In this episode, Anthony sits down with Dave Farina, better known as Professor Dave Explains, the science educator with over 4 million subscribers who has taught more chemistry students than any professor on Earth — literally.
Together, they dive deep into:
🔥 Dave’s Origin Story
- How a touring rock drummer accidentally became one of the biggest science educators online
- Why passive income for a struggling band turned into a global teaching mission
- His “rock-star teacher” era and the unexpected aesthetic that shaped early O-Chem videos
📚 Building a Global Classroom
- The moment Dave realized he was reaching millions
- Why students prefer YouTube to textbooks
- How he balances tutorial content with hiring PhDs to write 101-level scripts in new fields
- What makes a video engaging instead of just accurate
⚔️ The Debunking Journey
- The inside story of Dave’s multi-year saga with James Tour and the debate at Rice
- How Dave identifies charlatans, grifters, and bad actors
- His two-tiered strategy: immunize the public + neutralize misinformation at the source
- The toll of daily online vitriol — and the rewarding messages from people who changed their minds
🦠 When Science Meets Family
- Anthony and Dave discuss navigating misinformation at family gatherings
- Dave’s advice for Thanksgiving dinner:
- Ask gentle but probing questions — go full Socratic.
🌎 Hope, Fear, and the Future of Science
- Why Dave is more pessimistic post-pandemic
- The rise of institutionalized pseudoscience
- A glimmer of hope: scientists finally stepping into the sci-comm arena
- Why the next decade may determine whether truth survives online
🎶 Plus
- Dave’s long-delayed plan for a music comeback
- The “Simulated Sun” project
- What he hopes will happen by 2026
