Course US Government #1
This Crash Course episode explains why US politics is so polarized today, tracing it back to decades of shifting party ideology after the mid-20th century, when the parties realigned on civil rights and liberal and conservative became synonymous with Democrat and Republican. The video argues that ideological sorting, social sorting, and negative partisanship have created a self-reinforcing cycle that makes common ground harder to find, though it sees a path forward through people willing to work across the aisle.
-
Crash Course Big Questions on US Government Preview
This preview introduces Crash Course's new series on US Government, hosted by Kusha Navadar, a former political speechwriter and radio host. The series moves beyond the basics of the three branches to examine why today's politics feel so divided and unprecedented, and whether the 250-year-old system still works as it should. The main conclusion is that understanding how and why the system works can make current politics less overwhelming.
-
How Do Fossils Form?: Crash Course Geology #18
Crash Course Geology explains how fossils form, noting that most organisms decay and only a rare few are preserved, usually through rapid burial in sediment followed by processes like permineralization, compression and carbonization, or preservation in amber, desert caves, or ice. The video stresses that fossils are rare, that erosion erases much of the record, and that fossils like Boris and the Notasaur reveal major events in life and Earth's history.
-
How old is the Earth?: Crash Course Geology #17
This Crash Course Geology episode explains how geologists determine Earth's age, using banded iron formations and radiometric dating as examples. The main conclusion is that Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, a figure first accurately estimated in 1955 by Clare Patterson and colleagues, and that rock records reveal this deep history.